Lessons in Classical Drawing || Juliette Aristides

This quite scholarly book looks at drawing techniques through Old Master as well as contemporary examples, combined with a selection of specific lessons covering subjects from measured drawing to line work and the human form.

It’s very much a book to read and absorb rather than something to treat as a practical course and therefore probably best suited to someone who already has some facility and is wanting to study the subject in more, indeed considerable, depth. The range of subjects is comprehensive and the quality of both the work and the reproduction is superb, and it is in fact possible to enjoy the book for that alone and to ignore its use as a learning aid.

That the accompanying DVD is filmed in Florence is just the icing on the cake, really.

Drawing for Fantasy Artists || Socar Myles

When a book gives itself the strapline, “All the art techniques & shortcuts you need to master fantasy art”, it’s setting the bar as high as it can get. So it’s a delight to be able to say that this one clears it with room to spare.

I’ve frequently said that fantasy art isn’t my field, but there’s a lot more to this than just elves and grottoes and, as a manual on drawing, particularly the human figure, it’s spot-on. In fact, it’s one of the best drawing books I’ve ever seen. The author has a sensitive style that captures personality to perfection, bridging the gap between super-detail and soft-edge in a way that suits her subject matter ideally.

As well as the figures and landscapes you’d expect, Socar Myles looks at linear and non-linear perspective and the structure of the human body, as well as how to capture movement and develop character. There’s an enormous amount here and I’d have no hesitation in recommending it to any artist, even if they know less about fantasy art than I do.

The Figure in Composition || Paul G Braun

There’s a charm and lightness to the illustrations in this book that makes it immediately attractive. The slightly retro look to the costumes also, perversely, gives it a sense of modernity. Finally, the looseness of the line gives the figures a sinuousness and a sense of movement, or the potential for it. The man relaxing with a cigarette in one hand and the other in a trouser pocket might push himself away from the wall and walk off at any moment.

So it comes as a surprise, a shock even, to discover that this is a reprint of something that first appeared in 1930. There’s really very little to give it away and the reproduction from what may very well have been a printed original (surely the printing plates can’t have survived?) has been sensitively handled.

The words are descriptive rather than tied to the illustrations – “you will see how the folds give the form and pose of the figure” – but, as in this example, you really do see, and the lack of detailed instructions doesn’t matter at all.

Honestly, this is one of the best books on figure drawing I’ve seen. It’s over eighty years old and fresh as a daisy. Have we really progressed so little? £8.99 is maybe a tad expensive for a 64-page octavo paperback, but it doesn’t need any further padding.

Creating Textures in Colored Pencil || Gary Greene

As a quick and easy to access guide, this volume, originally published in 1996, is hard to beat. It pretty much says what it does in the title, and each subject is dealt with in a single page. This inevitably means that coverage is sparse and you’re left on your own to develop techniques further, but conciseness has its virtue and you get everything quickly and straightforwardly.

The range of subjects varies from the inevitable rusty metal and weather-beaten timber to water, flowers and human faces. There really isn’t much more you could wish for. I do take issue with the cover’s claim of “50+ step-by-step demonstrations”, as a single image and 5 or 6 numbered steps does not, in my humble opinion, make for a full-on demonstration. However the information is all there and you may find that you far prefer the lack of fuss to pages and pages of only slightly different steps.

	Creating Textures in Colored Pencil Book with Gary Greene

Draw Animals with expression and personality || Anja Dahl

Any book that sets out to teach you how to draw animals in just 64 pages is being wildly optimistic. The variety of species alone makes the task virtually impossible. However, Anja Dahl manages to make a pretty good fist of it and certainly won’t leave you disappointed.

The introductory section on materials and techniques also looks at how to capture fur and feather, but it is quite short and this is an area you may feel you want to supplement. The rest of the book is devoted to a series of short lessons covering dogs, cats, birds and horses. Each section is necessarily quite short and works from a photograph to the finished drawing in only two or three pages. If you’re looking for extensive demonstrations, you won’t find them here.

Overall, as a basic introduction, this is fine, but I can’t help thinking you’re going to need to do quite a lot more reading if you really want to develop your skills.



Draw Portraits || Renate Klein

Books on portraiture aren’t exactly thick on the ground and any new one is always welcome.

Capturing a likeness is one of the most difficult challenges for the artist. Quite apart from the technical matters of getting the image down, the shapes and proportions of the various elements of the body have to be just right, not only individually, but also in combination. Not only does the result have to look like a person, it also has to look like the person it’s meant to be. Everyone’s going to be your critic.

In only 64 pages, all you’re really going to get is an introduction but, as that’s what this book sets out to be, I’d have to say that Renate nails it pretty well perfectly. She’ll tell you enough about anatomy to set you going but not so much that it starts to feel like a medical textbook. She also deals with proportion and with the shapes of eyes, ears, noses and hair. Finally, there are exercises in pencil, charcoal and coloured chalk that illustrated male and female faces as well as babies and children.

There’s a lot here and the book should keep you occupied for a long time and leave you confidently proficient.




The Drawing Handbook || Frank J Lohan

This is a reprint of a book that first appeared in 1993, but the nature of what the author does means that it’s actually timeless.

There are two halves to it. The first is a nicely-done introduction to shapes and techniques, the sort of thing that every book of this kind includes. What sets it apart, other than the quality of the drawing, is that it’s all practical rather than abstract. You won’t search in vain for the traditional cones, cylinders and blocks, but you’ll find them alongside examples of how and when they’re used – the chapter title “The Geometry of Flowers” should give you an idea of what I mean. The section on composition goes into a lot more detail than most and, if you’ve ever struggled to get to grips with this really rather import aspect of art, then the book might be worth it for this alone.

The second half is a series of exercises, in pen & ink for the most part. Frank illustrates a scene (they’re divided pretty well equally between the US and the UK), then shows it overlaid with a grid and finally explains how the various elements were done. It’s a simple and very much no-frills approach that works surprisingly well. You’re spoilt for choice with books on drawing, but I’m glad they’ve brought this one back.

Drawing & Painting Trees in the Landscape || Claudia Nice

Books on trees are relatively few and far between and one that deals with them not as individual subjects but as part of a landscape where they are, nevertheless, something more than just a blob of colour in the background, is pretty much unique. When you add to that Claudia Nice’s way with colours and textures, you know you’re already onto a winner and this high level of expectation isn’t going to be disappointed.

Although the cover promises “more than 70 species of tree”, this isn’t really the point as it’s the shapes and colours that matter, as well as how trees appear in each of the four seasons, a neat summary of which you get on the very first page. The book begins with the technical stuff, introducing ways of working with pen and pencil before progressing to the colours of foliage and the texture of trunks. Further chapters concentrate on evergreens, deciduous hardwoods, flowering trees, and the colours of autumn and winter.

There’s a wide variety of styles here, and this is very much a book for the general painter who just wants to get the landscape right without worrying too much about the intimate details.

	Drawing & Painting Realistic Trees in the Landscape Book with Claudia Nice

Start Sketching & Drawing Now || Grant Fuller

I have an immediate problem with this otherwise acceptable primer: the repro’s suspect and the illustrations have an unsharp look to them. This detracts from the book’s message as it’s hard to see the individual pencil lines that are really rather essential. The other problem is that the layout is unnecessarily fussy and the designer seems to have been let loose in a font factory. Some of the headings are really quite difficult to read, and that’s before I’ve got on to the curlicues and the fake antiquing!

Both of these are schoolboy errors that the editor should really have jumped on, as there’s a good mix of subjects and techniques and a reasonable sense of progression that could have made this into a worthwhile introductory course. As it is, I have to recommend that you look elsewhere as it’s not as if there aren’t plenty of similar guides out there.



Expressive Figure Drawing || Bill Buchman

Well, this is something a bit different. I can’t decide whether I like the results, but there’s no disputing the quality of the work or the production of the book.

Most books on figure painting concentrate on getting a likeness and on things like proportion and structure. Bill Buchman, however, pretty much tells you to ignore all that and use the figure purely as a creative tool. Artists have, of course, been doing this for centuries – well, the last century or so, at any rate, though some cave art suggests that animals were seen as line rather than form some thousands of years ago. To put this in an instructional book, however, is something new and builds on the discovery in recent years that abstract painting is in fact something that can be taught, if you just show the reader how to see and then allow the function to follow the form.

There’s absolutely no doubt that this is an exciting approach, or that Bill Buchman is the man to do it. There’s an amazing versatility and variety in his approach as well as a confidence of line that pretty much means you won’t disagree with him even if, as I said, you’re not sure whether you like all the results. On balance, I think I like some and admire others. My favourite is Hip To Be Square on page 103. What is it? Well, you’ll just have to find a copy, won’t you?