The discipline of cast drawing has helped artists develop their observational drawing skills for centuries, and is a staple of our sequence of instruction at Vitruvian Studio. Cast work can be challenging, and presents some clear advantages for students over working from live models. Casts never move, never take breaks, and never need to be paid by the hour. Being a consistent white local color, casts allow students to focus on the challenges of describing form, structure and light without the added distractions of varying surface colors, textures and opacities found on other objects.

This course introduces the fundamental concepts of representational drawing that any artist must master to capture what he or she sees with fidelity. It’s what we refer to as a “skills course” because it focuses specifically on the abilities and concepts of drawing in a series of exercises – the emphasis is not on producing a finished “work of art” but rather on practice and development of a fundamental skill set.

This unique course covers a comprehensive procedure for drawing a beautiful portrait. David Jamieson guides students though developing a portrait from start to finish in a video demonstration that presents nearly every last pencil stroke.