Voltaire Student Cast Drawing by Adrian Gottlieb

Cast Drawing:  Cast drawing is a time-honored method for training the student to see, intellectualize and create an accurate realistic image.  In training students to draw from fixed plaster casts of classical sculpture, the beginning student is given the opportunity to draw from lifelike three-dimensional models, but need not struggle with the inevitable movement of the live model.  The student is not required to take on the demands of color before they are ready. Sight-size cast drawing is a vital tool for training the eye in preparation for drawing from the live model.  The technique evolved from drawing methods developed during the Renaissance and perfected over time by the masters of realism. Nicholas Beer writes: "By following the prescription of Out-Line, Shadow-Line, Shadow Pattern, Background, then Modelling, [one learns] to resolve problems step by step, each in preparation for the next." In his pamphlet entitled:  On the Training of Painters, Richard Frederick Lack writes: "Seeing proportions correctly and modeling the effects of light and shadow are the first tasks facing the student in his quest towards becoming an accomplished draftsman. Accurate shape relationships and firm, correct modeling remain the backbone of good drawing. Traditionally, cast drawing has provided an excellent means by which the study of shapes and modeling can be initially undertaken. Once set up, plaster casts remain stationary and can be drawn from day to day under the same lighting condition. Cast drawing should be done in charcoal using the sight-size method, using every available measuring device, including a plumb line, ruler or level, and continually checking results in a mirror." Adrian Gottlieb GottliebStudios.com/Classical_Glossary HOME