Overview
Drawing people is generally considered one of the most difficult subjects to draw. There is so much to think about: proportion, posture and balance, how to make clothes look convincing and how to capture other elusive qualities that give figure drawings life and likeness. This book shows you all you need to know and you will be amazed at what you can achieve. With a little practice and patience you will achieve instant results and find that drawing people is one of the most rewarding subjects. Susie Hodge shows just how easy drawing people is, in a series of ten progressive demonstrations. These are done in a variety of media and concentrate on various aspects of drawing people -- getting the features and proportions right, studying the shape, character and personality, capturing movement and foreshortening. After detailing the tools and materials required, Susie covers all the basic techniques needed to draw people successfully. A complete beginner will be amazed at what they can achieve by following the demonstrations and learning from the tips, tricks and know-how of the experienced artist.
Synopsis
Everything you need to know to achieve a realistic portrait is here, including how to make flat drawings look three-dimensional, comfortably pose subjects, and work with structure, perspective and proportion. Practice blending, hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling. Try working from photographs and with live models. Plenty of hints are included on creating convincing likenesses of specific features such as hair, eyes, mouths, and noses. Draw babies, children, and adults of different ages. Capture different skin tones and hair textures. Each project is done in a particular medium, but also includes an alternative drawing of the same subject produced with different materials, enabling you to fully explore this rewarding art form.
Library Journal
This series from New Holland Publishers is intended to compete with Hamlyn's "Step-by-Step Art School" series. Both offer good, basic books at attractive prices. Hodge's How To Draw Portraits is a workmanlike manual, though her stilted style detracts from its effectiveness. Sidaway's How To Draw Still Life is a more authoritative work from a veteran writer of several art books. However, the comparable book in the Hamlyn series, Jack Buchan and Jonathan Baker's Step-by-Step Art School: Still Life, also contains a valuable history of the genre, with examples from Caravaggio, Manet, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Warhol. While the Hodge and Sidaway volumes are adequate, libraries will be better off choosing from Hamlyn's "Step-by-Step Art School" series. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.