Drawing Landscapes in Pencil

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book. I am a beginner.
Review: I am a retired electronic engineer, and have taken up art as a hobby. According to what I have read, drawing should be studied before going into painting. Mr. Petrie's book has been an excellent launching pad for learning to draw. In the past 3 months I have purchased 13 books on learning art, but none has proved as useful to me as this one. I copy his drawings and am surprised on how well they turn out. I can heartily recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: I recommend it to everyone
Review: I wouldn't term this book as 'good for beginners only'.

To begin with, the book features Mr. Ferdinand Pertries style of drawing landscapes and is replete with completed drawings. And, he, the author, isn't a beginner definitely, as you will know.

Yes, the landscapes are not `photo-realistic', because they are not meant to be. They aren't amateurish either. One should have a look at the cover of the book itself to know what I'm trying to say.

Personally, I found that each of those drawings were 'wish you were here' type of drawings. They have a dreamy kind of look; and what's more better than that, they're very easy to create. You will be surprised at how beautiful landscapes can be rendered with simple pencil strokes within an hour or two; from photos or from life.

After a brief introduction to materials and strokes, the book jumps right into examples wherein Mr. Petrie demonstrates how one can render various elements like trees, mountains etc., all accompanied with an actual *finished* drawing. The last part of the book features the Artist's Portfolio of drawings.

Most importantly, the book does not drag you into overt technical language (which to my preferences seems boring). It will get your hands down and dirty in no time.

Inspiring; if it only were for the landscapes in this book, even then I would go ahead I buy it!

Cheers,
FF


p.s. having said this, a word of caution to the `I want a photo-realistic drawing' types. This book is NOT for you.



Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Beginners
Review: This book is without a doubt the best single book I have ever seen on basic pencil techniques, esp. drawing scenic landscapes. The methods he teaches are simple and easily learned, yet yield excellent results.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Beginners
Review: This book is without a doubt the best single book I have ever seen on basic pencil techniques, esp. drawing scenic landscapes. The methods he teaches are simple and easily learned, yet yield excellent results.