Plumblineatelier is a small drawing studio in Philadelphia for adults who want to learn to see accurately. We teach one method, sight-size, from the first plaster cast to the living portrait, in classes of no more than ten easels under steady north light. Every student works from life: casts, a model, a sitter. There are no lectures to sit through and no shortcuts to buy — only careful measurement, patient comparison and honest correction from an instructor at your shoulder.
Sight-size, explained
Choose a step. The diagram shows the sight line, the comparison of silhouettes and the correction — the loop you repeat hundreds of times in a term.
A session, hour by hour
A typical three-hour evening. Mornings and Saturdays follow the same order.
- 6:30
Set up
Easel to your floor mark, lights checked, the viewing mark taped.
- 6:40
Measure
Plumb line and needle: confirm the big proportions before any shading.
- 7:00
Demo at the easel
A ten-minute demonstration of the stage the group is working on.
- 7:10
Quiet work
The instructor moves easel to easel; corrections are individual.
- 8:00
Break
Ten minutes. Step back and look at your drawing from across the room.
- 8:10
Correct
Second round of correction, then your own checklist for next session.
- 9:20
Clean up
Drawings stay on their easels where possible; fixative only in the ventilated booth.
Progression ladder
Cast first, then the figure, then the portrait. Entry points: the Weekend Intensive, or Open Studio for returning students.
Prerequisites: Figure Drawing — one term of Cast or a Private Critique review. Portrait — one term of Cast recommended.