Which book............

[chisty]

OK. Slightly off thread and I hope the forum Gods do not smite me........

Which are your top five books for art instruction ?

Mine so far.

1 Drawing Problems and Answers- Trudy Friend
2 Any David Bellamy waterclour book (got loads)
3 Any Ricahrd Taylor (got a few)
4 Any Robert Wade watercolour book (got a few)
5 How to draw life like portraits - Lee Hammond

However I haven't treated myself to any digital art instruction books yet, so any recommendations would be great.

[rogfa]

The best purchase I made was Richard Schmid's Alla Prima. I've read it many times and refer to it often. It can only be bought from the author (unless you buy from ebay) and it's well worth the $50 for the paperback.

[Dizon]

These are the ones I've read, and currently reading so far:

Harold Speed's "The Practice and Science of Drawing"
Anthony Ryder's "The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing"
Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing for all its Worth"

[Flake]

My top five would be extremely Loomis-heavy.

[E.M.GIST]

patdzon's choices are great and Schmid is always inspirational, but for a book by a contemporary checkout Harley Brown "Eternal Truths For Every Artist"

Other good ones not already listed are:
George Bridgman "Complete Guide To Drawing From Life"
John Vanderpoel "The Human Figure"

[A.Cerasoli]

1. Andrew Loomis - Figure Drawing For All Its Worth.

2. Jack Hamm - Drawing The Head And Figure.

3. Nicolaides - The Natural Way To Draw.

4. Fehe'r - Cyclopedia Anatomicae (I know this is not an art instruction book, but it is stilll very helpful.)

[Dizon]

patdzon's choices are great and Schmid is always inspirational, but for a book by a contemporary checkout Harley Brown "Eternal Truths For Every Artist"

Other good ones not already listed are:
George Bridgman "Complete Guide To Drawing From Life"
John Vanderpoel "The Human Figure"

Actually, I already placed an order on the latter two as well! hehe

I want to add another book: Rex Vicat Cole's Perspective for Artists. IMO the best perspective book out there.

[E.M.GIST]

Vicat Cole's book is good, but check out Ernest Watson's "Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators" I use them both when I teach perspective.

[Dizon]

Vicat Cole's book is good, but check out Ernest Watson's "Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators" I use them both when I teach perspective.


Looks interesting! THanks.

[ArtEdGradStudent]

I'm a little annoyed with some of the books I've found on anatomy because they only show certain parts of the body from one point of view, and without necessarily explaining how these parts join and move together. Really, a well-drawn animation would be much more descriptive. I did see a good article in Drawing Magazine (Spring 2005), that showed a bit of what I'd want to have, drawn by... (goes to find it)... Frank Porcu. If he has a book out, I'd want to buy it. Recently I've been drawing from photos in the book Anatomy for Artists. It's not really helping, but I don't draw often enough....

[E.M.GIST]

Sounds like you might be more interested in something like this:
http://www.freedom-of-teach.com/products/prod_category.php?sect=products&pid=cat_anatomy
http://www.freedom-of-teach.com/images/p3w_anafig1_qf.jpg

[koroshiya001]

169.99 is a big purchace for that statue, but I can definately see how it would be worth it, poseable or not.

I need to pick up a few of these books someday. All I've got is Hogarth, now that they took Loomis offline...

[ArtEdGradStudent]

that's a good statue, but I also wouldn't want to spend that much. Plus it's kind of disturbing, and I'm looking for something that I could use to teach high schoolers.

[Dizon]

that's a good statue, but I also wouldn't want to spend that much. Plus it's kind of disturbing, and I'm looking for something that I could use to teach high schoolers.


lol! disturbing? you gotta be kidding me.