Since January of this year I've been studying cast drawing at the Grand Central Academy of art. It took me a while to get my mind around some of the concepts but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I had always thought that cast drawing would involve some kind of idealization of the form being drawn; you know, measuring out golden sections and isoscles triangles etc; But the goal seems to be to draw the form pretty much exactly as you see it, at least in the linear stage. Maybe the assumption is that whatever statue or cast you're drawing from already has a canon of proportion built into it. Not all cast drawing at GCA is done from classical casts; some are renaissance artists, baroque even medieval.
               The idealization part of cast drawing comes into play when you begin to turn the form. This is the part that after the block-in (which I'll discuss next) is probably the most challenging, because you cannot rely on what you see. One has to imagine a light source that reveals itself the way water might reveal the striations found in a river bed. You have to be wary of false contrasts where an area might appear lighter because of it's proximity to a core shadow line or cast shadow. This is not sight size drawing but more of a conceptualization of the light. Does this mean that other ways of drawing which are more value based are wrong? Not at all, clearly it is a technicque that it is useful to train the artist to be constantly on the form, to engage the eye, the hand and the mind equally, to be more than just a recorder of appearances, and once understood, is a hell of a lot of fun. It's not for everybody. My instructor keeps me under sharp surveillance and not one single dot is allowed to be out of place. I've learned to shut off that part of my brain that's always saying "that's good enough" and to push myself even harder.
         The block-in is one of the most useful drawing tools associated with cast and eventually figure drawing. Again, it seems primarily geared towards helping an artists tendency towards rationalizations and drawings that look cut and pasted. The idea is that once you've made your basic sketch, a kind of rough envelope of the overall shape, you then begin to work from the inside out, measuring the larger shapes one against the other until the drawing begins to take on a solidity that has nothing to do with extraneous detail. You are taught to proceed with caution, that every change made has an affect on the structure and harmony of the whole. The light dark separation is established right from the beginning and is an important part of checking proportion. It sounds harrowing and it can be but the good news is that if you take the time to get that internal structure right, the rest of the drawing that includes all the secondary appendages, practically draws itself.
       I have found that cast drawing has been tremendously helpful with my paintings. I have been using the block in as a compositional tool with my still lifes so that I am taking more time to get the overall composition and placement right. I have also recently been using drawing cartoons to transfer to the canvas rather than working directly with charcoal. This came about accidentally because I switched to a different type of oil ground that takes longer to cure, and while I was waiting I figured I might as well make a drawing. I was very pleased with the results and so I'm sticking with it for a few more paintings.
      Does this mean that I'm going to end up making hyper-realistic paintings? Probably not. My heroes are still going to be Chardin, Carlsen and Sargent. The other day I was working on a painting with one of my usual stumpy little bristle brushes and I realized that I was " on the form". That being "on the form" had nothing to do with the size of the mark that you were making but more to do with the intent of the brush stroke. So to those of you who have been reluctant to try cast drawing for fear that it might cause you to suddenly "tighten up" I would say that you have nothing to worry about. It didn't seem to hurt Sargent or Rubens for that matter and it will definitely help to improve your draughtsmanship, and painting and drawing are intrinsically related. I highly recommend it.