Written by Sam Piyasena and Beverly Philip
Published at Barron’s
About the Book
This unusual book serves several different purposes, starting with its guaranteed appeal to both professionals and amateurs who like to pick up a pencil and draw. Art students seeking a change of pace will respond to the authors’ very informal approach, seeing the lessons as fun-to-do confidence builders that emphasize the value of creative freedom. Every exercise can be performed by artists at all levels of training and ability.
- All exercises are designed to develop and improve hand-eye coordination
- Each exercise focuses on a different approach to drawing precisely what the eye sees—rapid sketches of moving objects, detailed observation of tones and shadow, exercises that teach rules of perspective, and much more
- A powerfully effective art course that never feels like a set of tedious drills
My Thoughts
I consider this book as a guide in learning how to draw. Though it explain various techniques and styles, I find that the book contains lots of explanations and examples but need to guide the reader a bit more in how to apply to teaching part. I felt really discouraged when I saw how much things I needed to read while learning how to draw. Maybe a more advance novice in drawing would enjoy this book better than I did. Don’t take me wrong, the information contained in this book is fabulous and can help you to expand your drawing skills but for me it wasn’t a good fit.
There are six chapters in this book:
Chapter 1: Line and Mark Making –> drawing start with lines…. learn how to master this simple step.
Chapter 2: Tone and Form –> Seeing the shapes, round, shadow play, tone, tear, stick, and more.
Chapter 3: Composition, perspective and Viewpoint –> Zen portraits, rule of thirds, crop and more.
Chapter 4: Movement and Gesture –> speed draw, time and motion, moving people…
Chapter 5: Pattern and Texture –> first impressions, dots, spots and blots, and more.
Chapter Six Observation, Exploration, and Imagination –> magnification, reflection, decomposition,…
If you are considering exploring drawing I am unsure that this would be a great book for you. However, if you are the type of person who is quite confident in yourself and if you have a good base in drawing, this book can help you explore various techniques in drawing. Each chapter contains some exercises but I personally felt lost in the book. I don’t have the time to explore drawing at this level at this point in time in my life. So for now, I will put the book aside and hope to have more time in the future.
Just Draw It! is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Barron’s. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
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