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Cast Drawing.
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Message
Posted
A couple of weeks ago I came across some articles relating to cast drawing. I read a bit about the history and the importance of cast drawing. How it became unpopular in the 20th Century after being taught in fine institutes for hundreds of years. Such a shame. I wondered if anyone here had been taught any cast drawing. I've been keeping my eyes open for some casts of good quality the past few weeks. I found a very good vintage one at a reasonable price but it was too far to travel but I have to say, it was something I really wanted. Anyway, I decided whilst I'm waiting for one to fall in my lap from the Greek Gods, I ordered one from Jackson's. I didn't know they produced casts. My plan is to do detailed studies from different angles and the advantage will be, I will have full control of how I want the light to fall. I'll be focusing on light and tonal range hoping to create high quality, detailed drawings.
Posted
Hi Denise, I went through a self directed study of Atelier training a few years ago (with help from Stephen Baumans Atelier course on Patreon).It was great at developing my drawing and painting skills. I recommend doing some Charles Bargue plate drawings before cast drawing and I can recommend Nicholas H Wood for casts. UK based, good quality and reasonably priced. I got his 'portrait of a girl mask' to work from.
Posted
The RA still has a large number of casts, full size models, hand, feet and arms etc. I don’t think it’s the case now, but students used to have to spend many hundreds of hours drawing these things before moving on to life models, so it must have been deemed to be beneficial! but… no longer the case now as far as I know.
The Charles Bargue Atelier course takes enormous dedication to complete. There was a guy on here, David Hillman or daveboyz as he was known, Robert will remember him (not always for the best reasons), but I won’t go down that path…
Anyway, new to art and drawing basically, and he made outstanding progress initially, certainly surprised me anyway!, but couldn’t sustain the attention and time necessary to continue and after a good few months, might have been a year, he gave up on it… and left the site as well.
I remember him feeling confident enough to attend an actual life class at college, but he was completely out of his depth in that different environment and only went the once I think!
Anyway Denise, I think you will get something positive from working with your cast, or casts because you’re going to need a few I feel, you have the determination which is worth a lot…
BUT… there can be no substitute for working from a life model, I’m sure you know that already, but all drawing is beneficial and I think it will help you to some degree, but used in conjunction with other disciplines along the way.
I look forward to seeing how you progress.
Posted
Good morning. I definitely don't suggest doing the whole Bargue course. I read that most ateliers get you to do about 4 or 5 depending on your level before moving on to cast drawing so thats about what I did and then occasionally return to it if I am having low confidence. I did one of the early eye pages, a hand holding a knife, one of the side and front portraits and then tackled the belvedere torso (which took probably around 30 hours and gave me a lot of cramp in my fingers!) Definitely learnt a lot but its good to have some guidance on what you are meant to learn from it and how to approach them.
Posted
Good subject. I was interested in the casts now available. But I know I couldn't afford a selection, and wondered if a single would be adequate. I took a course with CityLit covering the first parts of the Bargue process. It was online of course, but very thorough. If nothing else it helped with confidence in approaching drawing a form, and a thorough realisation that the direction of light is everything.
I await your report back Denise, how you feel about using one. An archive of the Bargue course is available on pdf.
Posted
Denise, are you signed up for Jackson’s emails for In The Studio articles? I was just looking through emails and they sent one dated 13 August entitled
The history of cast drawing, and how it can help you understand form.
I’m sure you’ll find this interesting and helpful. If you can’t access it I would be happy to forward the email if you contact me via this site.
Posted
Thanks Gary I was going to get a second hand copy of the Bargue book, I'm looking out for one. I'm very busy with grandchildren this week so I hope to find time to search for a decent copy. I would like it for reference and to work through slowly whilst I'm working on other stuff. Alan, I am interested in gaining knowledge and experience from the process and working on it slowly alongside other subjects. I've got some life drawing planned, it starts up in Autumn. Tessa I looked at the message yesterday and as soon as I saw it, I ordered the cast right away. I intend to carry on looking for some vintage casts as I would like maybe 3 or 4. Norrette, I do feel confident drawing but that's very different from fully understanding a theoretical approach to it. Something you miss out on I think when you don't study art at an academic level. That's why, I like to do a lot of self learning. It's enriching. I am hoping to practice more of the chiaroscuro with the drawings, that will be my aim. Thanks for you thoughts on the subject.
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
Adele Wagstaff has written some great articles in The Artist on classical drawing and painting. One of them is online here https://www.painters-online.co.uk/tips-techniques/portraits/articles/figurative-drawing-how-to-draw-the-head-with-adele-wagstaff/ Worth a look through some older issues although I can't tell you where to start I'm afraid!
She teaches too but in London so no good for you Denise
Posted
The Head of David was delivered last week but I kept it in the box as I had grandchildren running about and didn't want it smashed on the floor. I've taken a closer look today and I am very happy with it. It is a bit top heavy so I will need to put it on a steady base.The dimensions are 30 x 25 x 45 cm. I splashed out on a few bits especially for this project as I'm looking forward to drawing it at different angles. In the next couple of days I intend building a reasonably sized light box in wood and paint it black. Drill a few holes here and there to poke a small light source through to give me some dramatic effects. I hope to start drawing it in a couple of days. I'm not looking to do a sketch but a detailed drawing so I am estimating it will take many, many hours. As you may well know, I like to jump straight into these things never knowing what the outcome will be.
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