Sight-Size is a method of drawing and painting an object exactly as it appears to the artist on a one to one scale. The artist first sets a vantage point where the subject and the drawing surface appear to be the same size. Ateliers who follow the sight-size method of learning to draw generally agree that the practice of careful drawing is the basis of painting, teaching a form of realism based upon careful observations of nature with attention to detail. Using this method, students at an Atelier progress through a series of tasks such as cast drawing, cast painting, drawing and painting from the live model, and still life. Students must complete each task to the instructor's satisfaction before progressing to the next. The Sight-Size method can be traced back to the Ateliers of France. According to Charles Cecil of the Atelier in Florence, "In reviving the atelier tradition, R. H. Ives Gammell (1893-1981) adopted sight-size as the basis of his teaching method. He founded his studio on the precedent of private ateliers, such as those of Carolus-Duran and Léon Bonnat. These French masters conveyed to their pupils a devotion to the art of Velázquez. It should be noted that Sargent was trained by both painters and that, in turn, his use of sight-size had a major influence in Great Britain and America."
The comparative measurement method of drawing also taught at some Ateliers requires proportional accuracy, but allows the artist to vary the size of the image created. This technique broadly encompasses any method of drawing that involves making accurate measurements primarily using the naked eye. In the early training period students may be aided by a pencil, brush or plumb line to make comparisons, but there is no transfer of 1:1 measurements from subject directly to paper as in the sight-size method. The comparative method of learning to draw is the method Jacob Collins at the Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy in New York, and instructor Hans-Peter Szameit (who was Jonathan Hardesty's teacher) at the Swedish Academy of Realist Art, teach their students.
