Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tuesday Book Review

OK, time for a bit of book review. Yes, art people read, as a matter of fact most artist I know have bigger personal libraries then scholastic types (this still doesn't mean I know how to spell).

First up (which I found it difficult to decide what book to review first)
Drawing People, How to portray the clothed figure.

I chose this book because it has been such a great resource for my art of late. I purchased this book not that long ago, maybe 4 or 5 months ago for the sole purpose of drawing children. None of my life drawing books at home went over drawing children, and it was even more surprising how hard it is to find a book with more than just 1 or 2 pages on the subject. Most people think it's us just smaller, or just draw a big head on a squat body with big eyes and a button nose and large grin and you have a kid. Well it's not that simple, children are way out of proportion to adults and trying to draw different ages in the younger years gets quite complicated. You would think that with the explosion of children's book market that this would be easy to find...no. I just wanted a book that would go over key points so that my imagery of children wouldn't appear off. This was the only book I could find with quite a bit of good information. Not really my drawing style, but the key information on proportions and age differences were there. I also came to the conclusion that since this was never taught to me in art school and the information was really hard to find that is was no wonder that there is so many ugly illustrated children's books on the market. I think that the books that are beautifully done are by artists that have taken the time to study and educate them selves on drawing children. I have to admit I have a wonderful model, which makes me really fortunate. But it's still nice to have a bit of good reference that puts it into words and sketches what makes children look like children. If you know of any other books on the subject PLEASE let me know. Otherwise, this is your best bet for now.

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