How to Draw What You See

This book is wonderful. I've been drawing ever since I was little, and it is def. helping me sharpen my drawings skills. Even if you don't know how to draw and want to learn-this is a great way to start. The author explains things very well.

What a classic. I had this book in high school. It's still around. I sent to a retired friend who wanted to start drawing but said she did not know where to begin. She was searching for an art class ... which seemed impossible except at colleges etc.with big fees or crazy painting/wine tasting gatherings locally where she lives. I included this in a "goodie gift box" of basics ... what she does with it is her decision. Something to do in some down time, at home.

"How To Draw What You See" is a must read and a must "practice" book for anyone really interested in beginning their artistic life. It sequentially takes the reader through the basic drawing exercises that are essential to drawing. An excellent book and excellent way to enhance art lessons.

Buying this book did not give me the skill necessary to draw realistically. Some of it is a rehash of Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain, but that one didn't help me much, either. Much acclaimed by those with talent, for those of us who have to struggle it's not a magic wand.

The rating reflects my own experience, nothing to do with the quality of the book (Have it on Kindle), and this may be a good book for others.

I have a short attention span and if the author doesn't make it fun, I lose interest easily. It's in my own opinion that it's too much like a technical book.

Perhaps someday I might give it a try again and if I change my mind, I will be sure to update.

I'm in the process of teaching myself to draw/paint and striving for more creativity and find this book helpful in that it has instructions for drawing what you see. Even though it is helping me with drawing basics, its presentation is flat and sort of uninspiring, perhaps because there is no color in it and the pictures tend to be somewhat traditional and staid. I find myself wanting to say to the author, "Thanks; I'll try that; it should help me draw...but could you break out, dance around a bit or something?"

Some of the subjects are old (like an out-dated T.V.), but I found the instructions to be great.
I am now going through this book and drawing some of the assignments, just to improve my
own drawing skills. I can draw pretty well by myself, but this will actually take me to the next level
I'm hoping. This book did meet my expectations!

I'm an engineer in my late 30s who wants to learn drawing. I enjoy reading the book very much. The book is easy to follow and understand. The writing style is succinct. The presentation flow is coherent. The contents comprise Part One: Fundamentals of Drawing (19 chapters) and Part Two: Drawing in Various Media (11 chapters). I've almost finished reading Part I, and I've finished the exercises in first 9 chapters. Each chapter introduces one concept that is reinforced with the author's many excellent drawing examples. Each chapter is delightfully short - I read one chapter at night before I sleep. I also enjoy doing the exercises! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn drawing.

I especially like the progression used by the author for I am a rank beginner. I am in the early stages and having a rewarding and challenging experience. It takes practice, practice and more practice. Great resource!

Great for children 10 and up and for adults as well. One downfall for children, has one section of how to draw a nude woman in detail. But still is a great asset to an artists collection of how to books.

Clearly Rudy De Reyna is an excellent artist. And there is a lot of good instruction in the book. However, I didn't bargain on the fact that it would be terribly dated--all of the drawings and designs are from when the book was originally published, years and years ago. . . This doesn't give it a very fresh feel. . .

This book is not for novice artists. I'm a Middle School art teacher and was looking for some new ways to TEACH drawing. I have "Drawing on the right side of the brain" and use many of the exercises in it with my students. This book doesn't even come close in my opinion. I didn't take anything from it that I could remotely use in the classroom. Reminded me of my college level drawing classes with professors that just threw a bunch of concepts out without *teaching* how to actually DO.

I have been a fan of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain as well as Drawing on the Artist Within for many years. I often give those two books as gifts to the young aspiring artists I know. I thought this would be another book to add to that list, but it is different. The Right Side of the Brain sort of teaches you to draw items such as a chair as you SEE it...not what you KNOW a chair to be. I am sure you all know how drawing what you know can create visual errors in realistic drawings; kids do it all the time (e.g., I know a house is a square and I am drawing a square no matter what I actually see.) So the title of this book sounded very much like that same concept. But this is different.

This one looks at first how most things we see are made up of shapes, so if we can draw those shapes, we can draw the item. I bet many of you have seen those old books of how to draw cartoons where they always start with you drawing some oval or a triangle and a line...then magic...then you have done it! ha ha!! I always seemed to have gotten hung up on that "magic" step. This book sort of expounds on that "shapes" idea.

I am not saying that it is a bad idea and the technique can really ~help~ your drawing, it isn't going to be the only book you will ever use. It is very nice with shading and other info, but I wouldn't recommend it as your only source. I did gift one of these to a teenage young lady who is interested in improving her drawing...but also included the other two books I mentioned earlier.

First of all, this book is a long-standing classic. I had used this many years ago when I first taught myself to draw. There are many reasons this has been so successful over the years. First, the instructions do not assume artistry; they explain perspective and dimension before providing instruction. It is helpful in teaching the elements of drawing, and not just *how* to draw, which is a very vital skill-set. Second, the book is, very appropriately, illustrated to illuminate how one goes through the process of drawing.

This is primarily a sketch/still life book.

This is a very detailed book on everything you need to learn to draw anything.
It's broken down differently than a lot of books I see of this type. Everything is broken down into 30 projects and into two parts. The first part shows you how to draw, and the second part talks about the different mediums and how to use them.
It starts out with the fundaments of shape, perspective, and shading. I really like this because most books do not talk about perspective, and if they do they don't talk about it early on. These three things with the addition of composition, are essential to being about to draw anything, and this book does a good job in showing you what's important.
Other topics include:
-figure drawing
-the head
-facial features
-anatomy

The second part is unique to this book as well. Not only does it show you the types of media you can use, but it shows you what they look like on paper, and the projects are designed around using those medias. Why do I believe that's unique? Most books only dedicate a small chapter to media, or you have to buy a book only on drawing medias to see what you see in this book.

My only issue with the book is the papers seem to be printed really draw and you don't always see the examples of gradients. There's too much contrast in the black and white photos.

This is great for a beginner who wants an overview of the drawing process, and it's great for intermediate to advanced artist who want some projects to practice or warm-up with.

How To Draw What You See is a master course in drawing. In very succinct chapters lasting only a few pages apiece, the author takes the reader/artist from basic shapes to fruit to drawing children. The book does exactly what it says it will to - if you go through this and follow the lessons you will be able to draw by the time you are done with the book.

I read a lot of non-fiction, and this is one of the best examples I have come across. The material is very well organized and thought out, and its a great example of the right way to write a book. If you have an interest in drawing, this book is a steal. Highly Recommended.

PS - if you don't have an interest in drawing or are looking for something simpler, try Ed Emberly's books. All of his techniques are very simple and you can follow along without reading anything.

Here is a book that not only teaches you how to draw naturally and what you see in front of you, but also builds a logical progression for the beginning artist. It does not assume you already have talent, however, it understands that it can be done with proper training of both hand and eye. Beginning with simple lines and shapes, how to do them quickly and confidently, into perspective and then building your object. Eventually learning to include shadow and light to build detail to more complex drawings like clothes, trees and faces. You find that, as you work from the basics, the more complex structures become as easy as the simple ones. They just take a little more time and attention. The author finalizes into using various mediums in different surroundings and putting your picture together as a unified piece.

This is the 35th Anniversary of How To Draw What You See, having its first publication in 1970. The book industry has gone through a myriad of changes even in the last decade, but this book remains as it was in its first printing. In fact, there is not even a new introduction or anything to commemorate this edition outside of the cover. Which at least says, that drawing techniques remain constant and that you have to learn the basics no matter what medium you eventually find yourself in.

I want to learn to draw well. Because everything is going digital, I want to learn to draw digitally from the get go. As I write this, I have a Microsoft Surface Book and an iPad Pro. I also have Wacom Intuos tablets, but I don't like the disconnect of drawing on something that isn't the "actual surface".

Anyway, I know that I need patience, practice, and a number of good guides in the absence of real teachers. I have a number of art books and I count this one as one of the more practical/useful ones. I skip the parts that deal with drawing tools and techniques, because they don't apply to me. I find the coverage of basic drawing skills, along with the many sample sketches, to be very practical. I recommend that you look at the table of contents in the "Look Inside" sample. That will give you a good idea of what things are covered. Read carefully and practice drawing the samples, as well as practice drawing things in your environment that are similar to the samples.

This is a good book for your library.

This makes a great companion book to my other favorite drawing book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". This takes a more rote approach than DOTRSB, did, the theory with that book was formed when an art teacher saw student drawings suddenly get 1000 percent better allmost over night and realized it was not artistic talent that drove the capability to draw, but a visual perspective. Some students would see this suddenly and could almost immediately surpass any crude drawing they'd done in the past.

The primitives in this book I believe have the power to bring about that perspective and vision much faster than most of the teaching methods used out there. The author covers both mechanical or man made shapes and then cover organic and human drawings as well. While I think having the idea's of an artist to create something great in the world of art, being able to draw is not just artistic talent, it's in all of us.

Recommended along with the book I mentioned for art students and those of us who just like to draw, or think they would.

I can see why this is a classic. The illustrations and the explanations are clear.

I can't help thinking that since then there are a lot of other books on this subject that are more contemporary.

De Reyna's style is based on "Still Life" examination. That is fine just for capturing inanimate objects but this style rarely captures personality.

There's a Disney animator, Gilland that wrote two books on this subject ("Elemental Magic 1 & 2) and it covers both inanimate and animate subject and he, too, emphasizes the basic of illustration: practice, tools and perspective amongst other things.

But the issue of "perspective" is apropos here, it is Reyna's style to look rigidly at issue of spacing, light and depth-- nothing wrong with that but I think Gilland's technique which involves "experiencing the subject" renders a more interesting final product.

But, you can't go wrong with this time-proven book.

If you are already an artist or have been drawing or painting for a couple of years, skip this book. There's a lot of basics in it. It covers form, perspective, shading and highlights, still life and landscapes. Instruction on using different mediums, also. I feel the best part of this book are the sections on the human body - drawing the figure, drawing hands and feet, drawing heads and faces. And also an additional section on drawing children. Most of us struggle with drawing and painting people. You can get away with a little inaccuracy in landscapes or still lifes but not the human form or faces. I'd recommend this book solely for the instruction of figures and portraits. The rest of it is nice, too. It would make a great gift for someone just venturing into the art world. Nice size book and very detailed information. Highly recommend!

"How To Draw What You See" is a basic-level drawing book. I don't draw, but a girl that I mentor spends a lot of time drawing. I thought it'd be fun to take drawing lessons together, but the instructor isn't very good at explaining WHY we are doing the various exercises that he gives to us. I noticed that he was basically following the lesson plan in this book, so I bought a copy. The book does a much better job of explaining the concepts than my art lessons instructor, and I have the feeling that I could have learned just as much by using this book instead of taking lessons. (Hopefully you have access to a better instructor.)

Part One of this book covers 19 lessons which are progressive projects that build skill and confidence. He covered drawing basic shapes, perspective, shading, tones, drawing still life (indoors), drawing outdoors (which covered the differences from still life more than how to draw trees, etc.), and drawing people and faces. I wasn't as impressed with the instruction in the drawing people section, but it certainly gave some basics to start from.

Part Two gave the basics on how to use watercolor, opaque watercolor, acrylic, and ink. He gives projects using black, greys, and white paints. This section had less instruction, but I think it's mainly intended to introduce the idea of "drawing" using other media.

Overall, I felt that this book was very helpful and developed my skill at creating realistic-looking drawings. I'd recommend it to beginners who wish to learn this skill.

Note: There are several drawings of a nude woman in the section on drawing human figures, so this book may not be appropriate for all ages.

I have been a person with artistic leanings since I was a child. I always wanted to illustrate many things, even some school reports. Along the way I was able to pick up some old books in an attempt to help me learn how to draw better. One of which was The Art of Drawing Heads and Hands which although dog-eared, was a decent reference to try to learn how to improve my drawing. When I first opened up this book, HOW TO DRAW WHAT YOU SEE by Rudy De Reyna, I was taken back to the days when I used to try to pick up used drawing books at flea markets and used book stores. I remember seeing this book and not picking it up although it does remind me of the one that I supplied the link to above.

WHAT IS THIS BOOK LIKE?
This book has a lot of basics of drawing in it. It is broken down into . The beginning of the book has a fantastic breakdown of each section and page number for each and every lesson. This makes it easy to find what you are looking for and turn right to it. The Fundamentals cover all of he basics from drawing objects based on various 3-D shapes to using light and shade, and drawing landscapes or drawing people.

The second part of the book covers using different media to draw. This includes using wash, opaque and acrylic methods with a variety of subjects. The subjects include still life, outdoor scenes, and children. You will be exposed to using a variety of media from pencil to charcoal, to paint and even using transfer paper. All of this is to be done in black, white, and gray.

Each section is brief yet covers the basics with examples of small things you can do to test out a technique from swatches to basic little test of a technique. You are given illustrations of things that you need to use for each technique so you can see what to have handy, as well as example drawings to show contrast of technique.

HOW WELL DOES THIS BOOK WORK TO HELP IMPROVE DRAWING
I have been an artist a long time now. I have had access to books like this since I was young. I may have even taken this out of the library, as the copyright page seems to indicate that this is just the same as it was when released in 1970, and paperback in 1996. It is simply the 35th anniversary edition.

If you are a visual learner like me, you might find some kind of assistance with drawing improvement, but it is limited. If you plan to use this alongside videos that help you learn to draw, then this book can become invaluable as a reference tool to add to your learning process. If you tend to be a person who can learn easily from books with writing and you are not as in need of visual demonstration, this book will probably be a bit more helpful to you.

This book has some great information in it. However, as it was when I was only using books like these to learn from, I find that there seems to be a gap between putting this into practice and absorbing it from a book. You can copy what you see and try the techniques, but until you practice a LOT and learn to use the tools regularly in drawing, this book is very limited in what it can take you to in terms of drawing level.

I have been around artists since, and also taken some instruction here and there. I was blessed to be able to take instruction from an internationally known artist who happens to be a wonderful teacher, and there is nothing that will take the place of being shown techniques and what to do with all of the tools so that it becomes 2nd nature to you instead of a slightly directed attempt from a book.

THE BOTTOM LINE
If you are a visual learner, this book can help fine tune drawing ability or help you think in terms of 3-D development of drawing better. If you are the type of person who can learn from a book easily without need for a lot of visual demonstration, then perhaps this book will help you a bit more. Nothing beats interactive instruction and observation of an artist at work, and this book does not fill that gap at all. If used with video or in person instruction, this book can greatly help you to fine tune your work. There is excellent basic instruction in the book with limited step by step illustration. It is a good reference book to have and will help a little bit to develop artistic eye. On its own, It is not a complete course by any means. You might see some improvement in your drawing ability, but don't expect miraculous results. If you have the earlier edition of this book, it is probably going to be redundant to purchase this one. If you don't, then it would be a good reference to have handy in your library.

I give this book four stars, but it is probably more like three and a half. I guess it depends on what you are looking for in an art book. I tend to look for a bit more step by step demonstration than this book contains, although it does have great tips to build upon in your pursuit of drawing.

This is an excellent book for those who are beginning artists who need a basic guide to get them off to a successful start.

Here's what I like about it:
- Designed for absolute beginners without any prior knowledge or experience with drawing.
- Each chapter teaches a key, fundamental concept that is well explained and visually illustrated.
- Helps you to develop some of the essential abilities that practiced artists have, such as: how to detect which geometric shapes are used to form an object, how to utilize light and shading to produce a 3D appearance, how to implement a value scale, how different drawing mediums produce a different result (charcoal vs. pencil), etc.
- Covers some of the more advanced abilities as well, such as how to draw people, utilize proportions for accurate placement and realism, implement texture, etc.

What should be improved:
- I wish the book was spiral bound, as it tends to automatically close all on its own!
- Please note that some images are designed for an "adult" audience, as some semi-nude models are illustrated in the book.

Overall, it's a great book and if you're sincere about learning, I think you'll love it.

This book is a classic for good reason: the techniques & tips in it are essential to anyone who wants to learn how to draw. While this is the 35th anniversary edition, it seems to be identical to the first edition. I didn't see any new material in here. However, it really isn't needed because even though the hairstyles on the human models may be a tad dated, the methods in here are timeless. I may not be able to draw as well as De Reyna and never will, but this did help my drawing technique. Best parts about this are the simple language, step-by-step guides and layout of the book from simple to more advanced.

This seems to be a reprint of a book from the seventies. There are some good tips etc, but it is so outdated that it is of little relevance today. The subjects for the still lives are all objects that students will have a hard time recognizing, and the faces of the human subjects seem to come out of a seventies waiting room magazine. I gather that if one could overlook the outdated aspect of the book it could still be useful, so I give it three stars.

I admit to being conflicted about picking stars for the "How to Draw What You See" book by Rudy De Reyna. I know that all reviews are subjective in part, but this one seems very subjective from my own personal point of view. This book overwhelmed me. I was eager to get it because I would like to learn to draw and be more creative - this is more like a master class type textbook to me. It is very detailed and should probably get 5 stars for that alone; it is also nicely illustrated with pencil sketches, which is very helpful. The instructions are very detailed but I found myself reading, trying, reading again and again - I did not enjoy the process. I feel this is a book for the serious art student - it was too much for me.

Rudy De Reyna has written a great book for both the beginner and more advanced artist who wants to learn better techniques for drawing. This is the 35th anniversary edition, which makes this how-to book a classic for drawing. It is approximately a 8x12 paperback with a thick glossy cover and 30 chapters and projects. It is 175 pages including a great index. The chapters include "Drawing the Still Life," "Light and Shade," "Drawing the Figure," "Drawing the Outdoors, and "Drawing Children" among so many others. He teaches shading, light and shadow, as well as materials and how to transport them.
I have been drawing portraits for years, and yet I learned so much from this book, such as planes of the face, lighting, etc. I believe this book to be good for ages 12 or so and up. There are many, many illustrations. I highly recommend this book, and am so happy to have it in my library. I think it is a great reference I will go back to over and over again.

I have some limited experience in drawing. I have been looking for books to refresh my long ago short art education. This book was a huge disappointment for me. It starts off with some good information about perspective but I quickly became frustrated with the author's approach.

He says if you can draw cubs, cylinders, spheres and cones, you can draw anything. I remember as child having a drawing book that showed drawing an elephant by drawing circles and then filling in the details. My mind doesn't think that way. I much prefer the methods taught in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition by Betty Edwards.

De Reyna talks about searching for the correct width, height or depth of an object but doesn't explain how to do that. His method is to draw the basic shapes and then fill in the details. Next he puts another piece of paper on top and traces the parts of the drawing you want to keep. This is not helpful if I'm trying to draw on a nice piece of paper or a canvas. His chapters on shading discuss how to see the different tonal values but not how to get them on your paper.

After a few basic chapters he quickly jumps to complicated drawings of still life and landscape. His chapter on drawing the figure shows the human figure as circles and cylinders. Again, this is not how my brain thinks. If this is how you see objects and like to draw, then this may be a good book for you.

I recommend Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition by Betty Edwards or Lee Hammond's Big Book of Drawing (or any other book by Lee Hammond). Will those two books make you an artist? No but they will help you enjoy drawing.

This is a beginner's book on drawing. The author starts by pointing out the basic geometric shapes that underlie most drawing - such as spheres, cubes, and cones - and moves into discussions of viewpoints and perspective. Specific chapters cover such topics as drawing faces, still-lifes, and using watercolors.

I have taken a number of drawing courses over the years and still can not produce anything that looks three dimensional. My apples, eggs, and other simple shapes look Cubist (at best). After applying the suggestions given in this book, I still produce two-dimensional, flat, looking drawings with odd blotches in them. Alas, this book did not solve my drawing problems!

Just like any other subject matter, you can't become an expert by reading one or two books. Keeping that in mind this is a good book helping you overcome the early stumbling blocks for beginners in drawing. People who are doing it on their own as opposed to class instruction wil find it quite helpful.
It covers all the basic aspects such as materials, medium, line drawing, blind contour, tone, value, perspective, composition and some figure.
I learned a great deal from this book. Like any other drawing book this is ot just to be read but you have to actually do the exercises repeatedly to make the most of out of the text.

This book is a great, comprehensive guide full of examples and instructions to draw all sorts of things. From people, to nature to animals this book will teach you the basic skills you need to 'draw what you see'. I highly recommend this book.

Love this book! It teaches you to draw simple shapes and turn them into every day objects. Really breaks down drawing to make it simple. I got it for my 12 year old and he absolutely loves it. It has turned him into a real sketch artist.

Before reading this book I perhaps could have made a drawing. But the knowledge of the drawings building blocks, the very foundation for drawing any object, would not be there.
Once, after reading the book, you have the building blocks of how to do drawing: you can do pretty much of drawing you never dared to even try before.
This is not a book full of technical resources, lets say I wante a complete color scheme mapping tool to gray tones ( Reading the book I don't know wether that is a valid question, I guess a pencil is limited in the gray tones it can draw so what you really need is a gray "shemata" for the chosen pencil ).
You get insight ( The whole book is based upon you getting a successive insight, and how this relate to drawing techniques and realword objects )in the conditions wich apply to observation and drawing the object based on that.
Great value for any beginner like me.

This is a classic and has stood the test of time. It is still to the point for a new generation of artists, whatever their age. Someone might have to explain what the dripolator coffee urn is, however, for practitioners under fifty.

i had to get this for my art drawing 1 class in college i dont read it at all really but im sure its useful, reason i dont read it is cus im good at drawing already and the things i would've learned from the book i learn from the professor since he goes over what we were supposed to read in like five mins and i catch on really quick

I just started drawing a month ago taking a class and using this book for additional information. The book is a perfect companion to the class. It's great to have a reference that reinforces the class instruction and provides extra examples and ideas for additional practice.

Good introduction to the fundamentals of drawing.With this and supplemental help from a few other texts the student should be able to get their drawing off to a good start.In addition to this you may want some subject specific drawing texts.Jack Hamm ,famous artist's figure drawing etc...and most of all draw as much as you can!
Have fun!

The book arrived within the specified delivery dates. It was wrapped fine and in good shape. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but for the price,I'm not complaining. It is just one of the hazards of buying on line. I would not have submitted a written review but that it was solicited.

I have owned this book for 10 years. My children and I all learned the basics of drawing from this book. I was so excited when I followed the steps and was able to draw a realistic face! I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn drawing.
Cyndi Martinez

I'm a beginner. I jumped into pastels and immediately realized that you have to draw before you can paint. I bought a dozen books on painting and drawing, and this is by far the best choice I made.
The text is straightforward. The exercises are simple. And the book builds your skills from the ground up. You start by learning to draw a straight line freehand and finish drawing compositions and portraits.
This book won't make you an artist. But, I don't know how I could ever become one without these skills.

I found the first few chapters to be pretty good but the drawings were too advanced for a complete beginner like me.
Well it's not that a beginner can't do them it's just that they take FOREVER to complete correctly. I felt better having some initial success and building confidence on much less complex and complete drawings like some other books do. It does do a good job of explaining shading though which is why I gave it the 3rd star, it's worth the 11 bucks but is more useful in addition to several other beginner books on the subject, I would read the first few chapters and practice them then do another beginners book and come back for the last few chapters a few months later if I could doit all over again.

This is another excellet guide that I added to my reference bookshelf when taking up drawing at a late age. It is good to read through once, then return to review specific chapters when you are working on projects. At least, this is the way I use it. I would rather not follow an approach step-by-step .. but rather get a good notion on how to get started and go from there.

But, this book helps and supports this approach greatly.

Leon

The book provides excellent instructions to master the foundation for good drawing. I have a very competent and professionally successful instructor. He has pointed out to me the areas that I need to improve. The book has become my 'in-home instructor' now. I needed to work on my perspective(mostly for objects above eye level), tonal values (light and shadow, reflections within and transitions) and translating the local color to black and white(the author has done a great job explaining this). After completing just one exercise, I could see significant improvement in my drawing. I highly recommend the book.

This book was written with me in mind. I am a begininng amature artist who wanted to learn more about drawing. The instructions in this book took me from drawing basic shapes, though shading to sketching full compositions. It even goes beyond drawining to introducing acrlics and washes. Even the simplist procedure is gone over in detail so I never felt lost on how I was to get from one set to the next. Don't be fooled by the price. This is a complete refrence book that I use more then other books that have cost three times more.

I didn't find this book as helpful as I'd hoped. Some of it was familiar. I took an art class years ago and the shapes and shading exercises were usefull but the rest was too advanced.

It had an extreme jump from dram a cylinder, then draw a banana, now you can draw a hand!

I need a lot more repetition and more step by step to show how you break a form up into it's parts and then draw each part.

This book was originally published in 1970 and I have used it for years, together with Drawing on the Rigt Side of the Brain, as the basis of the various drawing courses I have taught. It covers the basics of drawing very well and if a non-drawing person follows it faithfully, they will learn to draw. I actually did not mean to buy another copy but mine is quite dog-earred, so guess I will keep the new one. sherry schnepfe

I'm an instructor for digital art online and find this book to be a MUST for ANY artist. It has lots of illustrations and simple, well-written explanations! I would recommend it to any of my students who want to know theory and application, from perspective to tones and shading. Everything is in black and white, so you can really see the tonal changes in the renderings.

This book has been extremely helpful in honing my artistic skills. If you have a true passion for art, and can't afford the formalized training, this book is ideal for you. The author has a unique ability to effectively instruct the reader. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to perfect his or her drawing skills. If you're a begginer, this book can't be beat.

I am an artist and I also teach drawing. I find this book very informative. I teach the basics in pencil drawing and this book shows wonderful demonestrations. Since the authur was an art teacher it's written for class room or individual use. The book's first printing was 1970 and is still well used from what I've read. I highly recommend this book for all art students. My students enjoy what I bring to the classroom from this book.

The book covers a lot of areas, but does not provide sufficient guidance for application. After completing the projects, I was disappointed with my efforts and thought I needed more practice until I picked up "How to Draw Heads and Portraits" by Jose M Parramon. I discovered a lot of details were not covered in this book that would have made the difference in my drawings.

If you already owned this book, you need additional. If you don't, pick up something else.

This book isn't nearly as user-friendly, informative, or practical as Betty Edwards' classic, the new edition of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." I'd advise getting that instead of this one.

I am just amazed at how quickly i received these books, i just wish the freight wasn't quite as dear, I would do much more, I give art classes in my studio and am on a limited budget, so to be able to offer these books at a cheaper rate is great , the condition of the books was terrific and have no hesitation in telling other people about this site, which i have done, the choice of art books seem to be much larger then here in Australia and especially the fact that we can get them secondhand in good condition is a plus..... thank you /very happy customer