Where To Buy Plaster Cast Bust For Drawing

1 disadvantage of studying art online, is that as well as buying all of your regular fine art supplies such every bit paints, canvases etc, you as well have to buy the reference textile that would ordinarily exist provided by an art school.

One thing that I've found most difficult to detect at a reasonable price is plaster casts, which are commonly used in art ateliers for drawing practise.

The course I'm doing lists several sources of plaster casts, simply since it'due south based in America, about of the sources are US based, and the cost of aircraft a heavy beyond the Atlantic can well-nigh double the price of some casts.

I spent a long time on Google scouring the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland for any suppliers who might be able to provide me with a plaster cast for a reasonable price. I only constitute three suppliers based in the UK, simply there is a German supplier who is very reasonable, and there are some online alternatives which you might consider.

Here's my roundup of the suppliers I found, also equally the American ones, which you lot may consider if you lot have the budget for it.

Plaster Cast Suppliers

London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA) – LARA have a multifariousness of different sized casts, busts and reliefs, ranging from £45 for facial features to £195 for full torso casts. The casts are not listed on their website, only I emailed the schoolhouse and they sent me photos of what they had bachelor, and they expect like they are great quality.

Lavender Hill Studios – Lavender Hill accept a large selection on their website, but when I emailed, they but had five bachelor, ranging from £120 to £285, and the quality of the casts didn't look as good as the ones from LARA. Worth emailing for details though.

Plaster Bandage Interiors – There's a wide range of weird and wonderful plaster casts available here. Not so many classical fine art blazon casts, but yous might find something suitable and the prices are very reasonable. Brand sure you order the plain white end.

Europe

Cast-Cartoon.com – Based in Germany, this is where I ordered my beginning cast from, due to the very depression toll. They also sell Nitram charcoal, which is supposedly one of the best kinds you tin can get, and it's likewise very reasonable. Casts range from simply vii Euros to 23 Euros. The female torso doesn't look amazing, only information technology would definitely work for cast drawing do.

USA

There's a lot more to choose from in the US, yous merely need to watch out for the aircraft costs.

Giust Gallery – These are nifty quality casts, and a great selection, where you can pay anything from $15 to over $4000, depending on your needs.

Philippe Faraut – These are as well very nice casts, although the selection is more limited. I intend to purchase either the male or female torso at some signal, although the shipping cost is almost as much as the casts themselves.

Statue.com – A wide choice here at a variety of price points.

Utrecht – A minor selection here, but what they practise accept looks similar expert quality and the prices are reasonable.

Fine Art Store – Another alternative, with some reasonably priced casts.

Online Alternatives

If you're on a really tight budget and can't afford whatsoever of the casts from these suppliers, yous might want to expect into online photo references.

This is definitely non ideal, as photos can't portray the subtleties of real life, and some information will be lost, but if this is all y'all tin afford, and so it's better than goose egg.

Online Life Drawing now has cast drawing reference images, which you can view from all angles, giving yous many different poses to draw from. A ii-day pass is only $5, just currently the bandage drawing selection seems limited. Might be worth emailing them to see what they have available.

EnsoMobile is an iPhone app which also features 360 degree plaster cast images. The apps are only $0.99 each, and then this is a very affordable choice.

Learning Cast Cartoon

If you want to learn how to practice cast cartoon, at that place is a great book chosen Bandage Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach, which has been a big help to me.

I hope this has been of some employ in your search for drawing casts. If you know of any other good sources which I have missed, especially in the UK, please allow us know about it in the comments beneath.