Big School of Drawing and Workbook Book Review

About the Books:

Big School of Drawing allows beginning artists to get started drawing anything and everything, from flowers and still life to animals, people, landscapes, and more! Learn to develop your sketches from basic shapes, adding texture and shading step by step to create realistic, three-dimensional drawings.

Perfect for beginners, this 192-page reference guide explains everything you need to get started, from choosing the right materials to basic drawing techniques and step-by-step lessons. Experiment with different pencils, drawing tools, and erasers as you learn to create depth and realism with shading techniques, perspective, and texture. Then follow along as you use those pencil techniques to create detailed drawings, step by easy step.

With more than 1,000 step-by-step drawings for you to reference, Big School of Drawing covers:

• Sketching from basic shapes
• Gesture drawing
• Adding shading, texture, and highlights
• Creating depth and realism
• Perspective and foreshortening
• How to draw flowers, still life, and landscapes
• How to draw animals, horses, dogs, and cats
• How to draw people, portraits, and more

With helpful tips and easy-to-follow, step-by-step lessons, Big School of Drawing is the perfect series for beginning artists ready to grab a pencil and get started drawing. With practice, you’ll soon be able to create your own realistic pencil drawings. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Also available as a companion: Big School of Drawing Workbook, a 112-page interactive workbook allowing artists to practice their step-by-step drawing skills directly inside the book.

My Review:

I am impressed with these books. I have dabbled in drawing since childhood but never had time to pursue learning the techniques and practice them until now. I like drawing because the materials are inexpensive and it can be done practically at any time and anywhere.

The Big School of Drawing in great. I learned about materials and how to maintain them. I was shown the basic techniques, such as the various ways to hold a pencil. I was given warm up exercises and was encouraged to experiment. Next were basic shapes, forms and shading to create three-dimensional look. I was amazed at how basic shapes are combined to form images of living beings. My favorite exercise was learning how to draw flowers.

The workbook is a bit repetitive but does give more exercise examples. Illustrations are given for step-by-step creation, from initial formation lines to the final shaded result. There is some detail work, such as the eyes, noses and ears and other facial features of people and animals.

If one had to choose between the two, I'd start with the main book. It contains some more basic information and some instruction on landscape, such as perspective, not in the workbook. If you are interested in portraits, the workbook will have more suitable exercises. I do recommend them both.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

 

About the Publisher:

Founded in 1922 by artist Walter T. Foster, Walter Foster Publishing, an imprint of The Quarto Group, is the world's leading publisher of instructional art books and kits for adults and children.

Walter Foster Publishing, Big School of Drawing: 192 pages, Workbook: 112 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of both the book and the workbook. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)