An Accurate Eye PDF

An Accurate Eye
Learn to Draw Better

by Learning to See Better
Darren R. Rousar
An Accurate Eye: Learn to Draw Better by Learning to See Better
By Darren R. Rousar
First published in 2016 by Velatura Press, LLC

www.velaturapress.com | www.sightsize.com | www.studiorousar.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
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except for the inclusion of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Copyright © 2016 by Darren R. Rousar
Velatura Press
TM
Velatura Press, LLC | Excelsior, Minnesota USA

For my wife, Kathleen
• Table of Contents •
Introduction 5
An Accurate Eye 7
Deliberate Practice 13
How To Use This Book 16
Position 18
Sight-Size Mini #1 31
Angle 36
Distance 46
Curvature 55
Shape 61
Value 75
Value 2 82
A Final Word 89
An Accurate Eye | Learn to Draw Better by Learning to See Better
• Introduction •
A
fter almost three decades of teaching hundreds of students how to
draw and paint, patterns begin to emerge. One springs to mind at
the moment. Time and again the improvements made by the student are
demonstrated more through their increasing ability to see, than in moving their pen-
cil from point A to point B.
This in no way mitigates the pursuit of an accurate hand. However, it is
clear that learning to draw is learning to see. That is what this book is about,
helping you to improve your eye’s ability to accurately see.
Given that the specific approach to teaching I use is Sight-Size, it is no wonder
that accurate sight is a particular focus for me. After all, Sight-Size helps assure ac-
curate sight. With that in mind, most of the exercises in this book are based on that
approach.
Before we move on a definition is necessary. Sight-Size is a way of accurately
comparing your subject to your artwork, based upon the relative positions of the
artist, the easel, and the model. It is the only arrangement which provides the artist
with a one-to-one visual comparison. As such, it is also the only way to assure visual
accuracy.
Breaking down a complicated process into smaller chunks is a tried and true
process for learning. With that in mind, I have divided the exercises into six sections:
position, angle, distance, curvature, shape, and value. These sections somewhat mimic the
sequence of learning to draw and paint that is followed at a traditional atelier or
academy.
5
Interspersed among the sections are Sight-Size Minis. Sight-Size Minis are small
projects which serve a number of purposes in this course. They help break up the
monotony of the abstract subjects in the other sections and they give you a chance to
prove yourself on something real.
Missing in the list of exercises is the subject of color. The reason is twofold. First,
any source image that I might provide in this book would not match whatever result
you could produce with your medium of choice. This is similar to value, except that
color is far more complex, being a combination of hue, value and chroma. Second,
to create a color by mixing others together is something which takes instruction and
practice. Both are beyond the scope of this book.
Having said that, practicing the value exercises which I present will help your
color perception as well. Both value and color are contextual, and many of the skills
used to perceive value relationships are also used to perceive color relationships.
Finally, success in your pursuit of visual accuracy does not depend upon whether
you are in an art school, atelier, academy, or are teaching yourself. It does not matter
if you are otherwise learning to draw through construction, proportion, formula,
or Sight-Size. Nor does it matter at what stage you are currently at in your training.
With very few exceptions, there is no reason why you cannot train your eye to a high
level of accuracy and eventually acquire the ability to draw as well as the master of
your choice. Deliberately practicing the exercises in this book, over an extended pe-
riod of time, puts the odds of success decidedly in your favor.
See well,
Darren R. Rousar
“Educate the eye before you educate the hand. The hand will become
cunning soon enough when the eye has learned to see, whereas if the hand
be educated before the eye one may never see.”
-Carolus-Duran (1881) 6
• An Accurate Eye •
R
egardless of how well you draw (or think you draw), you can draw better.
Of course to do that requires accurate sight, for whatever else drawing is,
it is first and foremost accurate seeing. This is why I say that if you want
to learn to draw, you must first learn to see. Learning to see means learning to see
accurately.
Accuracy is where likeness exists. Think about this for a minute. What is it about
your face that differentiates your likeness from someone that looks like you? The
answer is in the specific visual differences between you and your would-be twin. An
accurate portrayal is what makes a drawing, painting or sculpture of someone look
like that person. Inaccuracies in a portrait are errors in seeing which result in errors
of representation. This means that the viewer will either not recognize the person
represented or fixate on the errors that you have made.

The issue is not limited to portraiture. Everything we see in the natural world is
differentiated.
Let’s talk apples. All apples appear to be apples because of common traits. Ac-
curately defining those general visual traits is the first step in drawing the apple be-
cause, if you are not careful, your apple might look like an peach!
However, no apple is identical to another, even to those which grew on the same
tree. This apple looks different from that apple because of what? Because of specif-
ics. Specifics define the individual and this is where a trained eye really shines. Your
ability to discern visual differences between similar subjects is part of what will take
you from student to master.
7
Once you attain accuracy of sight, your ability to represent what you see will be
far more successful. Your audience will not be left wondering whether an inaccuracy
was a mistake or a chosen deviation from nature, done on purpose and with intent.
Someone once said that “Fast is fine but accuracy is everything.”* The corollary
is that accuracy will improve your speed. If you take the time to learn to accurately
see, you will waste less time on correcting your errors.
What is Visual Accuracy?

Accuracy in drawing is made up of three parts: visual accuracy, manual accuracy
and memory accuracy. This book focuses on the first one – visual accuracy. Why?
Because the results of an inaccurate hand and an inaccurate visual memory are first
noticed through an accurate eye.
Visual accuracy is how close your attempt at defining a shape, value, edge, or
color is to its objectively perceived source. It has no relation to how you feel about
the source, what you know about the source, or what someone else knows about the
source. It is, as much as is possible, a visual copy of that aspect of the source which
you are attempting to represent.
Much has been written on the topic of accuracy, especially after the invention of
the camera. Since that time, artists and critics have made various attempts to parse
the meaning of the word. While this is not the place to take up that argument, most
of those who have done so have concluded that the pursuit of mechanical or scien-
tific accuracy must precede other, more artistic endeavors. Representing many of the
opinions is the early twentieth-century artist and author, Harold Speed:
It is eminently necessary for the student to train his eye accurately to observe the forms of
things by the most painstaking of drawings. . . During your academic training let your
aim be a searching accuracy.
-Harold Speed, from The Practice and Science of Drawing
Accuracy is all about relationships. Does this dimension equal that? How far away
is that from this? Is this value relationship the same as that, etc.? It always requires
comparison.
Attributed to Xenophon and Wyatt Earp.
*
8
Charles Bargue, Figure #48 from Exercices au

fusain pour préparer a l’étude de l’académie d’aprés
nature (Charcoal Exercises in Preparation for Drawing
the Male Academic Nude), 1873.
9
To be accurate implies that a known standard is referenced. Accuracy is not sim-

ply a singular point in space, independent of all other things. Rather, it is an exact
relationship between one thing and another. It is a comparison between a known, to
an unknown. When that comparison is equal, it is considered to be accurate.
To explain this with an actual example, take a moment and think about the pro-
cess of drawing something from life. Let us say that you are drawing a figure and that
the result is the drawing on the previous page. To get the drawing up to that stage,
you had to make hundreds (perhaps thousands) of decisions. With very few excep-
tions, every one of those decisions involved perceiving and representing accurate
relationships.
What is the relationship of the left foot to the knee in the drawing? When drawing
this you had to decide what was farther to the left, the front of the toes or the knee.
In the process you had to make certain that the position of the foot and the knee cor-
rectly related to the elbow, etc. Correctly judging these relationships means that you
have accurately drawn them. Conversely, any error is considered to be inaccurate.
How Can I Train My Eye?

First off, understand that by simply drawing what you see you are training your
eye. However, much of the overall time you spend on any particular drawing is
not spent in actively learning to see, it is spent in pursuing finish. This is why I,
just like my teachers and their teachers before them, strongly recommend starts
over finish. And that is what the exercises in this book will force upon you: starts
over finish. You should spend no more than thirty minutes at a time on any of
the exercises to come, whether you finish them or not. If that is so long that you
begin to dread the exercises, limit yourself to fifteen minutes instead.
Attaining an accurate eye requires three things: standards, time, and consistency.
In these, training your eye is no different than training your voice for singing, your
hand for handwriting, or your arm for throwing. Unfortunately, when it comes to
drawing, the last hundred years or so of history have mostly dismissed this kind of
training.
10
STANDARDS
TIME
ACCURACY
CONSISTENCY
As mentioned before, the first requirement is a standard. By this I mean something

to which your guess is measured. Yes, I said “guess.” If you do not first make a guess,
your eye is not being trained. This is why I tell my students to guess first, then mea-
sure (we call this process, The Guess and Check). The after-guess measurement is what
lets you know how far off of the target you are. By following this process again and
again, over time your eye will more properly align itself to the correct placement of
what you have observed.
The standard is anything that is a known. This known must be objectively known,
which means, not influenced by your perceptions or preconceptions. Oftentimes the
known is a plumb line which, due to gravity, is a constant vertical. The standard could
also be the vertical and horizontal edges of your paper or canvas.
Triangulation also results in a common standard. Through its use, each positional
relationship is assured. I will explain more about triangulation on page 62.
Visual measurements of widths, using a plumb line held between your fingers,
calipers or dividers, provide standards that are difficult to argue with, though the
device being used does introduce certain inaccuracies. Another type of standard is
11
to use some aspect of your drawing itself. If, for example, you decide that you intend
to draw a figure that is six and a half heads tall, the dimension of the head is the
standard to which you would compare all other aspects of the figure.
The second and third requirements of training for accuracy are connected. They
are time and consistency. Neither alone will improve your skill. You must practice con-
sistently over an extended period of time to gain a lasting benefit.
Once again, it does not matter how poorly you currently draw (or think that you
do), because by simply practicing on a regular basis you will improve your visual ac-
curacy. However, there is another level to which you should aspire. And to get there,
the time/consistency combination must be further enhanced for you to gain the most
benefit from your practicing.
Those enhancements form what is known as deliberate practice.
“The art of seeing Nature . . . is in reality the great object,

the point to which all our studies are devoted.”
-Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourse XII (1784)

• Deliberate Practice •
W
orking on actual projects, like a cast drawing, is not really practice. It is
performance. During performance, many skills come into play. For prac-
tice to be effective, it should be limited to specific skills and be deliberate.
Deliberately practicing for visual accuracy requires five things:
1. You must be motivated.
2. You must build on the foundation of how you already see.
3. You must practice one thing at a time.
4. You must get feedback during and after practice.
5. You must be persistent.
Let’s unpack these.
Motivation
Ultimately, you alone are in charge of motivating yourself and that motivation will
affect your success. How important is accurate sight to you? Why are you pursuing
it? Can you overcome the frustration caused by repeating the same thing, over and
over again? Only you can answer these questions and I would suggest that you do so
before beginning the course.
How You Already See

This is a skill which you already possess. And you know what? You currently see more
accurately than you might imagine. I’ll prove it to you. Choose an object that is with-
13
in arm’s reach. Now reach out and touch the nearest corner of that object with your
index finger. If you missed, it was likely only by a hair’s width!
Your task is to hone that skill.
However, what you know oftentimes gets in the way of what you see. Therefore,
you sometimes need to practice with images that do not visually represent anything
which you might recognize. This is why many of the exercises in this book are ab-
stract shapes. They help enhance your ability to see, rather than reinforce what you
already intellectually know. As you make use of them, try to not think about what-
ever they might remind you. That is fine to do when you are drawing, but not when
you are practicing.
One Thing at a Time

Mountains are climbed one step at a time. It is no different when learning to see.
Each individual aspect of your general task must first be mastered separately. This is
why the exercises I present are so elementary, and each seeing problem is practiced
independently of the others.
Feedback
Feedback is the process of analyzing what you are doing, before, during and after the
exercise. Learning occurs when one consistently and correctly responds to feedback.
You must adjust as you go, and recall those adjustments until there is nothing more
to adjust.
If there is one aspect of self-teaching that is difficult, it is feedback. In other en-
deavors there are coaches, trainers or teachers nearby, watching what you are doing.
For the exercises in this book, even if you are in school, you are likely on your own.
Therefore, I will show you how to give yourself feedback, and how to respond to it,
throughout each exercise.
Persistence
How many times have you made a new year’s resolution? How many times have you
followed through on even one of them? Odds are, not many. Today, you must decide
to change that, relative to learning to see.
14
For persistence to be the most beneficial it must be intentional and you must be
mentally present. This sounds obvious, but it is not. Over the course of each day we
practice many things without any awareness whatsoever. You brush your teeth, you
walk, you write, etc. But, during the course of those activities, do you think about
exactly what you are doing? Very likely you do not. You do them, almost subcon-
sciously and by habit.
Furthermore, during all the times you have done those activities, have you im-
proved your skill at any of them? Probably not. In fact, your penmanship is likely
worse than just after you initially learned how to write.
Deliberate practice to gain or improve a skill is different than rote learning. Yes,
you also need to make accuracy practice a habit, but the habit is simply in the act of
doing it rather than in specifically what you are doing. So, habitually practice each
day, but make sure that what you are practicing does not devolve into unthinking,
rote practice. Your persistence needs to be with purpose and you need to be fully
present each time.

Putting all of this together provides you with your action plan. You purchased this
book and therefore you have already demonstrated some degree of motivation. You
can clearly see and write. The exercises in this book are discrete. I will show you how
to provide yourself with the necessary and timely feedback on your efforts. Your job
is to stick with it, to show up every day, and to stay focused.
As a final note on this topic I will end with a quote from the book, Practice Perfect,
by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, Katie Yezzi and Dan Heath:
One of the most counterintuitive but valuable things we’ve realized about practice is that
the value of practicing something increases once you’ve mastered it.
Take their realization to heart. While I suggest a rough schedule that you might
follow for the exercises in this book, your best choice would be to not have an end-
point in mind. You could spend the next year only doing Exercises 1 and 2 and still
derive benefit from them. With that in mind, I will make further recommendations
to you at the end of this book.
15
• How To Use This Book •
B
efore we get to the exercises, things must be said about how to use this
book and what you can expect from that use. As mentioned in the previous
chapter, there is really no defined end to training your eye because learning
to see is not a sprint, it is a lifelong marathon.
The best way to learn to see accurately through this book is to spend fifteen to
thirty minutes on the exercises, four or five days per week. In some cases, you may
need to spend a week or more on a particular exercise in order to master it. There
may also be some which require less of your time. Either way, the goal is to master
each exercise before moving on, regardless of a written schedule. My experience as a
teacher has shown that this will provide you with the most benefit. I will assume that
this is your intent and I have therefore outlined the exercises accordingly.
Regardless of your current abilities, you will do best by following the series of
exercises in the order that they are presented. Exactly what the exercises are and in
what order they appear is important. Each skill leads to the next.
At five points through the book, I have placed one Sight-Size Mini. If you can
maintain your enthusiasm with the numbered exercises, hold off on attempting the
Minis until you complete all of the other exercises. If you cannot, go ahead and do
the Minis as they appear in the sequence.
Resist the temptation to quickly finish the exercises and then move on. While
a person could complete this course in thirty days, I strongly advise you not to try.
Doing so would limit your gains over the long term. If you find that you are already
16
quite accurate on any given exercise, or a number of them, feel free to create similar
ones yourself and then practice those as well.
Even after you master an exercise, try to work it into your schedule now and then.
Remember, professional baseball players still do regular batting practice. It should be
no different for a trained artist.
Be sure to label and save all of your exercise attempts. These will become import-
ant as you will go back and review them.
The Size of the Exercises

The size of each exercise source in this book is limited by how large a standard print-
er can print. In the U.S., that is roughly 8¼" x 10¾". Since smaller areas are easier
for your eye to judge than larger areas, you will likely do quite well on the provided
exercises, right from the start. If you can easily find the center of a 2" x 6" rectangle,
how about trying a 6" x 10" one, or even larger? I suggest, therefore, that as you cre-
ate your own sources following my guides, you do so much larger than I have.
That said, there is a limit. That limit is based upon your field of vision, which is
about 60°. You want to keep the overall size of your sources small enough to be seen
at one glance. If you have to move your eyes in order to scan the entire image, it is too
big. If your source is physically within arms reach, I would not try anything beyond
16" in size.
What Do I Need to Use This Book?

There are a few common materials with which you should begin:
• Pencils (H and 2B)
• Charcoal
• Erasers (both kneaded and hard)
• A pad of drawing paper
• A pad of tracing paper
• Scissors
• A ruler
The very first step in your quest for better visual accuracy begins in the next chapter.
17
• Position •
T
o begin training your eye you should commence with learning to see ac-
curate positions. This is important because, regardless of what you are
drawing, the first mark on your paper will be one of position. You will need
to determine where to place that mark in relation to the entire sheet of paper and
in relation to where the other marks will go. As you progress with the drawing, this
skill will be in continual use.
The initial exercises are something I call, centering, although in many cases this
is a misnomer because finding the center is not always the goal.
Regardless of the term, your warm-up task is to trace the series of 20 straight
lines from following page onto a sheet of tracing paper. Use a pencil and a ruler.
Next, while using only your eye, try to find the center-point of each line. Plot
your guess with a pencil mark. After you are confident in your guesses, check them
by measuring. When checking, be sure to mark your errors by placing a new dot in
the correct place on each line.
How did you do? Were your errors consistently to one side from the center or
to the other? If so, try to make use of that knowledge on future exercises.
Speaking of future exercises, I would recommend practicing this warm-up until
you are accurate far more often than not. If it takes a day, two, or 5, stick with it.
Go ahead and create your own source lines as well. On each new attempt, rotate
the exercise 45° so that you do not recall your other attempts. You might also try
this with longer lines, and by attempting to place marks at thirds as well.
18
Exercise 1 | Centering
19
After you arrive at a high level of accuracy on a consistent basis, you should
repeat the exercise whenever you have some spare time. It does not need to be a
formal thing. Remember, practice is important not only for things which need im-
provement.
On page 22 you will see Exercise 2. It is a series of rectangles. Your task is to
find their centers. Just like you did with Exercise 1, trace these. To check your
guesses, use a ruler and cross the corners. The center is where the lines cross. I
show this with the lines in Exercise 2 > Example Check. You should do these, and
additional, self-made examples until you are consistently accurate. Once again, on
each new attempt, rotate the exercise by 45°. Try larger boxes for a more difficult
test.
When you are proficient at Exercises 1 and 2, print Exercises 3 and 4. Then,
take two sheets of tracing paper and trace each line from each page. Do not trace
the dots.
Place Exercise 3 next to its corresponding tracing and place the tracing paper
over a blank, white sheet of paper. Using your eye alone, copy the positions of the
dots, which exist on each of the lines, onto your tracing.
When you are finished with your attempt, put the tracing over the source in
order to check your guesses.
Observe how far off your guess was and then go onto the next line. After ob-
serving all of your guesses, place the tracing next to the exercise once again and try
to correct your errors. When you finish with your corrections, check them again.
Do the same for Exercise 4.
As you do these exercises, try to relate where each dot is relative to the ends of
the line. Since many of the exercise lines are curved, pay attention to the apex of
each curve (the point where the line’s main direction changes) and relate the dot,
or dots, to this as well. When you encounter a line with more than one dot on it,
try to visually triangulate their positions.*
*
See the section about Triangulation on page 62.
20
Deliberate Practice
Do each exercise as often as needed until you succeed in being accurate most of
the time. Of course, the more often you do these, the more your memory of them
will begin to influence your eye. In this case, that is not a good thing. To help miti-
gate this problem, rotate the exercise 45° on each set of attempts.
“One must teach the eye to see nature, and how many have not seen it and
never will! It is the torment of our lives.”
-Chardin (1765)
Example Example Check The Center
Exercise 2 | Centering
22
Exercise 3 | Positioning
23
Exercise 4 | Positioning
24
Targeting
The following series of position exercises, beginning on page 28, are called targeting,
and there are a number of preliminary steps to accomplish before you begin. First
off, while not strictly necessary, you will find it easier to practice if you print the
page rather than simply using it directly from your screen.
After you have printed the page, take a sheet of tracing paper and trace the
shapes with a pencil (but not the dots). You should use a ruler for the straight edg-
es. Then, cut out the shapes from both the printed exercise page and the tracing
paper. When doing this, leave the lines within the cutouts.
By now you will have noticed that the page, as well as the next few exercise
pages, show a series of dots, randomly placed within different shapes. The first set
of shapes are rectangles, the second are abstracts with straight edges and the third
are abstracts with curves. Your task will be to plot the dots, accurately within the
shapes. To do this you will need to visually relate the position of the dot, or dots,
to the outline of the shape within which they are contained. The difference in the
shapes is so that your eye becomes progressively challenged by their complexity
and the dot’s proximity to the edges. Using the aforementioned terminology, the
outline of each shape is the known to which you will compare the dot’s position.
All of the preceding directions were merely preparatory. To actually do the ex-
ercise, use the following sequence and suggestions:
1. Place one of the source shapes (begin with example A) on a blank,
white sheet of paper.
2. Place its corresponding tracing on the same sheet of paper, directly
next to the source shape. If you are left-handed, the tracing should
be on the left of the source. If you are right-handed, it should be
on the right. This arrangement is Sight-Size.
3. Make sure that the two shapes (source and tracing) are identically
angled and closely aligned to each other.
4. Close one eye and, without mechanically measuring, place a dot
on the tracing exactly where you see it on the source. To place the
25
dot, be sure to pay attention to where the dot is in relation to the

entire outline of the shape.
5. Quickly flick your eye between the source and your attempt.* Did
your dot appear to move? If so, adjust its position so that it does
not.
6. When you are confident in your placement, put the tracing over
the source to check your attempt.
7. Study the error (but only for a short while), trying to ascertain
where your dot is incorrect.
8. Reposition the cutouts, back into their original side-by-side posi-
tions, and make another attempt.
9. Once done, recheck as in step 6, only this time make a mark where
the dot should be.
Before moving on, let us talk about what you have just done. By setting your
source and the result next to each other in Sight-Size you have given your eye the
opportunity to compare in a one-to-one relationship. As mentioned before, this is
critical for learning to see accurately. You have also isolated the setup from other
visual distractions by cutting each shape apart from the others.
Next, using one eye, you have made an educated guess as to where the dot is,
relative to the outline of the shape. Using only one eye will become more import-
ant in future exercises, therefore it is best to get used to doing this now.
By flicking, you have then used your brain’s inability to instantly refresh the im-
age of the scene. This allowed you to see your mistake and correct it, which is one
form of feedback.
Finally, if you made an error and did not notice it through flicking, you used the
proof of the tracing to correct your eye.
Why is all this important? The exercise isolates the tasks that your eye and brain
must do in order to objectively determine the position of something that you see.
Remember, you learn best when you study one thing at a time.
Your next step is to follow the same process for the remaining shapes.
*
See this article for more information about flicking: http://www.sightsize.com/articles/the-blink-comparator/
Also note that some cannot see this movement no matter how fast they flick their eye. If this applies to you, the
tracing will have to be your only valid feedback.
26
Deliberate Practice
Spend as many days as possible on these exercises in order to get them correct. Try
to spend around thirty minutes on this per day.
On each day’s attempt, rotate the source and target 45° from the previous day’s
setup in order to help mitigate the influence of your visual memory.
Also, review your attempts and try to discern whether your errors are alike.
In other words, do you make consistently placed mistakes? Or, are your mistakes
more varied? If the answer is the former, keep this in mind as you continue with
the exercises.
Moving Forward
The entire process described thus far is something which you will follow for many
of the exercises in this book. I will note within the exercises when there are devia-
tions from this, but you should basically proceed as stated.
Additionally, I will assume that you intend to follow my recommendation to do
each exercise until you master most of the examples in it. After that, you should
move onto the next exercise and so on.
Be sure to save your exercises so that you can review them at a later date.
For extra credit, go ahead and make up some of your own exercises, following
the ones I provide. Be sure, however, to wait a day between creation and doing.
Otherwise, your brain’s memory of the creation could impact your attempts.
If you choose to create your own exercises, make your lines longer and your
shapes larger than in the examples. The larger they are, the more difficulty you will
have in accurately placing the dots.
27
A B
C D
E F
G
Exercise 5 | Targeting
28
A B C
D E
F G
I
H
29
A B C
E
D
F G
H
I
30
• Sight-Size Mini #1 •
J
ust about every exercise in this course is a miniature version of a Sight-Size
project. The difference between those exercises and a Sight-Size Mini is
that the Minis use real life, three-dimensional objects for your sources. This
aspect integrates all of the skills you will learn throughout the entire course. In a
sense, the Minis are like simple musical compositions compared to the scales of the
exercises.
There are many ways to do a Mini, but there is a problem. Without a teacher’s
eye to check your work, you are left on your own. With the main exercises of this
course, the tracing paper is what allows you to teach yourself. That is not possible
when using actual objects. To solve the dilemma, you will use a grid and a hand
mirror.
Take a look at the bottom photograph on page 35. It is a Sight-Size Mini setup
using a pair of scissors as the object being drawn. Since the student was left-hand-
ed, the scissors are on the right and the drawing is on the left.
Notice that both the pair of scissors and the drawing area are bounded by a
penciled box. The box is divided into two sections by a line; one section for the
object and the other for the drawing. There is also a uniform grid across both sec-
tions.
The difference between this and a normal drawing grid is that here the object is
in front of the grid. This results in a drawing that is slightly larger than the actual
size of the object. Another difference is that a normal drawing grid requires that
your viewing point be consistent and stationary. We do not necessarily have the
31
ability to do that here. Nonetheless, our grid does serve an important purpose. It is
there to give you feedback.
As you progress through the course, the interspersed Minis will get more diffi-
cult and I will slowly help you dispense with the grid entirely. For now though, it is
a necessary instrument used in learning to see.
For this Mini you are going to use a simple, man-made object as your source.
The setup is below:
1. On a sheet of drawing paper, use a pencil and ruler to draw a box
that is large enough to fit your object in one dimension, and twice
as long in the other.
2. Divide the box in half, vertically, with a pencil line.
3. Further divide the two boxes in half, both vertically and horizon-
tally.
4. You now have a large box, split into two sections: a drawing area
and a subject area. Each of the two are subdivided into quarters.
5. Divide the two boxes into eighths vertically and fourths horizon-
tally. This results in each box subdivided into thirty-two identical
rectangles. You can see an example of this in the top image on
page 35.
To do the drawing:
1. Although the initial setup will take some time, spend about thirty
minutes on the actual drawing, although fifteen minutes would be
better.
2. Place the drawing paper on a tabletop and the object on the paper,
within the object area. If possible, arrange the paper on a desk or
tabletop so that you can view the entire paper from above. If you
cannot stand and look down, but prefer to sit, you will want the
paper on a slightly tilted drawing board. The goal for this place-
ment is to assure that your viewing position remains as consistent
as possible throughout the course of the drawing.
32
3. Evenly light the entire page. Have the light (or window) positioned
from the upper-right if you are left-handed or the upper-left if you
are right-handed.
4. Close one eye to reduce your perception of depth and begin draw-
ing the outline of the object. As you do, pay attention to where the
object’s shape is in relation to the entire border.
5. Be mindful of where the object’s outline is within each of the grid’s
sections. However, try to also see and draw through the grid’s divi-
sions as if they were not present.
6. As you draw, frequently flick your eye between the object and your
drawing. When a visual jump or blink is noticed, concentrate on
the part of the shape and correct it. This flicking process will not
work if you have changed your viewing position even slightly. That
is why most artists who used a drawing grid, from Albrecht Dürer
forward, also suggested the use of a stable viewing apparatus.
7. With the time restraint in mind, if you complete the outline go
ahead and outline the shadow shapes as well. If you do not have
time for that, don’t worry as you are more interested in starts than
finish.
8. For feedback and to check your work, use a hand mirror to visually
rotate the setup 180°. To do this, stay in your drawing position and
lay an edge of the mirror across your eyebrows. Tilt the mirror up
(and tilt your head, if needed) until you can see the setup in it, in
the same orientation as without the mirror.
9. When you find an error, use your pencil to mark the spot but do not
actually correct it yet.
10. Once you feel that you have marked all the errors, set the mirror
aside and correct your errors, using the marks as guides.
Steps 8 through 10 are the critical steps in this process. It is through them that your
eye is getting the proper feedback and acting upon it.
33
Feel free to do a Mini as often as you like. I would suggest, however, that you
limit yourself to starts for now. Remember to that Minis do not replace the regular
exercises. They are supplemental.
“Any reasonably capable youth can readily master all of the technical
problems in existence in a few short months, but it requires many a long
and weary year to learn to see.”
-Birge Harrison (1909)

34
The basic grid for the first

Sight-Size Mini’s. Each
section has 32 divisions.
A completed example of
the first Sight-Size Mini
with some of the errors
indicated with small tick
marks.
This arrangement was

for a left-handed student.
Right-handed students
should have the object
on the left and their
drawing on the right.
Be careful about using a

photograph of the setup
as feedback. Trying to
place your camera’s lens
in the exact spot as your
eye is almost impossible.
Instead, rely on your eye,
the grid, and your mirror.
35
• Angle •
A
ngles are everywhere and correctly determining the angle of a line is skill
that is easy to practice. Angles are also relative. For an angle to be an
angle it must be compared to something else. Often, this is a vertical or
horizontal and the angle is described relative to that. This description fits perfectly
with how we draw. When in Sight-Size (and at times, even when not), a plumb line
is used to give the artist a known vertical. It is to this line that other lines on the
source are referenced and corrected.
The first exercise in this section is shown on page 38. Your initial task is to print
out that page. You should then trace the vertical lines (using a ruler, pencil and
tracing paper). Do not trace the angled lines.
To do the actual exercise, align the tracing paper to the side of the printout. Us-
ing a ruler, if you like, try to draw the corresponding angle in Example A. Do not
worry about the length of the line, just concentrate on its angle from the known
vertical line I have given you. Remember to flick your eye between your attempt
and the source in order to check the result. When you are confident in your at-
tempt, check it by repositioning the tracing paper over the source. If you erred, do
not erase the error, instead try one more time. You will use the errant line to help
you to better judge the correct one.
Complete each example on the entire sheet, following the same procedure as
outlined above. After that, if you have not accurately drawn each angle (or cor-
rectly redrawn them on your second attempt), try the entire sheet once again. This
36
time, however, arrange your setup on a tilt so that the verticals are roughly at a
45° angle. This tilt will negate any visual memory or knowledge you might have
gleaned from the first time through.
After you succeed more often than you fail, follow the same instructions for Ex-
ercise 9. This time, however, trace the horizontal lines.
Exercise 10 contains knowns which are themselves slightly angled. In these ex-
amples the known that you should trace up to you. Therefore, feel free to trace ei-
ther line within each example pair.
The examples in Exercise 11 are like a trick question on a test. They represent
slight optical illusions which will make your eye struggle to find the proper angle.
To do this exercise, trace the lines which are attached to the dots. These lines will
serve as the knowns. Then, as before, draw the remaining line in its proper angle.
Exercise 12 is similar to Exercise 11 except that the illusion is made more com-
plicated by the addition of known lines that are curved. Also, some of the examples
have two lines for you to draw by eye. As with Exercise 11, trace the lines that are
terminated with dots. Then try to draw the remaining lines.
Deliberate Practice
Just like you did with the Position exercises, try to spend fifteen to thirty minutes
per day, for a week on each of these exercises (or as often it takes to succeed with
most of the examples). On each new attempt, do not forget to rotate the arrange-
ment by 45°.
Again, feel free to make up some of your own exercises as well. When doing
this, make your lines longer than I have in the exercises. The longer the line, the
more difficult your task will be.
Also, begin to notice the utility poles in your neighborhood. Odds are they are
not absolutely vertical nor parallel to each other. How about the road or street sign
poles?
37
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 8 | Angle
38
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 9 | Angle
39
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 10 | Angle
40
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 11 | Angle
41
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 12 | Angle
42
• Review and Test •
A
t this point you are roughly one third of the way into this course. Congrat-
ulations, you have accomplished something. But before you move forward
you have a few tasks to which to attend.
First, go back and look at your completed exercise sheets. If you take each ex-
ercise on its own, can you discern areas where you made the same kinds of errors?
If so, pay attention to this feedback and on the next set of exercises try to slightly
overcompensate back from the direction of those errors.
Next, you should test yourself. Choose any of the previous exercises and redo
it. Once finished, compare it to your first attempts on that exercises. How did you
do this time? If better than the first time, go forward to Sight-Size Mini #2 on the
next page.
If, however, your test attempt was not as good as you had hoped, there are a
number of possible reasons for failure. I would recommend that you go back and
reread the initial three chapters of this book
After that, if it were me, I would begin again with Exercise 1. Remember, this
is not a sprint. It is a marathon.
43
W
hile I realize that this Mini is labeled #2, this does not necessarily mean
that it is the second one you should do. I suggest doing a few more Mini
#1’s , following the previous directions, before you move to Sight-Size
Mini #2. For those, keep the same number of grid subdivisions and limit yourself
to relatively flat source objects. My students use cutlery, leaves that are not too
curled, and small flowers.
After you can accurately draw the outline of your object within fifteen minutes,
you are ready to move on to Mini #2.
Mini #2 is similar to Mini #1 except that you will use fewer divisions in the
grid. You will notice, on the following page, that each section has only sixteen divi-
sions. This limit is to slowly ween you off of the reliance on the grid.
Additionally, the vertical divisions have indications on the sides where other
divisions might go. These can be useful because you can estimate where the lines
would be if they were drawn in. They are partially imagined reference points.
Do a number of these little drawings. When your object has a clear shadow line,
feel free to delineate it, just like you do the outline.
Remember to always close one eye and to be sure to continue to use your mirror
for feedback.
44
This is an example of the Sight-Size Mini #2 setup. Each section has 16 grid divisions.
Also notice the vertical indications on the sides, which do not correspond to actual, drawn lines.
45
• Distance •
D
rawing is more than accurately plotting points and finding angles. It is
also determining the correct distance between two points and between
the other areas of the object.

Print out all three exercises in this section. Use tracing paper to trace the knowns
(this time the knowns are the lines without terminating dots).
For Exercises 13 and 14, begin by plotting the dots on each end of a line, by
eye and onto the tracing paper. Then, draw the line between them and go onto
the next. Remember to compare your attempt to the known and to flick your eye
between your attempt and the source in order to check the result.
After your attempts, check your accuracy by putting the tracing over the source.
When you spot an error, note it in your mind and check the next line. Once all are
checked, go back and try to correct the errors by eye.
For Exercise 15, determine the beginning point of each line but not the ending
point. Simply try to draw the length of the line at its proper dimension in one go.
This exercise may be the most challenging yet so be prepared to spend some seri-
ous time on it.

Deliberate Practice
Continue with these exercises until you succeed. On every new attempt, vary the
angle of the setup so that your mind is not recalling previous one.
46
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 13 | Distance
47
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 14 | Distance 48
C
D
G H
Exercise 15 | Distance
49
Intervals
The final set of exercises in the Distance section are called intervals. An interval is
the space between points. An accurate eye correctly sees not only singular points
and intervals, but ever larger groups of them. Therefore, as you improve your eye’s
accuracy for specifics, you should also seek to increase your ability to accurately see
in larger segments. This is part of what is called, seeing the whole.
To better understand this concept, take a look at the first image below. In it you
see that I have placed red dots at the positions where the outline makes a major
directional change. These are called salient points. In some cases the choice was a bit
subjective and I could also have chosen additional points.
The next image simply shows those points, connected by straight lines. You
might recognize this as a block-in and it is how many artists begin a drawing. The
key here is that all those points have a relationship to each other. That relationship
is both horizontal and vertical. To create an accurate drawing of the arm, you
would need to accurately position all of those points and they should read as true,
as a whole.
50
In the later stages of drawing you would want to visually trace your eye along
the entire upper contour of the source, numerous times. You would then do the
same on your drawing. Comparing the two visual tracings should reveal any differ-
ences between the source and your drawing. During this process your eye sees both
the points and the intervals (the spacing between the points). Due to your visual
working memory, you see the differences when you switch your focus over to your
drawing.
Let’s see if you can correctly place the points in their proper intervals, as shown
in the box below, by eye. First, using some tracing paper, trace the box. Also, trace
the first point, along with every other point. There is no need to make the points as
large as I have in the examples. Then, using only your eye and visual triangulation,
try to accurately plot the remaining points.
As you do this, pay attention to not only the distances between the known points
on each side of your target point, but also to the next set of points. You want to try
to think about the larger picture, not simply the smaller one of point-to-point.
Connect the points with lines, as you see on the example.
Finally, quickly trace your eye along the line on the source image. Begin at one
end and follow the points to the other end. Then, jump back to the beginning and
visually trace once again. Do this a half dozen times. When done, do the same
routine on your drawing. Correct any errors you see.
When you think you are finished, go ahead and check your results.
For the second warm-up, trace the same box. Also trace, beginning from the
left, the first, fourth, seventh and last points. When you are finished tracing, rotate
the tracing and the source by 90° so that it is vertically oriented. Then place the re-
maining points using just your eye following the same procedure I outlined above.
Check your results when finished.
51
The farther away the points are from each other, and from the border, the more
difficult it will be for your eye to accurately place them. Therefore, the first warm-
up was likely a bit easier than the second.
On the following two pages I provide eight more examples of this exercise –
four horizontals and four verticals. To do them, use the directions from the pre-
ceding two warm-ups. You will therefore do each of the provided examples in two
ways: the first with more given points and the second with fewer given points.
Accurately complete these 4x2 sets, even if it takes you a few times for each.
After you succeed, create a number of your own examples, only make yours larger
than mine. If you are using an 8½" x 11" sheet of paper, draw two boxes which
combined, fill the page. Then, randomly place your dots within them. This will
further test your eye since distance (a larger box size and point relationships) will
make it more difficult.
To make things even more difficult, after an attempt, or two, try to do them
without tracing any givens.
52
Exercise 16 | Intervals
53
A B C D
Exercise 17 | Intervals 54
• Curvature •
F
ew things in nature are absolutely straight. It is therefore not surprising that
the exercises should begin to focus on curves. Of course a curve, like an an-
gle, is nothing if it is not compared to some given or known. In these cases
this is a straight line.
You will notice that the first exercise (Exercise 18) in this section contains a se-
ries of straight and curved lines. Print out the page, trace each straight line and try
to freehand the curved lines. Check your work like you have done before.
Exercise 19 shows a set of differently sized boxes, within each is a curved shape.
Print out the page and trace each box using a ruler. Then, cut out each source as
well as your tracing. Arrange the pairs in Sight-Size and try to accurately freehand
each curve. As you draw, pay attention to how the curve aligns to the sides of the
box. Go ahead and lightly shade in the shaded side of the shape if you prefer, but
do not try to match its value. Again, as before, check your accuracy by putting the
tracing over the source. When you spot an error, note it and check the next curve.
Once all are checked, go back and try to correct the errors by eye.
Follow the same process for Exercise 20.

Deliberate Practice
Spend as many days as is needed on these exercises to get them mostly correct. On
each new attempt, as before, vary the angle of the setup.
55
A B
C D
E F G H
Exercise 18 | Curvature
56
A B
C D
E F
G H
57
A B
C D
E F
G H
58
F
or this Sight-Size Mini, I am going to recommend a change in orientation.
Instead of using a tabletop as your subject and drawing support, you are
going to use a wall. In fact, drawing in this way is almost exactly like is done
with a traditional Sight-Size setup.
Create your grid and drawing surface like you see on the following page. Each
area has four, identical divisions and six division indications. Next, tack, pin, or
tape the paper to a wall. This should be at eye-level and the wall should have a
fairly even light source. Also make sure that you have the paper level.
Pin your object onto the proper section. With this in mind, you will need to use
an object which can be pinned and that is not too heavy. Leaves work well, as do
feathers, insects, moths, butterflies, small flowers, etc.
To do the drawing, stand directly in front of the setup, at arms-length, and
begin. If you want to keep your drawing arm in position, as if you were doing the
complete contour at once, that is fine. Or, you could draw section by section in-
stead. Try to use not only the delineated divisions for your shape estimations, but
also the ones which are only indicated by the marks around the border. As always,
keep one eye closed when looking at your source.
This arrangement should allow you to maintain a steady viewing position for
the next fifteen minutes. That is good because you will have a better chance of
being accurate if you do.
Do a number of these and be diligent about using your mirror for feedback.
59
This is an example of the Sight-Size Mini #3 setup. Each section has 4 grid divisions.
Also notice that the border has marks that indicate additional divisions.
60
• Shape •
T
he following shape exercises combine everything you have learned so far
in this book. You must determine the placements of the corners, as well as
the angles and distances between them.
Exercise 21 is simply a number of boxes. Your task is to accurately draw them
in both shape and size on a sheet of tracing paper. Feel free to shade in the shapes
if you want. It can sometimes help.
First, print the page and then cutout the shapes. When cutting, leave some
room around the shapes. In other words, do not cut along the lines. Arrange the
first source example and the tracing paper side-by-side in Sight-Size.
To begin, trace one side of each shape. I would then plot the corners by eye
and connect them with the proper lines. Pay attention to angles and distance. As
you draw, but only after an honest guess, check your attempts by triangulation (as
described on the following page). Also, do not forget to flick your eye between the
source and your drawing.
Follow the same instructions for Exercises 22, 23 and 24. Feel free to trace a
line, or section, to be used as your given.
Deliberate Practice
As always, spend as many days as is needed on these exercises to get them mostly
correct. On each new attempt, vary the angle of the setup by 45° so that your mind
is not recalling the previous attempts.
61
Triangulation
Triangulation is the act of using two, known points to find a third. To do this you
will need some sort of a straight edge and it is common to use one’s pencil, char-
coal stick or paint brush. In the example image below, I am using my charcoal.
Initially, I marked the two points (represented in green). I was happy with their
placements and the angle between them. Next, I made a guess as to where the cor-
ner of the heel should be. Then, on the source image and using my charcoal stick,
I visually aligned it between the bottom point and the area represented by the red
dot (which was my intended target). I then compared that angle to the same one
on my drawing.
As I moved my hand between the
source and my drawing, I tried to
maintain the determined angle of the
charcoal so that I could accurately
transfer and compare.
I then did the same thing again, only
this time using the upper point as my
starting point. You can see this part of
the process in the image.
The proper placement of the target
point is exactly where the angles from
each of the two known points inter-
sect.
If there is a curve in the shape, try
to first divide it into facets. Then, once
plotted, lightly erase and draw the
proper shape of the curve.
This is an important drawing tech-
nique because it provides you with a
very accurate and relational compari-
son. Of course, to learn, you must first
make an unaided guess.
62
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 21 | Shape
63
A B
C D
E F
G H
Exercise 22 | Shape 64
Exercise 23 | Shape
65
Exercise 24 | Shape 66
Intervals 2
Back on page 50, I explained the concepts of intervals and salient points. Of
course, nature is rarely faceted like a block-in or those interval exercises. Now that
your eye is more in tune, you should be able to manage more complex exercises
and therefore it is time to learn intervals via curves.
Above is the same arm from the previous explanation, only this time I followed
the actual curvature of the arm more closely than can be done with straight lines.
Notice that I still used the same salient points and that my delineation is overly
simplified.
Do you remember when, during the previous interval exercises, I asked you to
run your eye along the line very quickly? If you were aware enough during the
process you might have noticed a very slight visual stop at each point. This was
because of the artificial facets I imposed upon you. At the time, it was a necessary
evil, but now let’s dispense with facets and lean into nature a little more directly.
Below is the line from the previous image, only this time by itself. Notice that it
is a compound, flowing curve. And yet, there are still some visual sticking points.
67
Were you to run your eye along it as previously suggested, at each corner or
sharp direction change, your eye would also need to abruptly change direction.
Due to that, your eye would likely over-compensate on the next interval curve and
swing wider than is necessary. It is somewhat like driving on a slippery road.
The arrows in the image below point to those visual sticking points.
This over-compensation also occurs when you draw. Some swing wide and oth-
ers, subconsciously aware of the issue, undershoot instead.
In my opinion, a better approach, for actual drawing as well as accuracy train-
ing, is to first simplify the intervals. You will see what I mean in the image below.
The simplified curve follows the facets that were initially drawn.
Now, when you run your eye along its entire length, from left to right, the only
real slowdown is at the beginning of the bicep. This is quite close to what you
would see on an actual figure in nature when you took this step in the process. Your
eye would skip over the smaller intervals and the shape would appear as a relatively
smooth compound curve. Only major changes would cause your eye to pause.
Many artists are trained to see from large to small and this is my background
as well. The aforementioned example is a simplified explanation of that process.
Summing up, it is as follows:
1. Find the essential salient points.
2. Block-in the intervals, in angles, between the points.
3. Smooth out the angles into simplified curves which more directly match
the source image.
68
4. Working in increasingly smaller divisions, break the larger curves into

their smaller intervals.
Unlisted in-between each step is the checking process I discussed in the previous
interval explanation. At each step, the problems being faced gets smaller. And so
does the checking process.
That long explanation brings us to the following image, which I have boxed for
visual context. It is similar to the second image that you saw on the previous page,
but I made a few subtle changes. Let’s consider the bottom image on page 67, your
source, and the image on this page, your drawing. Run your eye, from either direc-
tion, along the source image’s line a few times. Then do the same on your drawing.
Can you spot the differences?
In the non-practice world of drawing, once you corrected those errors you
would then search out the smaller ones.
The following two pages contain horizontal and vertical curved interval exer-
cises. Trace the boxes and the points, only make the points less noticeable than I
have. Then, place your tracing next to the source and try to draw the curves that
you see on the source. Once you have completed the line, run your eye along the
source line a few times. Do the same on your attempt and correct any errors that
you see.
When you finish all of the examples, do them again, rotated 180°.
Deliberate Practice
When you become more accurate than not, create your own examples. To do this,
you might print out some old master drawings that you find on the Internet or in a
book. On your attempts, try to limit your source image to a portion of the original
drawing. The practice is in running your eye along a line, not around a shape.
69
Exercise 25 | Interval Curves 70

A B C D
Exercise 26 | Interval Curves

71
• Review and Test •
Y
ou are now two-thirds of the way through this course. I hope that all is well
and that you notice an improvement in your eye’s accuracy. Do you? Let
us find out.
To check, go back and review your previous attempts at the exercises. As before,
do you see any errors that appear consistent? If so, make note of this.
Next, you should test yourself like you did awhile back. Choose any of the pre-
vious exercises and redo it.
How did you do? Very well, I hope. If not, redo Exercises 16, 20 and 22 until
you do the examples correctly more often than not.
As mentioned before, the reason we use abstract shapes for these exercises is so
that you are relying on your eye alone, not on your memory or knowledge of what
the shape represents.
Now I am going to overrule that reasoning. When you draw, you are also instill-
ing the image being drawn into your visual memory. The shapes of human bones
are a good thing to have in that memory so why not use them?
I suggest that you acquire a copy of Artistic Anatomy by Dr. Paul Richer. As it is
now in the public domain, you may find it online, for free.* Once you have it, try
to freehand in Sight-Size all of the plates which show isolated bones. Use tracing
paper to make it easier to check your accuracy.
At the time of this book’s writing, it Artistic Anatomy is available here for free:
*
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-205846
72
S
ight-Size Mini #4 is similar to #3, but with fewer grid divisions. In fact, each
section only has two. Nonetheless, you will have four indications where the
divisions in Mini #3 were placed. Follow the same directions as you did for
the previous Mini’s, which are on page 59. The example for Mini 4 is on next page.
An additional difference between Mini #3 and #4 is that I want you to pay spe-
cial attention to the work you have done with intervals. Try to see the entire flow
of the curve in your object’s outline.
With that in mind, begin by blocking the outline in. Keep flicking your eye be-
tween your source and your drawing, looking for visual jumps or blinks. If your
chosen object has a lot of internal shapes, like flower petals, try to draw those as
well. Feel free to block-in any large shadow shapes too.
When you are satisfied with the block-in and the intervals, ghost-out the draw-
ing.* Then, redraw the contour, paying special attention to the intervals of the
curves.
Limit yourself to thirty minutes of drawing time, not including setup. Here
again, doing more of these starts will be more beneficial for your visual accuracy
quest than only taking a few to a high level of finish over a longer period of time.
Do not forget to use your mirror and to close one eye.
*
Ghosting-out a drawing means to erase it just to the point where you can still barely see it. This allows you to correct
your errors and refine the drawing while making use of the initial indications.
73
This is an example of the Sight-Size Mini #4 setup.

Each section is divided in half and the border has marks that indicate additional divisions.
74
• Value •
A
ccuracy for value is something which can be difficult to train remotely.
The issue is in the source materials I can present to you. In person, I would
give you exercises created with whatever medium I wanted you to use:
pencil, charcoal or paint. That way, your use of the same medium would help to
assure your success.
Nonetheless, we do have some hope. You should understand that when it comes
to value, the accuracy you seek is relative. And that is a good thing because your
medium will often not reach the extremes of value that you see on your source.
But, if you can keep all of your values relative to each other, as you see on your
source, it will not matter.
On page 80 you will find Exercise 27 and following that, Exercise 28. Each
contains a series of value triplets, quads, etc. I have limited the range of these
values to more closely approximate those which charcoal can reach (soft, medium
and hard), though you might use pencil instead. Having said that, I cannot control
your screen, nor your printer, and their ranges may well be beyond that of your
medium. Regardless, print out both of those exercise pages.
Some of the value squares in the strips are only subtly different from each other
and no two adjacent values will be identical. If your print does not show this well
enough, you may need to create your own strips. This is fine as you will eventually
need to do this anyway.
Unlike the previous exercises, for value you will not use tracing paper. Instead,
use some drawing paper that has very little tooth. On that paper, draw the same
75
series of value strips, in pencil, as you see in the exercises. Each square in each strip
that you draw should be about 1" x 1". When drawing the strips, do not shade the
squares yet, but go ahead and lightly draw separation lines between the values.
You should then cut the strips apart. With these exercises, try to cut right along
the lines. Also cut the strips apart from the exercise printouts.
Beginning with Exercise 27, Example A, arrange the source and your strip, on
a sheet of white paper, horizontally, side-by-side to each other.
Squint and lightly shade the darkest square using charcoal. Do not yet try to
exactly match the correct value. When shading this and all squares from now on,
do your best to shade evenly (what artists call, flat). I teach shading using a series of
parallel, 45° lines. I do not allow smudging nor using a blending stick (also called a
tortillon). Regardless of your method, your task is to arrive at an even value.
Next, squint and lightly shade in the lightest square. Once again, slightly under-
shoot its actual value. Try to keep this square and the darkest square equally lighter
than their sources.
You have now created a lighter version of the relative extremes of the strip.
These extremes are called the darkest dark and the lightest light.
Squint and shade in the remaining square, to a value that is as equally as light
as the two extremes. If you have done this correctly, your strip is now identical to
the source, but keyed a bit higher.
As you might have guessed, to properly see value relationships you must squint
your eye(s) down a bit and then flick them between the source and your strip. Do
this now. Do any of the relationships appear to jump? If so, adjust the shading on
the errant square.
What you have been doing so far is sneaking up on the values. The reason is two-
fold. First, you will not see the correct value in isolation because your perception
of values in the scene are relative to their surroundings. Therefore, you will not
arrive at the actual (or relative) value until the other values are shaded in. Second,
to achieve many of the darkest values requires layering and adjusting those layers
as you go.
You will now key your values down, closer to the actual key of the source. You
might find that you can achieve the same values as you see, or not. If you can, that’s
76
great! If you cannot, remember that the more important aspect is that you arrive
at accurate value relationships.
Go back to the darkest square and shade it a bit darker. Then do the same on
the lighter square and then the remaining square. Continue this process until you
think that you have succeeded. Keep squinting to see how dark you must go.
When you finish, overlay your strip partially on top of the source and slightly
squint down once again. By overlaying it like this you should see your strip and the
source as if they are one. If your values do not match, separate your strip from the
source and correct.
Squinting
You will notice that I have asked that you squint when trying to ascertain the prop-
er values. Squinting visually simplifies things, which helps you to determine the
correct values you are seeing.
When you look directly at something, your eye adjusts its sensitivity based on
the values and colors it its field of view. One can perceive this happening when
you go from a dark room to intense sunlight. Your eyes adjust. The same thing
happens, on a minute scale, all of the time, based upon what you are focusing on.
Squinting mitigates that adjustment and helps you to see both the true value and
its relationship the other values nearby.
Isolated or Relative Values?

Before proceeding further, something needs to be said about the practice of isolat-
ing values. Achieving accurate values through isolation is done by matching each
value independently of the others. When a value is out of the gamut of the artist’s
materials, its value is lowered (or raised) to as close a match as possible. Then, the
other values in the scene are similarly adjusted so that the overall impression is
maintained.
I do not teach this way, but neither am I criticizing it.
The relative approach determines value by comparing the relationships of each
value to each other. Accurate compression (adjusting to your material’s gamut) is
achieved, in part, by first keying each value to the darkest dark and lightest light.
77
My preference is the relative approach, although it and isolating are not mu-
tually exclusive. If you are otherwise taught to isolate, that’s fine. Nonetheless, I
suggest that you follow my approach for these exercises.
As you shade the examples in the exercises, you should be aware of the relation-
ship of all of the values in the source strips to each other. You do this as follows:
1. Compare the value on which you are working to the darkest dark
and to the lightest light extremes.
2. Compare two values, which are physically close, to each other.
3. Compare the relationship of those two values to an extreme value
in the strip. This assures that you maintain a consistent value range
among all of the squares.
The purpose of this type of seeing is to help you maintain correct relationships.
This is highly important because, as mentioned before, the value range of your
materials will not likely match that of your source. Working in the way I have de-
scribed above helps to mitigate this because you will not be adjusting your range
piece by piece. You will do it at every step and in the proper relationships from the
start.
With this in mind, do your best to keep all of the values of all of the squares
shaded to the same level of finish.
Practically speaking, the process to follow for the rest of Exercise 27 and all of
Exercise 28 is this:
1. Arrange the source and your strip, horizontally side-by-side on a
sheet of mid-toned gray paper.
2. Determine the darkest value square and lightly shade that in (do
not yet attempt to hit the exact value).
3. Determine the lightest square and lightly shade that in (under-shade
it as much as you did on the darkest square).
4. Do the same for the remaining squares, so that the entire strip is
uniformly at a higher key than the source.
5. Compare all values to the extremes in the strip, and to each other.
78
6. Squint and flick as you go in order to most effectively compare.

7. Make additional, darker passes on all of the squares until they ap-
pear perfect in their proper value relationships (and hopefully their
actual value).
8. Place your strip partially on top of the source.
9. Squint and flick to check your accuracy.
10. Correct as necessary, and so on.
Deliberate Practice
As you review your attempts, look for any common error you might have made.
Are you consistently too dark or too light?
Here again, I would recommend spending fifteen to thirty minutes a day for a
week on each exercise, depending on how successful your results are at the end of
the first week. For variation, flip the source and strips 180° from how you have been
doing them. You might also place the source and target strips farther apart than
you have been doing. This will require you to compare between a greater distance,
which is more akin to how we actually draw and paint.
79
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
Exercise 27 | Value
80
I
A
Exercise 28 | Value
81
• Value 2 •
V
alue strips are not that interesting. Nonetheless, they are important exer-
cises because they force you to focus on value relationships without the
worry of shape concerns.
Exercise 29 contains a series of abstract value shapes. To do these exercises,
print out the page. On sheets of drawing paper, draw the boxes which separate the
examples. I suggest that you draw two for each example. Then, cut them apart.
For these exercises you could use pencil, but you can continue to use charcoal if
you prefer.
Beginning with Example A, draw the boundaries of each value shape. Then, as
you did for the previous Value exercises:
1. Find the darkest dark, then the lightest light.
2. Continues to sneak up on the values and keep all values moving
along at the same rate of finish.
3. Be sure to squint and try to perceive all of the values relative to all
others.
4. Check your work as before.
Accurately do each example in Exercise 29, twice, before moving on. On each
new attempt, rotate the example and your drawing by 45°.

82
A B
C D
E F
Exercise 29 | Value Abstracts

83
Old Master Landscape Value Studies

Exercises 30 and 31 show a total of twelve examples of Old Master landscape
paintings. I both have cropped them and turned them into greyscale images. The
first example in Exercise 30 also has an example of what your value study should
look like.
As before, print these pages and draw the border boxes with a pencil on a sheet
of drawing paper.
On Exercise 30, take a look at my example study (upper-right) and you will no-
tice that it is a greatly simplified version of the source. To create it, I first squinted
down in an effort to reduce the observed details. I then outlined the main value
shapes I saw. Still squinting, I followed the directions for the previous exercise.
Deliberate Practice
As with Exercises 27 and 28, be on the lookout for consistent errors in value rela-
tionships.
Rather than repeating my examples, find some of your own using art books,
the Internet or, better yet, real paintings in a museum. Keep your versions small
enough that you can complete them in no more than thirty minutes.
84
Exercise 30 | Old Master Landscape Studies

85
Exercise 31 | Old Master Landscape Studies

86
T
he setup for Mini #5 is identical to #4 but for the lack of grid divisions. If
you are confident, you might even dispense with the division indications
on the borders altogether.
The process you should follow also matches what you did on Minis #3 and
#4. The difference here is that this time I also want you to accurately shade in a
simplified version of the values that you see.
1. Create your source and drawing surface as is shown on the follow-
ing page.
2. Arrange the setup like you did in Minis #3 and #4.
3. Close one eye and using charcoal do your best to accurately outline
your subject. For feedback, flick your eye between the two, and also
use your mirror.
4. Delineate any major shadow shapes and value transitions.
5. Squint and shade the scene in no more than five values.* Try not to
blend, but keep the five values sharply defined.
6. Keep your drawing time on this to no more than thirty minutes.
7. For feedback, do the following three checks:
1. Q
uickly flick your eye between the source and your drawing.
2. Squint.
3. Use your mirror.
*
If your subject is quite simple, you may limit your values to three.
87
This is an example of the final Sight-Size Mini setup.

There is no grid, but the border has marks that indicate the previous Mini divisions.
88
• A Final Word •
L
ike a musician or athlete, you should never be finished with practicing, and
yet there will be a sense of completion and accomplishment now that you
have finished this book. If you have diligently and deliberately practiced all
along, you will be able to randomly choose any of the previous exercises and accu-
rately succeed in doing it.
In fact, why not try that now?
How did you do?
Whatever the answer, now is the time to review all of your exercises and once
again look for patterns in your errors. With that information, redo the exercises
which had the most errors, until you can complete them accurately.
I suggest that my students do a number of daily exercises to keep their skills up
to date. High on the list are things at which they are currently quite good because
without practice, your skill diminishes. Most students find that the Positioning (tar-
gets and centering) and Curvature exercises fall into this category. You can deter-
mine which of these you should do, through the review I just mentioned.
In a perfect world, you would spend fifteen minutes a day doing a series of your
best exercises. Twice a week, you would swap in an exercise on which you strug-
gled. You would also practice things around you, which could serve as impromptu
exercises. This routine would help you to maintain your accurate eye.

89
A Brief Biography of the Author
Darren R. Rousar studied privately with Richard Lack and attended Atelier LeSueur
(both in Minnesota) as well as Studio Cecil-Graves in Florence, Italy. During the
mid-1990’s he was the assistant director and an instructor at Charles Cecil Studios in
Florence. In 1997 he became vice president of The Minnesota River School of Fine
Art in Burnsville, Minnesota.
He has been a professional artist and teacher for more than 20 years. His
paintings are focused mainly on Christian themes. Darren is currently an art teacher
at Providence Academy in Plymouth, Minnesota.
In addition to authoring this book, he is also the author of two books about
Sight-Size, Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach and Cast Painting Using the Sight-
Size Approach and the producer of a companion DVD, Sight-Size and the Art of Seeing.
Through his company, Velatura Press, he republished an expanded edition of E.
G. Lutz’s 1921 book, Drawing Made Easy. In 2013, Velatura Press also republished
Landscape Painting, which is a combined edition of Asher B. Durand’s Letters on Landscape
Painting and Birge Harrison’s Landscape Painting.
www.studiorousar.com | www.sightsize.com
Other books and DVDs currently available from Velatura Press
Landscape Painting: Asher B. Durand | Birge Harrison

In 1855, Asher B. Durand, a founder of the National Academy of Design and a leading member
of the Hudson River School, wrote a series of articles for his brother’s art magazine, The Crayon.
The nine articles, Letters on Landscape Painting, outlined Durand’s thoughts on learning how to paint
landscapes. They are considered by many to be the textbook for the Hudson River School.
In the early 1900s, Birge Harrison, a prominent figure in the American Tonalist movement
and a director of the landscape school of the Art Students League, gave a series of lectures to
the students at the League’s summer school in Woodstock, New York. He later compiled those
twenty-one lectures into the book, Landscape Painting. Then, as now, the book was considered to be
a standard work for students.
This volume presents Durand’s and Harrison’s writings together for the first time.
Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach by Darren R. Rousar

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, figurative painting and sculpture.
Cast Painting Using the Sight-Size Approach by Darren R. Rousar

After cast drawing, cast painting is the next step for the student at many classical art ateliers, Cast
Painting Using the Sight-Size Approach provides the student with all of the necessary information to
succeed at Sight-Size cast painting in oil. In addition to teaching the theory and processes involved
in cast painting, Cast Painting Using the Sight-Size Approach also has sections on materials, stretching
canvas, as well as a short commentary on the “unity of effect,” with selections from R. A. M.
Stevenson’s 1895 edition of Velasquez.
Sight-Size and the Art of Seeing by Darren R. Rousar

For those who prefer to be taught through sight and sound, the DVD Sight-Size and the Art of Seeing
presents the complete cast drawing instruction described in its companion volume, Cast Drawing
Using the Sight-Size Approach. Also on the DVD is a section discussing some of the history of Sight-
Size.
Drawing Made Easy with Selections from Practical Drawing by E. G. Lutz

Once a classic drawing instruction manual that was used to teach countless children and young
adults how to draw, Drawing Made Easy by E. G. Lutz is now back in print after many years absence.
Hallmarks of his approach are simplifying complex shapes as well as working from big to small.
These concepts, outlined in Drawing Made Easy, are simple enough for children to understand and
yet the same principles are evident in many Old Master drawings. Also contained within this
reprinted volume are selections from Lutz’s earlier book, Practical Drawing.
All books and DVDs are sold through Amazon and other online booksellers.
www.sightsize.com
To receive updates about new articles, books and courses, subscribe to sightsize.com:
http://www.sightsize.com/free-guide/
When you do, you will receive a free guide to drawing Bargue Plates, called Steps
to Seeing and, over the course of twelve weeks, six high resolution, digitally restored
scans of original Bargue plates for you to copy.

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An Accurate Eye

Learn to Draw Better

First published in 2016 by Velatura Press, LLC

Copyright © 2016 by Darren R. Rousar

Velatura Press, LLC | Excelsior, Minnesota USA

What is Visual Accuracy?

Charles Bargue, Figure #48 from Exercices au

To be accurate implies that a known standard is referenced. Accuracy is not sim-

How Can I Train My Eye?

As mentioned before, the first requirement is a standard. By this I mean something

Those enhancements form what is known as deliberate practice.

“The art of seeing Nature . . . is in reality the great object,

-Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourse XII (1784)

How You Already See

One Thing at a Time

• How To Use This Book •

The Size of the Exercises

What Do I Need to Use This Book?

Example Example Check The Center

dot, be sure to pay attention to where the dot is in relation to the

-Birge Harrison (1909)

The basic grid for the first

This arrangement was

Be careful about using a

• Review and Test •

4. Working in increasingly smaller divisions, break the larger curves into

Exercise 25 | Interval Curves 70

Exercise 26 | Interval Curves

• Review and Test •

This is an example of the Sight-Size Mini #4 setup.

Isolated or Relative Values?

6. Squint and flick as you go in order to most effectively compare.

Exercise 29 | Value Abstracts

Old Master Landscape Value Studies

Exercise 30 | Old Master Landscape Studies

Exercise 31 | Old Master Landscape Studies

This is an example of the final Sight-Size Mini setup.

Landscape Painting: Asher B. Durand | Birge Harrison

Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach by Darren R. Rousar

Cast Painting Using the Sight-Size Approach by Darren R. Rousar

Sight-Size and the Art of Seeing by Darren R. Rousar

Drawing Made Easy with Selections from Practical Drawing by E. G. Lutz

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