Drawing for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: This book is a must!
Review: "Drawing for Dummies" is a great book. I use it to teach my drawing classes. It is easy to follow and is very readable. While some of the books in this series (and others like it) are over-simplified, this one is terrific.

It is extremely useful for beginners, but even someone with a lot of experience in drawing could learn from it. I know I did. I would suggest that if you are going to only buy ONE drawing book, then make THIS book your choice.

Rating:
Summary: this is the best for study to draw fast
Review: i bought a lots of books and most of them was not pratical as this books. this books include all the subjects need to start draw . this is the only book need if you like to study to draw
for hobby and more.

Rating:
Summary: A great way to start learning to draw
Review: I got a bit of an "artistic bug" a while back and thought I'd try learning drawing techniques - so far I had been able to take a standard #2 pencil and do some pretty horrid sketches on copier paper, but that's about it.

Drawing for Dummies is, as another reviewer states, like a classroom in a book.
Throwing you right into your first simple drawing project in Chapter 1, she talks about the types of pencils and erasers you should be using (before getting this book I had no idea that you could buy different types of pencils to get different shades of darkness, or that with a kneaded eraser you could lighten an area and not completely erase it).
She then talks about how to see as an artist - how to see the lines in objects, different levels of shading are, etc.
Also covered is how to create the illusion of 3 dimensions using shading, how to shade using hatching and crosshatching, how to create textures in pencil, and there is a chapter devoted to perspective.
And that's not all!
The author then covers composition, sketching and sketchbooks, how to draw from memory, drawing still lifes, and drawing animals.
There is also an entire section of the book devoted to drawing portraits, starting with babies (as they are allegedly easier to draw than adults) and then moving through childhood and to adulthood.
Although she doesn't cover them quite as in depth as the other subjects, she also touches on things such as gridding, preservation of your drawing, your work area, cartooning, and how to develop your own style.
There are drawing exercises through almost every concept, and several "bonus" exercises are included in the back of the book.

The only issues I had with this book were that when it comes to shading, hatching and crosshatching are the only types it covers (or even acknowledges). Hatching is not the only, nor the most popular, form of shading, and although I'm sure it depends on the artist I'd have to say it's not the easiest either - some coverage of blending techniques would have been nice.
I was also frustrated starting out because it was very rare during the step-by-step drawing exercises that she states which pencil you should be using for what. After enough practice it becomes somewhat natural, but when first starting out it would have been nice to see "Use your 2B pencil for the shading under the wings."

All in all though this is an incredible book, definately the best of all the drawing books I've looked through at the book stores (and there are a lot of drawing books out there!).

Rating:
Summary: A great way to start learning to draw
Review: I got a bit of an "artistic bug" a while back and thought I'd try learning drawing techniques - so far I had been able to take a standard #2 pencil and do some pretty horrid sketches on copier paper, but that's about it.

Drawing for Dummies is, as another reviewer states, like a classroom in a book.
Throwing you right into your first simple drawing project in Chapter 1, she talks about the types of pencils and erasers you should be using (before getting this book I had no idea that you could buy different types of pencils to get different shades of darkness, or that with a kneaded eraser you could lighten an area and not completely erase it).
She then talks about how to see as an artist - how to see the lines in objects, different levels of shading are, etc.
Also covered is how to create the illusion of 3 dimensions using shading, how to shade using hatching and crosshatching, how to create textures in pencil, and there is a chapter devoted to perspective.
And that's not all!
The author then covers composition, sketching and sketchbooks, how to draw from memory, drawing still lifes, and drawing animals.
There is also an entire section of the book devoted to drawing portraits, starting with babies (as they are allegedly easier to draw than adults) and then moving through childhood and to adulthood.
Although she doesn't cover them quite as in depth as the other subjects, she also touches on things such as gridding, preservation of your drawing, your work area, cartooning, and how to develop your own style.
There are drawing exercises through almost every concept, and several "bonus" exercises are included in the back of the book.

The only issues I had with this book were that when it comes to shading, hatching and crosshatching are the only types it covers (or even acknowledges). Hatching is not the only, nor the most popular, form of shading, and although I'm sure it depends on the artist I'd have to say it's not the easiest either - some coverage of blending techniques would have been nice.
I was also frustrated starting out because it was very rare during the step-by-step drawing exercises that she states which pencil you should be using for what. After enough practice it becomes somewhat natural, but when first starting out it would have been nice to see "Use your 2B pencil for the shading under the wings."

All in all though this is an incredible book, definately the best of all the drawing books I've looked through at the book stores (and there are a lot of drawing books out there!).

Rating:
Summary: Could stand a lot of improvement
Review: I've used a number of For Dummies books and have been very impressed, but this one is a bit of a let-down. I'm returning to drawing after years away and was hoping this would provide a bit of a refresher course, but so far I've only found it moderately useful.

The book has a number of strengths, including a positive attitude that's important for beginners to latch on to in order to avoid discouragement. The author is also great technician with the pencil, particularly where realistic portraits are concerned. Not everyone will warm to her fairly cold, analytical, draftsman-like style, though.

Despite those strengths, there are too many flaws in this book to make it a first recommendation:

* There's not enough info on materials and tools.

* The drawing reproductions are mostly way too small to learn from. They're fine for inspiration (or indimidation!) but won't much help you emulate the author's technique.

* The main focus is on the author's speciality of portraiture. You'll find some really interesting info there, but it would have been nice to see equal attention paid to landscapes, animals, still lifes, comic book and cartoon art, etc. As it is, they're totally ignored or covered so briefly as to be of little use.

* Instructions are vague. The author does some great texture and shading work with cross-hatching but never adequately describes _specifically_ how to do it for the different types of exercises and drawings. Why not tell us what pencil you're using when, why you choose certain stroke directions and lengths, etc.?

* The author totally ignores blending in favor of cross-hatching for shading. You can do beautiful work with either technique, so why pretend one method doesn't exist? Blending is a particularly powerful tool for portraits and for photorealism in general.

Don't get me wrong: this isn't a bad book, just not all it could be. Hopefully a second edition will get it all right.

Rating:
Summary: An Art Course in one book
Review: This is the best book on drawing I have ever seen. I was searching for an art book to help with some aspects of drawing I was having trouble with. This book went far beyond that. It is like an art course in one book. There are many other good art books out there which do the same thing, but the book is laid out in the familiar Dummies style, which is easy to read, and great to use as a reference book. The book includes all facets of drawing: line drawing, light and shadows, patterns and textures, perspective, elements of composition, drawing still lifes, plants, animals, landscapes, people (including babies), cartooning, as well as information about setting up your own studio, developing your own drawing style, crossing over from drawing to painting, as well as other information helpful to artists. The author's style is very entertaining, and she encourages anyone to try drawing. There are tons of pictures throughout the whole book, as well as about thirty projects to try. Whether this is your first attempt at drawing, or an experienced artist, this book is an excellent choice for any artist.