Erica Hyatt Fine Art
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learning the sight-size method

2/3/2015

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Sight-Size DrawingClick on image for article on Sight-Size
Like most things I'm passionate about, I don't know half measures. I'm kind of an all or nothing girl. It certainly has it's downside, but I believe brilliance was never found by spending too much time just dipping your toes in the water.  

Today is all about sight-size.  In it's essence, sight-size is very simple.  Set your easel up next to your subject and systematically replicate your subject on your paper or canvas. There are a few tricks, but truth be told, I'm finding it requires practice.  Lots of practice.
* The easel should be perpendicular to the ground. A slanted easel might be fine for fast and loose impressionistic stuff, but I noticed as my drawing skills improved I was accidentally compensating for the slant of my easel and distorting my drawing. 
* The height of the canvas or paper should be even with the subject. This may require you to raise your model, cast or still life.
* Tools such as a plumb line, and straight edge can help with sighting. 

I'm just at the beginning of a systematic journey towards mastery, so I'll share more of what I learn along the way.  

One of the resources I'm using are Bargue Drawings, a 19th century course intended to teach academic drawing. More on that later, but you can download some images below. Heads up - it's a big file with lots of images, but has a good description of sight-size included. 

Picture
bargue_plate_1-7.pdf
File Size: 69915 kb
File Type: pdf
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    Erica Hyatt is a visual artist and researcher based in the Netherlands.

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