The Artist’s Drawing Book || Katy Lipscomb & Tyler Fisher

This is, as much as anything else, a book of ideas, something to dip into and take things pretty much at random. It might be a way with colour, a new subject or a technique you’re familiar with but haven’t ever really thought about. There isn’t a structure or flow – it’s not a course – so I wouldn’t even try to work through it in any order.

At first sight, the pages can seem crowded and the images a bit overwhelming, but that’s where focus comes in and you’ll soon find that the authors actually aren’t afraid of a bit of white space and allowing the illustrations to breathe when they need to. I’m also sure you’ll find some of the ideas trite, banal even, but I’m not going to give examples because the bits I think are brilliant could be the bits you hate and the whole point, I think, is to find something that catches your eye and then start to think. And yes, if that thought is “that’s rubbish”, that’s fine because you can start to work out how you’d have done it better and, before you know it, you will have done it better. Sometimes, learning isn’t about what the teacher tells you, but what you tell yourself.

This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea – I’m not even sure it’s mine – but it provides a lot of ideas that are simply expressed and that the authors work with entirely rationally.

Step-by-Step Portraits from Simple Shapes || SinArty

This really is the perfect guide for anyone struggling to get a reasonable likeness. The idea of working from block shapes to detailed outlines isn’t new, of course, but Satayajit Sinari explains the process thoroughly and entirely comprehensibly. He follows this with short exercises that are based on people you will actually have heard of, so that you can judge both his and your results.

And that’s about it. The explanations are clear, the reproduction every bit as sharp as you’d want in order to be able to see all the marks and each demonstration features a different aspect of portrait drawing from expression to colouring, lighting and so on.

As I said, it’s not a new idea, but I’ve rarely seen it as well executed as this.

Philip Hughes/Notebooks

I was remarking earlier about how art should stand alone and not require explanation and this is a classic illustration of that. Apart from a short foreword and introduction, the only text is Philip’s handwritten captions on the works themselves.

As befits what is essentially a collection of sketchbooks, the works here are loose, curtailed and often incomplete. There is also quite a degree of abstraction so that sometimes it isn’t even completely clear without the notes what we are looking at, though that is also the point. The work here is very much about colours and shapes, with form often taking not so much a back seat as being left entirely behind at the depot. These are emotional reactions to place that run the risk of meaning a lot to the artist but nothing at all to the general viewer. And yet they do, conveying a strong sense of place and even of form.

This is a large format book and the space has been well used. Where images run across a full spread, the binding opens flat so that there is barely any interruption and the semi-matt stock suits the medium of pencil and wash admirably. This being Thames & Hudson, I hardly need say that the reproduction is perfect, with the gradation of every line easily visible.

Although to some extent this is one for Philip’s admirers, it deserves a wider audience and should have general appeal as a bit of a masterclass in landscape drawing.

Drawing and Painting Fungi || Claire Kathleen Ward

I think it’s fair to say that this is something you’ll either want or you won’t. It’s so niche that the only real question is whether it’s any good or not, there being, as far as I’m aware, no alternative option. The issue, of course, is that I’m not qualified to judge, so I can only comment on the appearance and artwork.

From that point of view, it looks fine. The images have a slightly soft appearance, but I don’t think that’s down to the reproduction, rather the author’s style and I’m going to defer to her on that. The bio says that she’s an award-winning nature artist and also one of the Presidents of the Society of Botanical Artists (how many do they have?).

The text is admirably comprehensive, with plenty of information about fungi themselves, as well as ways of depicting them in pencil, ink, watercolour and gouache. If you want to know more, and you probably will, Merlin Sheldrake’s The Entangled Life will blow your mind.

This is by no means something for the general artist and anyone this specialist is going to demand the best. They will probably also have a fair amount of knowledge and will be able to decide for themselves just how good this is. However, it looks excellent to me.

Botanical Sketchbooks || Lucy T Smith

Put simply, this is a guide to drawing plants with pencil, ink and watercolour. The blurb refers to “the creative discipline of a sketchbook”, but I’m not sure this is either essential or particularly central to the way the book works. It does make it clear, though, that these are mostly field studies, although by no means rough sketches.

There is plenty of information about plants, flowers, fruit and trees as well as ways of working and what details to record for sensitive and subtle images. Lucy certainly never leaves you wanting more and is generous and thorough in her explanations.

This is very much a book for the more experienced and perhaps specialist artist and none the worse for that.

Drawing With The Brush || Christine Forbes

Books on using Oriental techniques have been a perennial favourite and it’s not hard to see why. Even if you don’t want to emulate the style fully, exercises in simplification can enhance your art however you choose to work.

This book nails its colours to the mast in the subtitle – Eastern inspiration for the western artist. Christine does not pretend to offer an authentic guide, but rather to do the work of distillation for you. She provides a nice little guide (128 octavo pages) that’s crammed with exercises and some handy explanations of the underlying philosophy – there are paragraphs on Chi and Zen Buddhism. Nothing is laboured and everything is easy to follow. The illustrations are, as you would probably expect, of natural subjects – mostly trees, leaves, branches and flowers, but there is also a section on landscapes.

Despite the relaxed approach, this is a thorough and comprehensive guide that will advance your understanding and working methods.

Drawing The Natural World || Tim Pond

This is the coloured pencil companion to Tim’s previous volume on watercolour. As before, the structure involves a single topic covered in one spread, with plenty of illustrations and just enough explanatory notes to tell you what you’re looking at and for. This makes the book easy to follow as well as handy for reference.

Artistically, Tim has an economy of line that betokens both confidence and an innate understanding of both subject and working methods. It also adds a simplicity of explanation which adds to the appeal of the book.

This is mainly a book about techniques, so the fact that subject matter varies from all kinds of creature to a variety of vegetation is simply a bonus. Tim covers colour as well as line, tone, form and perspective and also things that relate to specific subjects, such as scales, hair and feathers, neatly relating everything to what he is actually drawing at the time. This provides relatable context rather than being a more abstracted set of instructions.

Tim is an engaging artist and writer who presents his work both simply and comprehensibly.

Hyper Realistic Drawing || Amie Howard

Coloured pencils lend themselves to detail work, but the processes involved can be off-putting for those new to the technique. I’m avoiding saying “beginner” because I think this is something it would be unwise to embark on without at least a moderate amount of skill in the first place. Try to run before you can walk and you’ll be discouraged by falling at the first hurdle, to mix a few metaphors.

This is, however, an eminently accessible book. A series of short, reasonably simple projects leads you gently in and it would possible to complete them in hours rather than days. The introductory sections also provide a solid grounding in technique and Amie will guide you patiently through some basic exercises that develop that all-important initial facility. No corners are cut here – for once, the reader can be glad of a bit of expansion before getting on to the main meat of the book.

The main demonstrations themselves are not progressive, so this is not a book you either need, or will want, to work through in order. Subjects include fur, feathers, eyes, lips, leaves, fruit and still life objects, each one adding a particular characteristic or technique. Some are quite small – an eye or an ear, for instance. Others are more involved, such as a cat’s face or a wrapped sweet, which involves some complicated shading that presents more challenges than you might initially think,

Although none of the projects is laboured, you are definitely not short-changed on the instruction, nor will you feel a lack of intervening steps. There is a fine balance between illustrating every mark and jumping too far ahead, with an entire section left in mid-air. It’s that patience I mentioned earlier, a sense of a teacher who allows you to work at your own pace, only appearing at your elbow when you need them.

As a primer in a very specific, but rewarding, technique, this isn’t just hard, but maybe impossible to beat.

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Drawing Animal Portraits in Coloured Pencil || Lisa Ann Watkins

Themes, subjects and media go in cycles, and coloured pencil is having its moment in the sun again. This is no bad thing, because it’s a medium that requires little in the way of equipment and is highly portable, meaning you can work almost anywhere. On top of that, as printing tolerances improve, it’s possible to reproduce on the page the fine detail pencils allow; this is a book that sparkles in that respect.

Let’s assume, therefore, that you’re on board with the medium and subject matter presented here. You’ve also skimmed through the technical introduction because there’s never not something interesting, and perhaps new to you, to be found. Given the level of work here, you’re not a beginner, so the basic techniques are, even if not second nature, at least familiar. What you want now is to feel comfortable with your tutor and to get just the right amount of instruction to be able to follow the demonstrations and projects presented. As we’ve already cut to the chase once, we can do so again – you won’t be disappointed and should feel right at home.

This is not the first book on animal drawing, so we should look for individualities. In that respect, the word Portrait in the title is significant. These are head and shoulder images that capture the character of the subject. I really, really want to say “sitter”, but you’re going to need a photograph for that. And, yes, Lisa does indeed work from photographs. The technical introduction includes some rather useful tips on getting the photo right in the first place and also on using software to combine images for dual portraits. She also suggests reducing a colour image to line to help with the initial outline drawing. I haven’t seen that in a book where it’s not the main subject before and it’s an extremely useful addition, especially when working from photographs is essential to the subject matter.

The drawings themselves include a good variety of creatures (although not the donkeys on the cover). It’s worth saying that, although horses and cattle are here, dogs and cats predominate. Lisa goes into considerable detail about fur and hair (no feathers here) as well as features such as eyes, noses and ears. There are enlarged illustrations at all the points you need them. Lisa is a thoughtful teacher who has an excellent sense of exactly those points where a student is going to need help or a nudge.

In terms of style, as befits a portrait, backgrounds are largely neutral, but without the pitfall of looking like a blank card. The use of colour can surprise you – careful combinations of greens and reds are frequently used to create realistic shades and shading. Highlights, in the eyes especially, add character as well as that sparkle I referred to earlier.

Production-wise, the book has soft covers that open easily and deep flaps that make it feel nice in the hand. Obviously, it’s the content that matters, but ergonomics have a strong part to play in the way we react to a book and this one ticks all the right boxes. A lot of thought has clearly gone into it.

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Sketchbook Challenge || Susan Yeates

This is a further addition to the increasing line of project-based books aimed at what I think we can fairly describe as the occasional user. People who, perhaps, like the idea of art without being absolutely devoted to it.

For them, I’m pretty sure this is absolutely perfect. Subtitled 100 prompts for daily drawing, it’s exactly that. Simple ideas along the lines of “why not do this?”, with a text that tells you little more than that it might be a good idea and an example or two that, to be perfectly honest, look a bit rushed. If the idea is that you don’t have to produce great works of art, Susan has hit the spot perfectly, and I mean that positively, not as a veiled insult. No-one benefits from the “not for the likes of you” approach.

The ideas cover pretty much everything, from shapes to everyday objects, animals, flowers and even just the things you find in your pocket. Would you, the committed artist, benefit from it? Well, this isn’t the first book to suggest ideas for drawing based on what’s in front of you, either as a way of learning or to break through creative block. A professional artist once said to me, “if I get one idea from a book, it’s been worth it”, so you might think that this offers a fresh approach that stimulates your creativity. You might, of course, also find it just plain annoying and vow to do better, which has just achieved the same result. Chicken dinners all round, I think.

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