Art Class #2: The Art and Science of Drawing: Learn to Observe, Analyze, and Draw Any Subject

I've learned so much about coloring, specifically with colored pencils, since I began my self-created class in mid-September. What I thought would be a brief look at a few videos, books, and blog posts has turned into a much deeper dive than I'd expected. I'm enjoying every minute and have no plans to wrap up my study of coloring. 

However, the goal I'd set was to take two art classes, not one. It would be easy enough to just mark that goal as complete; after all, everything I've done as part of my coloring class could easily count as more than one class. But I intended the goal to cover two different topics, so I'm sticking with that. 

Happily, my second topic fell into my lap in the form of an offer from the publisher to review The Art & Science of Drawing: Learn to Observe, Analyze, and Draw Any Subject, by Brent Eviston (affiliate link here and below). I dove into the book the day it arrived and have been working my way through the lessons and projects ever since. 

 

Eviston's philosophy is that drawing is not a talent, but rather a skill that anyone with good instruction and dedicated practice can learn. His book starts at the most basic of skills (literally, how to hold a pencil), breaking down everything you need to know in minute detail. From there, Eviston proceeds through basic shapes before moving on to 3D drawing, contour drawing, shading, and finally figure drawing. Each chapter starts with a series of lessons that each have a small project, then ends with a larger, more comprehensive project that puts those lessons to use. 

When I first started reading the book, it was so tempting to skip the early projects and get to the 'good stuff' in the second half of the book. But Eviston strongly recommends against that. Every skill builds on the previous skill. And even people who have been drawing for years have gaps in their skills and knowledge. That's definitely true for me. 

I'm about halfway through the book (meaning, I still haven't gotten to the 'good stuff') and have learned so much already. I can't wait to jump into the more advanced techniques, but I am committed to working through the fundamentals first so that I'm ready. I really like Eviston's teaching style and philosophy and am pleased with the progress I'm making. I'm seriously impressed with how much information is packed into such a relatively inexpensive book. Two thumbs up for  The Art & Science of Drawing: Learn to Observe, Analyze, and Draw Any Subject!