Drawing Masterclass: 100 Creative Techniques of Great Artists

by NOBLE GUY

Analyses the visual approaches and techniques of 100 great artists, and shows readers how to weave some of this magic into their own drawings

Drawing Masterclass analyses some of the most fascinating drawings by some of the best artists the world has ever the way they were made, what they do well (or badly) and how and what we can learn from them.

The book is organized into chapters covering seven important nudes, figures, landscapes, still life and studies, heads, fantasy and abstraction. Each chapter selects a cross section of artists and examines their practice in detail, using key drawings to serve as perfect examples of a particular quality in drawing. Light and shade, rhythm, form, space, contour and composition are all covered in detail. Each artist is described through one of their masterpieces, plus a biographical profile and a practical look at the way the drawing was the materials and technique, as well as an examination of the ideas and inspiration behind its making and how the artist’s life might reflect their concerns. The book covers a broad historical and geographic sweep, and includes many of the most celebrated male and female artists. Their artworks are shown not as styles to be copied blindly or as the magical work of untouchable gods, but as real objects that were made by human beings.

Table of Contents

Introduction Nudes Figures Landscapes Still Life and Studies Head
Fantasy Abstraction

Genres: Art, Drawing

288 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2017

Reviews

[Dvine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every graphic artist at one point or other made drawings, whether they were intended as practice, preparation of larger works, or just to be finished pieces of art in itself.
Also, anything can be used to make drawings, from a stick in the sand, elaborate ink or pastel sketches, or even digital drawings on tablets and personal computers.
This is what makes drawing perhaps the most quintessential and relatable form of art.
The book does a good job of introducing each artist's style of drawing with an example, and then offers a quick tip on how to get to one of the characteristic elements of the drawing.
The quick tip or art technique is part of the title of this book but is not really worth buying it for, it just scratches the surface rarely more than a footnote, they should have just left it out of the title or devoted at least say half a page to it for every artist. That said I picked up the Trois Crayons technique from this book and may try out something else as well, so reading it for that purpose does work.
The biggest drawback of this book, however, is that an artist's sketching or drawing style is often dissimilar to his/her iconic works and that they don't provide one or several iconic works so you can make comparisons between the two. SO the only proper way to read this book, unless you happen to be an art tutor and know every artist's works intimately, is to read it with Google image search open so you can type the artist's name in there and have an overview of his/her works at the ready.
Other than what I mentioned above I enjoyed reading it and it's a good quality book on a topic that deserves more exposure.

[Enrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great book which shows, reviews and briefly explains the technique/important consideration of 100 drawings from different artists. its divided in thematic sections (still nature, heads, figure, portraits, etc...)

the book is about drawing, not painting, and shows you drawings of very famous painters with all kind of drawing medias, from silverpoint until indian ink and different approaches, from realistic drawings until abstract ones

even if in the preliminaries it explains different media types, elements of art (line, value, space, etc...) and give a few tips of how to improve your drawings, its not a book to learn to draw or to become an artist. anyone can enjoy the drawings and the comments but in order to make the most of it you should have some basics in drawing/art

each selected drawing is in the book for a reason and comes with a tip box briefly explaining something important to take into consideration when drawing. again it doesn't teach you how to replicate the drawing but gives you something important, related to the commented drawing, to use in your own drawings

im a beginner in the world of art and not sure how professionals would find the book but i really enjoyed each page because if found the tips highly useful and inspiring

[Hugo Van Zoest]

interesting and inspirational

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book which analyzes different artists' drawings.