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Keys to Drawing (0891343377)
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Author: Guest
"Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson is one of the first drawing books that I bought after I got back to doing art after a break of over 15 years. It opened my eyes, stimulated my enthusiasm for drawing again and provided me with some really excellent guidelines about what to think about when drawing.
My edition is a North Light Books paperback published in 1990. Amazon indicates the current edition was updated in 2001 and, although I've not seen that I think it unlikely that it departs much from the sound advice provided in earlier editions.
I see the synopsis on Amazon says that it "Describes the drawing process, discusses proportions, light, depth, texture, pattern, design, and imagination, and tells how to evaluate one's work." And it does do all of those things - but it also does a lot more. He has 55 keys to drawing which are introduced as he goes through each of the topics in turn - and he provides lots of practical exercises to see how they can be applied.
It needs to be pointed out that this book is NOT a manual for how to draw in a hyper/photo realism manner - there are other books that do that.
What I like most about this book is it starts by encouraging people who want to develop their drawing to develop their own 'handwriting' for their drawing. Dodson explains:
* how we draw is as individual to us all as how we write.
* all artists combine freedom (intuitive, looser, sketchy drawing) and control (analytical, precise, careful drawing) in their work - they just do it differently
I just loved the idea that this author wanted me to be me - and not like him or somebody else. What's more in illustrating the different ways in which people draw he introduced me to a better understanding of how different master artists, such as Delacroix, Rembrandt, Matisse, Van Gogh, Degas, Morandi and Kollwitz approached their drawing. Consequently I began to understand an awful lot more about how drawing is done and why it looks as it does. What's more the images of their drawings in his book impressed me so much that they have stayed firmly lodged at the front of the drawing bit of my brain over the years.
One of the especially helpful bits about the book is that it encourages the development of self-evaluation right from the start. This means that the things one needs to think about when drawing become internalised that much quicker. It really helps the budding artist to become much more self-reliant and less dependent on others for insight into how they are doing.
This is a book that I can pick up and reread and dip into over and over again and never ever get bored. It's one of the best 'how to' books on drawing that I've ever read and I can highly recommend it to all of you who are:
* interested in the art of drawing,
* wanting to develop your own skill in self-evaluation and/or
* wanting to develop your own individual style of drawing.
Interestingly since first writing this review on my weblog I discovered that lots of my fellow artists also rated this book very highly as well!
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Author: Guest
This is a freeform drawing book that teaches draw what you see and not what you know, using the language of lines and shapes and not the language of things (very much like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain).
Chapter 1 covers the drawing process and reviews the main points in a bulleted list at the end. Chapter 2 discusses the "handwriting" of famous artists - most interesting and enlightening. Chapter 3 covers how to draw figures and faces - here it does teach about foreshortening, finding midpoints, and taking measurements. Chapter 4 covers how to use light and shadow to model shapes. Chapter 5 covers precision drawing principles: how to create depth, eye level and vanishing points (one and two point perspective), unusual perspectives, ellipses. However, it's more of an overview rather than a "how to." Don't rely on this to learn precision drawing. Chapter 6 covers textures. Chapter 7 discusses composition (pattern and design). Chapter 8 covers imaginative drawing.
This is an excellent book to learn freeform drawing - I'm not sure what's better, this book or the "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", but I think I would still like to have this in my art book library.
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Author: Guest
This was the text used in my beginning drawing class in college and I love it. It teaches you how to draw what you actually see, instead of what you think you should be seeing. I had never taken a drawing class before but now I can draw anything that I have enough patience to sit in front of for a few hours. If you are a beginner, get this one. It's the best. (I still can't get through the first chapter of the left brain/right brain book. Boring.) Another fun book for beginners is Mona Brooke's Drawing With Children (fun for adult beginners too) and Drawing With Older Children and Teens. Helps you overcome your fears if you have any.
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Author: Guest
I bought the book "Keys To Drawing" for my sis for Christmas, and I wish to be as fair as I can in reviewing this book. First, I'm into photography and took the NYIP correspondence course and have read many articles on photography over the years. I say that because both arts share a lot in capturing light. First I was surprised at the size of the book. It looks like it is the size of a Readers Digest or National Geo. magazine but it is rather large. I agree with those that say the art work is cartoonish or terrible in it. I was suprised that someone that claims to be an artist would fill this book with such poor examples of it. Maybe I just don't get the point, but even a non-artist like myself can see for example a picture of a little boy on the beach has one leg that looks like he has ricketts. A drawing of Laurel and Hardy from models in a wax museum have so much restating that it is hard to even see any facial expressions. A picture of a Florence, Italy building is not even straight. It looks like it was drawn by a somewhat talented 4th grader. I never saw a clear example of a picture taken from rough draft to something you would hang on your wall. There are a few good drawings in it but those were mainly drawn by the students of the author. Hopefully, my sis will get something out of it. I bought it due to the high number of positive reviews. After I got it, I reread them and I guess it is considered a great book, however had I seen this in a store, I would probably have passed over it. I assume the author reads these reports from time to time and my suggestion to him is that in any future books he take a few pictures and complete them so as to show where he was going. Also, I hear that that other highly recommended book is now in spiral format. You might consider that for any future book like this. I don't wish to turn anyone away from buying this book because it might be a great book. I would just suggest you get one from the library and check it out, or be prepaired to return it to Amazon. Because I'm neutral I'm giving this only 3 points. Thanks.
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Author: Guest
This is an excellent and truly helpful book which complements classics like "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "The Natural Way to Draw" (the only other drawing books which I have found helpful and worthwhile so far). It is very well-written, engaging and beautifully illustrated. It does a wonderful job of encouraging a novice artist to try his or her hand at drawing. The exercises are appropriate but also simple and short so that a novice with little time can actually complete them (unlike the exercise schedule in "The Natural Way to Draw" which is aimed at the serious artist and takes an awful lot of dedication to complete). I also like the notion of "keys": They are "rules" not meant to be steadfast but which will probably help a novice artist who feels lost without some concrete instruction (rather than simply being told e.g. "tune out the left side of your brain"). The assesment sheets at the end of each chapter are also helpful in determining whether the exercises where properly done. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who feels that they need to improve their drawing and need some practical help.
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