Customer Reviews
A Great Demonstration 
2008-09-01
This is a great step by step approach to life size cast drawing. Short of signing up for an atelier to learn the process, this is the easiest and most detailed book I have read on the subject.
well worth reading. one of the best books written on sight size. 2008-08-03
This book is well worth buying. Its very easy to understand and well put together.
Very good start (not only) for beginers 2008-07-07
I bought this book after reading the positive reviews at amazon.
This book gives a closer look at classical drawing technique which is perfect for portrait drawing done in a studio.
Almost from a beginning a reader is thought the sight-size technique by example.
There are clear explanations about setting up a workspace, measuring, shading and finishing work. Additionaly a reader is given some references about the sight-size drawing and painting.
The author promise this book to be a start of a whole course of sight-size aproach. That's why a student-reader begining his journey with this book starts with basic practice of cast drawing.
What I like the most in this book is that it comes with a subject right away without any unnecessary content.
The author is a painter and teacher and as a teacher he knows that book is sometimes not enough. That's why there is a dvd that accompanies the book and shows the author explaining the technique while drawing a cast.
The only disadvatage of sight-size aproach is that you have to have some extra space to set up your workspace that's why I recomend this book to everyone interested in classical drawing and painting done in art studio and to everyone interested in drawing techniques in general.
However, I don't recomend it to comic and concept artists, unless they are interested in broadening their drowing skills in general.
Very complete! 2008-06-29
A little book, but very very complete. I think that it suits all artists that are not perfectly familiar with this method. I was knowing the method but I found some little gems in it. A must!
This is not a book of fluff and pretty pictures. 2008-06-22
"Cast Drawing, using the Sight-Size Approach, by Darren R Rousar"
In my studio is a large walk-in-closet filled with books on art history, artist biographies and art how two books. Most of my how to books are deceptive pricey, glitzy books claiming to reveal secret art practices, some just rehashed bits of stuff with an over focus on personal expression and others are ads. My students offend bring in new books and we as a class discuss each book's merits. We've broken the field of books on art practices into three groups: inspirational, usually packed with lots of pretty pictures, artist promotional, usually packed with lots of pretty pictures produced by one artist, and technical usually not so pretty but packed with useful information.
Darren R Rousar's book "Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach," is technical and is in the vein of an older group of books written in the tail end of the 19th and start of the 20th century who's authors focused on real studio practices and aesthetics, not on self-promotion. What you will learn from Rousar's book is a way of drawing that is focused and sure. This book is like having Rousar there beside you as he walks you through an approach to skill development in drawing. He is one of those rare teachers, formed from the studio tradition, who understands the how and why, and can explain it and do it. I wish I had him as a studio trained drawing teacher instead of the university trained teachers, when I went to art school back in the 70's but I now have his priceless book of well-presented material.
This is not a book of fluff and pretty pictures. If you want to learn how to draw, buy this book and learn from it.
David C. Powers artist and teacher of art skills
Excellent explanation of atelier 2008-04-16
The first book of its kind, Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach teaches the student a systematic way to meet the challenges of drawing. Traditionally taught in classical art ateliers, Sight-Size is an approach to drawing and painting from life. It is through cast drawing that the basics of Sight-Size are learned. This approach is readily adaptable to other disciplines such as portraiture, still life, interiors, landscape and figurative painting. For more information about other books in the Sight-Size Library as well as instructional DVD's and Sight-Size in general please direct your web browser to www.Sight-Size.com.
Good content, so-so production 
2008-04-03
The content of the book is good; other reviews have covered it and I don't disagree, so no need to rehash.
One star deducted for its disappointingly mediocre production quality; it looks like a manuscript printed on a cheap home laser printer and sent off to the publisher for duplication, and in fact I'd be surprised if that wasn't exactly how it was done. The photographs, as a result, are badly halftoned and muddy-looking, like newspaper photographs, and for a work about detailed fine art line this one, that's really surprising and unfortunate. There are many photographs that I really wish were sharper so I could see the technique and results being described more clearly. I would happily have paid more for the book if it had had better print quality, like any of the other art instruction books I've purchased over the past few years.
Five stars for the content, minus one for the production.
Cast Drawing 2008-02-13
Very good and informative book. Key to classical drawing techniques, in order to draw well., and information that every realist needs to know.
So Grateful for this book!!!! 2008-01-07
This book saved us! My husband and I obtained the "Charles Bargue Drawing Course" from the Dahesh as soon as it became available. While the Charles Bargue Drawing Course has a section on suggestions for copying plates, it is simply not designed for someone without any formal training or professional guidance. Unfortunately, wonderful as the Charles Bargue plates are, they were useless to us without training. Since then, we have purchased many products looking for the skills to reproduce the plates. We were able to make some progress learning other sizing techniques, but we were always looking for a way to learn the "sight-size approach". Constantly on the lookout for a way to learn sight-size outside an atelier, we only found instructions that were inadaquate for someone with no formal training. I can't tell you what a thrill it was for this book to pop up during one of my usual attempts at googling all things "cast drawing" and "sight-size". What a wonderful find this book is. Darren Rousar is a master teacher and made the whole process so simple and easy that we were amazed we had ever struggled. This book is inexpensive, to the point, and very useful. If you have searched high and low for a way to learn sight-size, your search is over and you have arrived. Everything you need to get started is right here. Good Luck!
Cast Drawing: Using the sight -size approach 2008-01-07
This book arrived on time and was in excellent shape. Thanks for the swift delivery and excellent service.
