Complete Book of Drawing: Essential Skills for Every Artist Paperback – July 15, 2012

I havent sketched in several years and decided recently to get back into it, i never took any classes or anything, always been self taught. This book is great!! he actually walks you through the sketch step by step instead of just a paragraph telling you how to with an end picture saying now draw this. he does a great job walking you through how to sketch. great so far

From an introduction to the tools of the trade to shading styles and smudging, light source, shadows, perspective, and anatomy. This is the book I always wished for as a young, budding artist. It has everything you need to train yourself as well as being a perfect reference book for any artists shelf. There are a few pages of sketched nudes at the end in case you’re considering this for a child.

Value

I was a little skeptical getting such a huge book. I had this "fear" that something major would be left out, or the information would be glossed over. By skimming some of the Chapters I could tell that the information is broken down well, and there are enough picture examples to get you through.The Plus side of this book is that quite a few things are covered which is grand, and honestly if one Instructional Book covered all the bases, then we would all have one book. With that said, I was a little disheartened that Stippling wasn't covered. I know it isn't Rocket Science, and it could be quite taxing if you are of Singular dominant hand, but it would of been nice to see an expert cover it.I guess I will have to travel solo on my Stippling Journey and figure it out for myself.Other than that, this heafty Book is full of what you need to get Started or to keep going on your own Journey ☺️

always wanted to learn to draw since jr high school. this book is great. starts at the basic shapes, shading, directionals, etc. practicing with different types of pencils and pens.

it is indeed a very complete book, a wonderful primer for anyone who wants to start drawing or is trying to pick up the habit again (like me). the book includes basic shapes, figure drawing, caricatures, landscapes and still life; and probably i left behind important bits of the book in that enumeration, these ones are just the ones that catched my eye. also in the short time that i have practiced i can see and improvement in my way of drawing, even if its simple shapes.something to take into account before buying this book is that the way of teaching is not step to step, or at least i would not describe that way; the book gives written instruction (which are incredibly easy to understand and follow) and a picture of whatever you are suppose to draw. this is a very different way to learn that i am accustomed by my Autodidacticism.and also, i must admit that i wont take the pen as the book intends, i am too accustomed to hold the pen, the brush, the soldering iron or the scalpel the same way; but that just my personal pet-peeve, you may improve to hold the pen in the specific way the book intends, i don't.

This book was recommended to me by an art friend of mine and it does not disappoint. we call it an "art bible". It goes into different drawing subjects and ways to approach something and is written simply for anyone to understand. It gives overviews of drawing scenery, perspective, portraits, and proportions and plenty more. An absolute must have for your art reference shelf. You will need an additional book if you want to get a more targeted in any particular subject (such as anatomy), but this lays out all the groundwork for artists to learn, or hone drawing skills.

This is a great book for an ADULT. For a young teen, this is not appropriate in my opinion. There is quite a bit of full nudity of both male and female. I returned it as we were not comfortable giving it to our 14 year old.