Drawing and Sketching Secrets: 200 Tips and Techniques for Drawing the Easy Way

by Donna Krizek

Learn how to improve your art skills by using Drawing & Sketching Secrets as your guide. In this marvelous book, you will find over 200 tips and techniques for drawing and sketching the easy way.

Rediscover the joy of sketching and drawing. This beautifully illustrated book is an indispensable compendium of essential know-how and stimulating projects. Both inspirational and practical, the book includes over 200 tips and step-by-step techniques organized to help you build on each skill you learn. The expert advice and tried-and-true techniques that fill these pages have been gleaned from the author’s more than 30 years of experience. Beginners can follow processes step-by-step, while more experienced artists can dip in and out for help with specific problems or to get some fresh ideas. “Try it” and “fix it” panels placed throughout the book suggest ways to practice and develop new skills and avoid or correct common mistakes.

 

Learn how

 

 

Each topic, self-contained in a one- or two-page spread, is fully explained and illustrated with photographs and more detailed diagrams where helpful. Advance your artistic understanding, dexterity, and ingenuity with the over 200 secrets included to help you practice the skills you’ve learned. Open these pages and uncover a love affair with drawing and sketching.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Gem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book full of tips on sketching and painting. Feels like an art class in a book. Plenty of things I found fascinating and never would have thought of.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures on my blog)

Drawing and Sketching Secrets is a collection of wide ranging drawing tips and techniques compiled by Reader's Digest. There are four chapters covering the tools, the techniques, working on different subjects, drawing for submissions and displaying your work.

The inspiration are from the pointers, drawings and demonstrations. The tips cover basics such as the always helpful contour drawing, understanding values, composition, etc. But they are too short to get a full appreciation of how powerful those drawing fundamentals can be. In that sense, this is more of a companion book to a more dedicated drawing book.

The beautiful examples are created from a variety of medium and they will tempt you to try them. Many great artists have their work featured. Some are amazing, such as the photo-realistic looking harbour piece drawn with colour pencil by Graham Brace, or the meticulously hatched and crossed hatched ink drawings by Melissa Tubbs and Edmond Oliveros. It's inspiring to see what artists can do with just simple tools.

It's a good drawing book to get if you want to explore different styles.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the memory of an art college education growing slightly hazy, I've recently been browsing art related books in an attempt to get myself drawing again. I found this book in the library and I think it will help me achieve this.

The book is split into 200 tips and techniques, starting from the very basics through to more advanced techniques. The book can be flicked through to either give inspiration or to remind you about a certain technique. Or it can be read from cover to cover if you are a beginner.

I really like the fact this is a thin, easily accessible book. The text is useful without being too descriptive and overbearing. This is exactly what i'm looking for, I'd rather spend my time practicing, than trawling through a wordy tome. (I know in the past I have been guilty of the latter.)

I'm going to buy a copy for my book shelf, so I can reference it when I feel in need of inspiration.

[Martha Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my very favorite beginning drawing books. Why? Because it is full of gorgeous color photographs illustrating the step-by-step process of how to do different drawing or painting techniques! I will definitively buy this book and keep it in my reference library or on my coffee table!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful book for the hobbyist and anyone interested in branching out from the tried and true or needing a fresh kick in the creative pants.

[Justin Case]

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