Instructional Books

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Betty Edwards

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 169 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

illustrated with 12-page color photo insert and line art throughout

A revised and expanded edition of the classic drawing-instruction book that has sold more than 2,500,000 copies.

When Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was first published in 1979, it hit the New York Times bestseller list within two weeks and stayed there for more than a year. In 1989, when Dr. Betty Edwards revised the book, it went straight to the Times list again. Now Dr. Edwards celebrates the twentieth anniversary of her classic book with a second revised edition.

Over the last decade, Dr. Edwards has refined her material through teaching hundreds of workshops and seminars. Truly The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, this edition includes:

* the very latest developments in brain research;
* new material on using drawing techniques in the corporate world and in education;
* instruction on self-expression through drawing;
* an updated section on using color; and
* detailed information on using the five basic skills of drawing for problem solving.

Translated into thirteen languages, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is the world's most widely used drawing-instruction guide. People from just about every walk of life--artists, students, corporate executives, architects, real estate agents, designers, engineers--have applied its revolutionary approach to problem solving. The Los Angeles Times said it best: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is "not only a book about drawing, it is a book about living. This brilliant approach to the teaching of drawing . . . should not be dismissed as a mere text. It emancipates."

Art for Kids: Drawing: The Only Drawing Book You'll Ever Need to Be the Artist You've Always Wanted to Be (Art for Kids)

Kathryn Temple

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent beginning book! 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This book is excellent for the beginning art teacher and drawing student. I am basing a lot of my curriculum on ideas inspired by this book in my upcoming school year. It takes your thoroughly through each step/stage of learning to draw so that anyone can master it! Great illustrations and ideas are perfectly fit onto each page, without annoying "materpieces" that you don't think possible. By the end, you will be drawing with the best of them-- and students will too!

Editorial Review:

What do children hope to create when they put pencil to paper? An accurate likeness of the things they see, of course. With this imaginative, informative, and amply-illustrated guide to drawing, it's amazingly easy for kids to make those art dreams come true. After a brief overview of tools and materials, the entertaining hands-on activities begin with contour drawing techniques. With the help of lots of exercises, budding artists will learn the basic elements of shapes (lines, dots, circles) and see how to combine them to make familiar forms. They'll find out how to produce the illusion of volume with shading techniques; create perspective; accurately recreate landscapes, people, animals, and nature; develop interesting compositions; and more.

How to Draw What You See (Practical Art Books)

Rudy De Reyna

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Don't be deceived by the title 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

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.

Editorial Review:

•A best-seller for 35 years

• A timeless classic that has taught generations of artists—and will teach generations more

When it was originally published in 1970, How to Draw What You See zoomed to the top of the publisher’s best-seller list—and it has remained there ever since. "I believe that you must be able to draw things as you see them—realistically," wrote Rudy de Reyna in this introduction. Today, generations of artists have learned to draw what they see, to truly capture the world around them, using de Reyna’s methods. How to Draw What You See shows artists how to recognize the basic shape to draw the object, no matter how much detail it contains.

An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers

Danny Gregory

Amazon Price: $11.99 List Price: $19.99 Not yet published By: How

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Design & Decorative Arts -> Graphic Design -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

An Illustrated Life offers a sneak peak into the wildly creative imaginations of top illustrators, designers and artists from around the world through the pages of their personal visual journals. Popular visual journalist and author Danny Gregory reveals how and why keeping a consistent, visual journal leads to a more fulfilling creative life. Designers and artists working in all mediums will find creative inspiration from these insightful interviews and stunning examples.

New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook: Guided Practice in the Five Basic Skills of Drawing

Betty Edwards

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Millions of people have learned to draw using the methods of Dr. Betty Edwards. Now, in an essential companion to her bestselling classic, Edwards offers readers the key to mastering this art form: guided practice in their newfound creative abilities.

Here are forty new exercises that cover each of the five basic skills of drawing. Each practice session includes a brief explanation and instructional drawings, suggestions for materials, sample drawings, and blank pages for the reader's own drawings. Also provided in this spiral-bound workbook is a pullout viewfinder, a crucial tool for effective practice. While The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain focused primarily on portrait drawing with pencil, this workbook gives readers experience in various subject matter-still life, landscape, imaginative drawing-using alternative mediums such as pen and ink, charcoal, and conté crayon.

For all those who are taking a drawing class, who have already received instruction through a book or course, or who prefer to learn by doing, this volume of carefully structured "homework" offers the perfect opportunity to reinforce and improve their skills and expand their repertoire.

Fashion Artist (Fashion Design Series)

Sandra Burke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Oh, how I wish I had this in school! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I wore holes in piles of paper trying to work up to the basic points so magnificently outlined in this book! It's like having an art teacher with you (without the snide remarks) to bring your abilities to the top.

If you are planning on studying fashion, or just doing it for fun, you need this book.

Highly recommended!

Perfect for beginners 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is a great start for beginners who want to work in the fashion industry or for those who consider fashion designing a hobby and want to improve on their illustration skills, like myself. Burke starts with the basics, like learning how to draw the female figure in different poses and drawing some examples of clothes, but she also touches upon fabric rendering and ideas on how to make a presentation. There's even a section on designing for men, childeren, and costumes. Overall a very informative, clear and consise book to get started and to encourage and inspire amateurs to want to learn more.

I like what I see. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I haven't really had a chance to play a lot with this book since I got it a month ago, but so far, I like it. There are very colorful designs, croquis', and many illustrations. It seems like it gives a lot of information in a short amount of time.

Keys to Drawing

Bert Dodson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Good Beginners' Buide 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Over the last six month I have been buying a number of instructional book on drawing/sketching for reference. I have found this one to be one that I continue to go back to to review approaches to getting started. I would recommend it as a good guide for a beginner -- either to drawing or to starting with charcoal and graphite.

Leon

It's the best! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The book is well organized, and presents material in a conprehensive, easily understood manner. The illustrations are useful, and not intimidating. The subjects of the drawing exercises are interesting and varied. The author seems to work right along with the student in this book, and anticipates some of the problems that arise in drawing. The author's remarks are encouraging for individuals interested in drawing at any level of expertise. I appearance of the book prior to purchase, but it is more than I expected. The book's size is neither too large nor too heavy to use in a small space or to carry along.

Excellent Drawing Instruction 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"Keys to Drawing" is my favorite drawing instructional book. I found it here on Amazon and checked it out of my local library to see it before I ordered it. I have a short attention span and lose interest if a book doesn't engage me pretty quickly. I was immediately engaged by the simple, clear instruction and effective, challenging projects. This book got me drawing within minutes. I re-checked it twice from my library and had to order a copy for myself!

I love the format of this book, with the emphasis on drawing and not just talking about drawing, like so many instructional books do. I also appreciate the many examples in the author's loose, easy style. This is one of the first books I've picked up that didn't intimidate me with detailed, advanced portraiture. The progression and pace of this book were very comfortable to me. I'm extremely pleased with the results I'm seeing in my drawing.

The Draw 50 Way: How to Draw Cats, Puppies, Horses, Buildings, Birds, Aliens, Boats, Trains and Everything Else Under the Sun (Draw 50)

Lee J. Ames

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

my daughter loves these books 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

These books are good for kids who want to move on beyond simple drawings and add things like fur and more details. My daughter is 9 yrs old and has spent many hours drawing from this book. This particular 50 book has a nice variety of things to draw.

Santa's Choice 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Christmas present that Santa picked out. About a 1/2 dozen intro to drawing instruction books for my Daughter. You can't get a much better recommendation than that. She liked it.

I am just learning to draw and this has been very helpful 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I am teaching myself how to draw something I have wanted to do FOREVER, and this book is very helpful

Editorial Review:

For more than thirty years, the bestselling Draw 50 series has shown children how to create everything from puppies to ships, horses to skyscrapers, and aliens to racing cars. In this new addition to the beloved series, Lee J. Ames shows you how to draw sixty of his popular sketches step-by-step. His clear instructions help budding artists learn the basic movements and procedures of drawing, allowing you to explore your interests in a fun, familiar, and easy-to-master way. 

Draw 50 Animals (Draw 50)

Lee J. Ames

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

great for beginners! 5 out of 5 stars.
76 of 78 people found this review helpful.

If you are looking for an easy and non-specific drawing book about animals, this is the one. It has a wide range of them, from birds to insects, from wild felines to cute pets and farm animals. I would say this book is a great starting point for anyone who is interested in drawing but doesn't know any techniques or doesn't feel capable - yet - of drawing animals instantly. It is perfect for beginners because it does not use hard techniques, such as shading, and with it you are able to discover which kinds of animals you would like to draw more - and then you can go for "Draw 50 Birds" or "Draw 50 Cats", which are two examples that, comparing to this one, are more specific and therefore more challenging books. "Draw 50 Animals" uses the step-by-step method and is very easy to follow. You start with simple lines and shapes, and little by little you turn them into the animal which you thought you would never be able to draw. The result is really amazing, and a great self-esteem increaser for beginners (at least for me it was!). This book is sure to please anyone who uses it and anyone who sees the result of using it!

Editorial Review:

Part of the popular Draw 50 series, Draw 50 Animals gives simple instructions for drawing all types of animals from the barnyard to the zoo. Ames' easy-to-follow technique shows how to break the subject down and re-build it creating an accurate portrait in a just a few steps.

Character Animation Crash Course!

Eric Goldberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Yeah, Get This One Too 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Animation is an insanely broad topic. Far too huge to ever cover in one book. Listening to master animators on "The Animation Podcast" and else reveals that everyone's approach to this artform is different. And yet most animation books cover the same content.

For many years, Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit has been the gold standard of animation books, and rightfully so. Lucky for us, fellow animation guru Eric Goldberg's "Character Animation Crash Course" isn't just overlap from Williams' work and teaches us different aspects of animation that other books haven't covered.

Goldberg covers aspects of animation far less academically than Williams and rather focuses on things from a character standpoint, how you could apply a technique to a specific character. He also list several classic cartoons (most if not all of which are on DVD) for examples of each particular technique.

He also covers how control the overall shape volume of what's moving, even for flat, graphic characters, and goes in depth on animation "gimmicks" like smear drawings, zip lines, staggers etc... that are often mentioned, but never properly explained.

Probably the most informative part of the book for me was the section on character construction, covering many of the ins and outs of designing an animatable character that I haven't seen in other books.

"Character Animation Crash Course" also has the one big thing "Animator's Survival Kit" doesn't: A CD-ROM of the animations shown that you can watch and frame through to better understand the lessons in the book.

Hopefully someday other master animators will do what Eric Goldberg's done with "Character Animation Crash Course." Write an animation book that has unique outlook on the artform and that imparts some new pearls of knowledge on the subject. Until then, you have to at least add this book to your shelf. Right next to The Animator's Survival Kit of course.

Editorial Review:

Character Animation Crash Course! is a veritable Genie's lamp stuffed with everything the aspiring animator could wish for! Renowned animator Eric Goldberg's detailed text and drawings illuminate how to conceive characters "from the inside out" to create strong personalities. Classic animation techniques are analyzed and brought to life through this unique book and its accompanying CD that offers readers animated movie examples that show, in real time or frame-by-frame, the author's principles at work. Add to this Goldberg's discussions of classic cartoons and his witty, informative observations based on the wealth of knowledge he's gained during his 30-plus years in professional animation, and you have a tour-de-force guide to character animation with the classic touch.