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Good Books for Learning How to Draw?

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Kana:
I can't believe no one has mentioned Edwards' book, Drawing on the Right Side of your Brain.  Manga and cartoons are great and fun things to draw but you need to learn the basics before you cartoonize them.  She has a new book out called The New Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain - which has a number of good exercies and principles in it for anybody to read and start to pick up drawing.  Its one of the most famous drawing tutorial books in the US as its become doctrine for most starter college level drawing classes.  Also, find a good book on anatomy.  Not even one regarding drawing, just a book that details finely multiple poses and structure of both females and males.

Emaline:
Indierawk, did have a point though. Even if he did attempt to point it out while being an ass.


Practice. Practice. Practice. It's the only way to get better. That being said, go to the store and buy a shitload of notebooks, and pens. Fuck pencils. Seriously. My art didn't start improving until I started using strictly pen. Knowing you can't erase makes you more aware of your lines.

Draw all the time. Every chance you have draw.

If you can't figure out what to draw, draw whatever is around you. If you're completely out of ideas and bored with drawing whats around you, try to change it up. Draw only the negative space in a still life, alternatively draw only the positive space. Do a continuous line drawing. Look up a random genre of art and draw something for it. Draw something with your eyes closed. Draw an objects while looking only at it and never at your paper. Do timed drawings. draw for 5 minutes and see where it gets you. Draw basic shapes on your paper, and then make something else from them. Try copying famous works. Go to your museum, and draw some of the art there, or even some of the other visitors. Draw using graphs, and slowly work away from them.


I went to art school from preschool to 11th grade. Off the top of my head those were some pretty basic learning techniques. I took maybe one drawing class, but we had to draw a lot in my printmaking class, too. Basically, if you practice every single day, your get better.

malfeasance:
I've been getting pretty good at drawing faces in my own slightly cartoony way, but I like to draw little comics, which entails action. This in turn means a variety of poses that I just can't freakin pull off. I've always wondered if there are tricks about perspective and human anatomy that I just don't know. Any good books for that sort of thing?

BoutASouffle:
While I also agree with what above posters said about the best way to get better at drawing is to just draw as often as possible, I do think there are several books that help discipline your drawing skills. I would just read as many drawing books as possible. You almost always pick up something from them. I've been reading more "formal" books on life drawing and folds and perspective, but I also learned a lot from "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" --- a 1970's Stan Lee/John Buscema book my friends got me on a whim for my birthday.

I also think the Scott McCloud books are essential. I don't know how much they'll improve your drawing, but they really flesh out the theory behind the way in which comics tell stories. I actually read "Understanding Comics" for a film class here at NYU, and it's probably taught me a lot more than some traditional textbooks.

muteKi:

--- Quote from: HFrankenstein on 19 Jan 2007, 03:28 ---You just have to do it, whenever the fancy strikes you, and you'll just plain get better the more you do it, whether you're trying to or not.  Things like Math and Physics don't enjoy that luxury.

--- End quote ---

I disagree on this point.


Also, I am curious as to what the content of a book like IndieRawk suggested would actually have in it... I get a vibe of "How to find and make use of a drawing help book for dummies" in such a thing, which is what the whole topic is about anyway. But what can I say, I've been blatantly ignoring internet sarcasm for several years now.

But whatever, I've kinda given up on trying to draw for a while now. I'm far too analytical for it.

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