Customer Reviews:
overated.......2007-03-21
I found this text very frustrating. There is no instruction in technique beyond some simple perspective lessons. If you want to know how to accurately render different materials you will have to find another book. You can tell there are many more steps he uses to achieve his renderings, possibly even the use of other materials or media with his markers, but there is no information about it in his book. It is the text our professor uses for our Intro to Color Rendering class and I think there has to be something better than this!
One of the best on the subject.......2007-02-06
An excellent reference text for both the student of design and professional. Beautifully illustrated with step-by- step instructions explaining the mediums and techniques in their use to acheive maximum results!
Ira S. Friedman
College Instructor,Interior Design/Graphic Techniques/Drafting
Pat Arnold's Review of Sketching and Rendering Interior Spaces.......2007-01-11
I really feel that the book was written in easy to use format. The instructions were very clear and concise.
Okay, but text should be formatted differently.......2005-12-22
I was disappointed with this book. I felt it needed more examples from different artists, rather than just the author's work. In addition, the book uses strange font and formatting which is sometimes difficult to read. In general, the information is easy to understand, but I have found other books present the same information in more concise terms. Okay to add to a collection, but not recommended to be the main source for any interior design project.
Great book.......2003-01-16
I am a Graphic Design student in Kansas City. Finding anyone to teach you marker rendering is impossible, yet the field demands you have this talent. This book is a great start. I've looked all over for good books on this subject and they are rare. The book is in FULL color, with plenty of exercises. He also tells you the exact marker he used in each drawing, to keep u on track. And works through all perspective problems. It's inspiring just flipping through the pages. However, it still demands practice and discipline, but with this book it will help. If you've been scared of marker rendering, start with this book, it will get u on your feet.
Book Description
Enclosed in a handy, portable case, this kit includes paints, brushes, and a blank pad of absorbent watercolor paper -everything you'll need to begin creating right away! The instruction book details watercolor materials and techniques ranging from laying down tones to using complementary colors to developing your own painting style, while the watercolors dotting each page provide subject ideas.
Customer Reviews:
Nice Kit for the creative mind.......2007-01-12
This kit is wonderul, and if you have a person in the house who likes to draw/color/sketch/shade, give them this book and watch their skills improve. NICE
Customer Reviews:
A flash and smudge of charcoal .......2007-07-27
This book lured me into sketching in charcoal. I love David's style whether it is a momentary turkey, chameleon or Piazza San Marco. I enjoy sketching as I travel and David's description and depictions of drawing soldiers inspired me on my next business trips to India and Sumatra to approach several soldiers/guards and ask to sketch them. I had as much fun as David did at the Jodhpur airport and I was surprised how well they turned out as I normally prefer structures or scenes. I've become braver with portraits. Charcoal is great for capturing a scene quickly.
I first saw his book in our Public Library and belatedly wanted to have a copy for myself to refer back to.
I don't feel the mixed fonts on the cover do the book justice, but feel ideas in the content have honed my sketching skills, not only in charcoal but my preferred fine fibre-pen. I now even know a blending tool from a kneaded eraser and have them added to my portable arsenal.
good in theory, but..........2006-04-23
This book has some excellent advice and techniques, but never have I seen an artist who needs to get over himself more! I own at least 100 different art books (had a hard time choosing a medium and then a subject to focus on, and I like to read them) and in not one of them are there as many posed photographs of the artist in his various locations (at least 10-15). These are not photos of his hand used to illustrate a point or technique- these are cheesy "look at me in --- with my pad and pencil- don't I look serious" pictures.
His introduction is pompous and his text, at least at the beginning, is as well. IF you can get past that, you can learn from this book. I found his writing style to be distracting as he recounted his journey to becoming the artist he is today (winner of many "prestigious awards"). Bleh. If they were to do a 2nd edition of this book, the publishers would do well to revise the text heavily.
I enjoy when artists become conversational while writing an instructional text. Claudia Nice is an excellent example (Pen and Ink)- her humor shows and she is conversational. Ann Kullberg (Colored pencil) makes you feel like you are sitting at a table having coffee with her and you are completely capable of doing pictures every bit as good as hers. In both cases, these ladies' personalities shine through, but they are still extremely strong in the teaching/instructing department.
The first chapter of "Fast Sketching Techniques" has us view (apart from the numerous photos of the author) many "drawings" to compare with "sketches". After 2-3, you see the difference, but there is a lot of fluff. I think that's my main problem with this book- the fluff. They wanted a certain length that this subject just doesn't lend itself to very well and had to fill in somewhere!
Not a *bad* book, if you aren't bothered by the style of the author. If you can get past his opinions of his "idyllic journey" and get the instruction underneath, you will learn from it. To sum up this entire book- sketching fast means leaving out details and concentrating on the main lines. There.
Very useful.......2006-03-25
I agree with some other reviewers who don't understand how this book could have gotten negative reviews. If you are looking for a way to capture what you see in your everyday environment, then this book will help you do it.
The sketches are not "finished" in the sense that the author talks about - a tightly polished rendering which could - and almost always does - take hours. That's not the goal of the book, and the author says as much, even showing examples of both the quick sketches and the highly detailed drawings as comparisons. There shouldn't be any doubt that what he's discussing is sketching.
I have tried the techniques set forth in this book and have found them an immense help in improving my drawing skills. The resulting sketches may look "simple," but the technique itself and frame of mind you must be in to draw this way *do* take some time to learn, as do most worthwhile activities relating to drawing, painting, playing an instrument, and so on. There is always practice involved, but if you put forth the effort, this technique will help improve your drawing.
Easy Way to Sketch.......2005-07-18
The fast sketching method here has a particular goal. That is, to capture information about a subject for further reference. Mr Rankin is an accomplished painter and uses this technique apparently as a basis for his watercolors. His method can produce beautiful sketches at times-as he shows- but that apparently is not the main intention.
Rankin's method presented here involves using a 9b pencil to do fast contours of separate shapes, blended together with a smudge technique, and heavily emphasising values. I tend to do all my sketches in ballpoint, without regard for shading, and without consideration for future studio work, so his method doesn't quite appeal to me personally. Still, I went through his book, practiced every exercise, and I definitely feel I learned some valuable things.
Recently, I went to a local museum to sketch, where they don't allow pens into the gallery. I brought my 9b pencils and tortillions and had a succesful trip using Mr. Rankin's techniques. The method in Fast Sketching Techniques is easy to learn and the instruction is excellent. If you are a total beginner, I might recommend a true beginner's book first, before this. Ohterwise, it's a useful addition to your bookshelf.
Confidence I never had before.......2005-07-08
I was so intrigued by the sketches I saw in the book when I was browsing through it I just had to buy it. This book literally changed my whole direction artistically as well as giving me confidence I never had before. Sure the sketches *appear* to be simple. What the author is teaching here is not how to make a *pretty* picture but how to truly *see* a subject and *quickly* capture your impression. If you want a finished "pretty* picture, you go back to your studio and work on it from there. For the first time ever I have the confidence to go out into public and draw people. It was always so frustrating for me that I just assumed that drawing people just was not my forte. I was wrong, I just needed to learn how to see and translate that to my hand and onto paper.
I am fortunate enough to live in the same area as David and I attend his drawing classes at the local art gallery. I learned in a couple months what would have taken me years to learn on my own. Trust me - the book is worth it!
Book Description
As the principal courtroom sketch artist for the New York Times and WABC in New York, Marilyn Church has covered many of our most infamous trials, from John Gotti and Mark David Chapman to Amy Fisher and Martha Stewart.
With The Art of Justice, she takes readers inside the courtroom for 30 sensational cases, with a cast of characters that's straight from the headlines: Bernhard Goetz, O. J. Simpson, Woody Allen, Sean "Puffy" Combs, the Son of Sam, the Central Park Jogger, and many, many others. In addition to brilliant full-color reproductions of Church's artwork, The Art of Justice also includes compelling trial summaries by noted journalist Lou Young and a Celebrity Gallery featuring Mick Jagger, Don King, and Donald Trump in the courtroom. It's essential reading for true-crime fans!
Customer Reviews:
A courtside seat to history, one that has the advantage of post-trial hindsight.......2006-06-28
The Art of Justice is much, much more than its subtitle ("An Eyewitness View of Thirty Infamous Trials") lets on. The thirty criminal trials in this gorgeous large-format book span the decades from the 1970's to the present. Courtroom scenes are portrayed in striking full-color sketches, accompanied by an objective narrative about the indictment, evidence, courtroom atmosphere, media coverage, and American cultural pulse. I actually hesitated about picking up the book, because I envisioned it as an art piece, and while it is most certainly artistic, the book is also about the American collective memory, the changing face of true crime coverage over the course of three decades, the meaning of celebrity, and the indelible personal impressions of people who were present in these courtrooms as journalists and sketch artists.
The impressions of courtroom artist Marilyn Church take this book to the next level. She writes about the hilarious scene created when Marla Maples's pilfered stockings and high heels were displayed in courtroom trial of her stalker: "I had fun pulling them into the center of the drawing, emphasizing the bizarre scene of footwear spilling everywhere." Most other scenes have a more somber tone, such as the judge's order for all artists to stow their drawing supplies when the Central Park Jogger rape victim was on the stand. Chruch also provides insight into the stony, vacant manner of Preppie Murderer Robert Chambers; he chilled her to the bone because her own children could have easily been his peers and friends, at risk from this cold sociopath.
Church's career spans all the significant trials of the last thirty decades, from the modern celebrity trials of Sean "Puffy" Combs and Martha Stewart, to the Fall of the Teflon Don, John Gotti, to famous crimes by The Long Island Lolita and The Son of Sam. Yes, O.J. is here, too. Church was commissioned to create courtroom sketches for the trial precisely because every other media source had full-color glossy images from live video and photo, and one magazine wanted something to set themselves apart--what better than a good, old-fashioned full-color sketch?
As someone who was raised on the O.J. trial, I enjoyed this book as a history lesson. I was in junior high for the first World Trade Center attacks (1993), and it most affected me because my class trip to New York city was cancelled as a result. With a decade-plus of hindsight, and having lived as a NY resident through the 2001 attacks, I had an entirely different perspective on the event and trial, and the narrative at hand provided much-needed insight into jihad in America in the early 1990's.
This is truly a courtside seat to history, one that has the advantage of post-trial hindsight, so that stories can be told in full detail, with all the post-verdict developments. I enjoyed this as a history lesson, as an exploration of the criminal trials I grew up on, and as a poignant perspective on the changing face of criminal trials in the last 35 years. Some of the trials of the 1970's dealt with issues that seem long-settled to me, as a child of the 1980's. As a bonus, this book not only provides detailed insight into 30 infamous trials, it concludes with a "Celebrity Gallery" of famous faces in various trials. Celebrities sketched included Truman Capote, a bloated David Crosby, Mick Jagger, Don King ("everyone else seems diminished when King is in the room"), Mayflower Madame Sidney Biddle Barrows, Imelda Marcos, and Sid Vicious (among many others).
Justice Stories.......2006-04-18
I have to admit up front that I know both authors. They are colleagues from our time together at WABC-TV's Eyewitness News back in the early 1980's. 25 years later, I was surprised and excited to hear they had gotten together to write this book, and I'm even more surprised now to see how much fun it is to read. Growing up, I was a big fan of the "Justice Story" that ran every Sunday in New York's Daily News, and this book is like a collection of many of those great tales. From important cases to sensational crimes to the kind of celebrity insanity that exists in the hometown of "Page Six," the book is a great trip down memory lane. Lou writes insightful, colorful and clear brief stories for each case covered in the book. Marilyn's art is beautifully presented and we get fascinating "behind the scenes" stories about how courtroom artists work and what they experience as they focus on major and minor criminals through the years. It is entertaining and breezy, both serious and fun. The kind of book that's easy to pick up and enjoy in ten-minute bursts or while hanging out for hours. It is also unique-- nothing like it has been done and you close the covers knowing like you have learned something while fulfilling your nostalgic needs.
Brilliant history of justice and injustice.......2006-04-16
Marilyn Church's drawings are proof that trials shouldn't be televised: Her sketches express much more than photos could. But more than an art book, this is actually a superb guide to three decades of American legal history. Lou Young has a stunning ability to make sense of complex court cases in brief, captivating prose. Reading his summaries of these legal dramas, one finally understands why the jury had to let OJ walk free, and how El Sayyid Nosair evaded conviction for shooting Meir Kahane in a roomful of potential witnesses. Young's restrained descriptions of the false convictions in the Central Park jogger trial and of Hurricane Carter's travails are reminders of how imperfect an art justice can be. A good jury would award this book six stars, if only Amazon would allow it.
Gershom Gorenberg, author of "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977."
Brilliant history of justice and injustice.......2006-04-16
Marilyn Church's drawings are proof that trials shouldn't be televised: Her sketches express much more than photos could. But more than an art book, this is actually a superb guide to three decades of American legal history. Lou Young has a stunning ability to make sense of complex court cases in brief, captivating prose. Reading his summaries of these legal dramas, one finally understands why the jury had to let OJ walk free, and how El Sayyid Nosair evaded conviction for shooting Meir Kahane in a roomful of potential witnesses. Young's restrained descriptions of the false convictions in the Central Park jogger trial and of Hurricane Carter's travails are reminders of how imperfect an art justice can be. A good jury would award this book six stars, if only Amazon would allow it.
Gershom Gorenberg, author of "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977."
Book Description
Absolute Beginners guides represent a fresh new series of drawing and painting books for budding artists written by professional artist/ teachers. In You Can Sketch, master artist Jackie Simmonds leads the novice by the hand, demonstrating dozens of step-by-step, easy-to-follow techniques using a variety of sketching media. Over 100 clear, full-color illustrations show readers how to sketch the separate elements of simple still life and landscape subjects one by one in pencil, charcoal, colored pencil, pastel pencil, and Conté crayon. Explicit instructions demonstrate how easy it is to combine these different elements to make a finished picture. With You Can Sketch, even the most hesitant artists will gain confidence and start sketching fast!
Customer Reviews:
You Can Sketch: A Step by Step Guide for Absolute Beginners.......2007-01-11
For the size and price of this book it is packed with very usable information. It is easy to read for young and old. The book details various media and materials and composition.
The demonstrations are very nice. I was very surprised at the variety of sketches from small objects to landscapes,animals, people,skies,water,etc.
I would recommend this book for beginners as well as those who have been sketching their own pictures for painting.
Sharon
Must have for beginners!!.......2006-06-15
I absolutely love this book!! Being a beginner wanting to learn basics about drawing everything from landscapes to fruit the book lets you explore the different methods and mediums. It's also a complete confidence builder and I was excited to run out a get a sketch book (which she encourages) to learn to become better. There is something in here for everyone and she makes it so easy to follow her step-by-step examples. You can choose your favorite medium to use, from charcoal to pastel pencils instead of being tied the medium she used in her examples, this is also a great way to see the differences between the textures of each medium. I borrowed this book from the library but I intend to purchase it to refer to as a reference! A must have for beginners and a great source for finding your favorite medium!
Sketching.......2006-02-08
Jackie Simmonds wonderful pastel books have saved me more times than I can count and I can't say enough about those wonderful books so I won't even start. So, when I told my art teacher I'm going to England in the Spring she suggested I take a sketchbook along with my camera. Not having done any sketching beyond a quick thumbnail in class to check composition and value of a still life I felt panic set in. I didn't need to worry, as soon as I found that Ms. Simmonds had a sketch book I knew I'd be fine and she hasn't dissapointed me. This book makes it almost impossible to mess up. You don't have to work page by page through this book, just pick an example you like and with a little time, (as in a few mins!) you will have produced a nice sketch and it will encourage you to do more. This book is really inspiring and confidence building. Now I can't wait to go to England and I'm going to take 2 sketch books! Ms. Simmonds shows you that art doesn't have to be scary and gives you the confidence and inspiration to really surprise yourself with what you can produce.
Sketching as a Hobby.......2002-09-16
I decided to do some sketching as a hobby. This book was perfecto. It is easy to understand and explains basic methods used. Simmonds explains exactly which parts of your subject to focus on and where to start. It also gives a good list of materials to use but simple pencils are all you need. I love this book because it gets me excited about sketching.
Very Basic but a good place to begin.......2002-06-22
The title says it all for this book. The author skillfully takes the reader on a step-by-step tour of basic sketching techniques. Throughout the book each project has detailed illustrations showing how the sketches should look as the reader follows along. It covers several drawing media including pencils, charcoal, pastel pencils, water soluble colored pencils, etc. The instruction covers basic sketching, shading, and composition techniques. Sketching subjects in the lessons include fruits, vegetables, natural forms, plants, flowers, trees, skies, water, landscapes, animals, people, buildings, people and the seaside. If you have had no art training and don't know where to begin or just want to try your hand at sketching then this is an excellent place to start.
Book Description
Sketching requires only the most basic tools to get started and is immediately accessible to anyone who has the desire. It is a simple yet rewarding exercise, serving as the foundation of all artistic pursuits. This illuminating guide draws on the vast experience of established artists to give readers a rich variety of working methods and topics that will guide and encourage their sketching ability. Artists of all skill levels will benefit from exercises that show them how to: * Sharpen powers of observation and analysis * Capture movement through line * Set up powerful compositions * Render tiny details that breathe life into a sketch * Use sketches as the basis of strong paintings
Customer Reviews:
Artists Sketchbook.......2005-07-28
This a well-round art technique and media book for any artist level. I have over 300 art tecnnique books. I considered this book exceptional. I would have given 5 stars, but the printing is too small. If you can read the ingredients on a tube of toothpaste, you will be able to read it. I had to purchase a plastic square magnifying sheet.
Not for beginners.......2004-06-02
This book provides excellent examples in a variety of media. It is the kind of book I look for to provide my students with good examples, things to try out, and the quality they should strive for. If you are an absolute beginner there are other books that will provide you with more basic how-to information than this one does, though I personally think this book is very good in this area as well. I would recommend this book to those people already aquainted with sketching, but wanting to explore visual journaling and using a variety of media.
for artists..........2002-04-02
This is a nice little book--very attractively designed and with lots of gorgeous sketches and samples. I think this book is for artists, though, not beginners. But beginners may find enough inspiration in the examples to want to investigate the techniques further.
A Great Book on How to Keep a Sketchbook!.......2001-11-27
This is a great book! It explains about keeping a sketchbook in various media, and how to use it to make finished drawings and paintings. Great for everyone, no matter how well you draw now.
Book Description
The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature is a drawing and watercolor painting primer created to enhance any experience of the great outdoors. In a skillful blend of inspiration and practical instruction, nationally recognized artist, author, naturalist, and teacher Cathy Johnson encourages aspiring artists to use sketching and painting to deepen their understanding of the natural world, to savor its every detail.
Featuring simple, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions and more than 280 illustrations--in color and black-and-white--Sketching in Nature covers a broad range of subjects, including:
--Tools and equipment
--Choosing a subject to sketch or paint
--Artist's shortcuts to getting the angles right
--Rendering hard and soft edges
--Mixing paints and washes
--Understanding color and using a color wheel
--Using light to express volume
--Using a camera to supplement your work
--Using watercolor to suggest texture
--Sketching flowers, trees, and animals
--Depicting clouds and weather patterns
--Using field sketches as studies for future paintings
--Lists of sketching workshops and sources for art supplies
Customer Reviews:
excellent resource.......2007-03-26
I loved this book. I am a beginner and it was an excellent resource.
Important for beginners........2005-08-04
I am a novice artist and need all the tips and help I can get. This book is a big help and I refer to it frequently.
Don't let the title fool you.......2004-04-22
This book provides a tremendous amount of information on sketching in nature but don't let the title fool you- this is a terrific general sketching and drawing book. Johnson covers topics that are rarely covered in other books. The use of pens, watercolors, pencils and colored pencils (both water soluble and not) are covered. This is an invaluable book and is an asset to both the beginner and more advanced student. I'm on Amazon right now trying to find other books by Cathy Johnson- I'm that impressed.
Cathy keeps it simple...and affordable........2001-08-30
This is a very refreshing book. Cathy Johnson not only makes it look easy to draw and paint loose, yet accurate, watercolor sketches outdoors, but she tells you everything you need to know. This book will actually teach you how to draw and paint what you see, without making things overly complicated. Best of all, her supply list is well within the means of most people. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal from it. This summer, I caught Lyme disease. It's nasty. For months, I could hardly walk, let alone hike and garden and do stuff I used to love. But Cathy's book has helped draw me back outside, and I'm learning to love nature all over again, one leaf, flower, and bug at a time. This book would make a great gift.
Fine for the Arteest on the Go.......2000-04-14
This is a pretty complete little volume. When you get it, you really do have to assume some knowledge and practice of making art and the media, however, she goes over materials and techniques, which can serve as a good refresher or initial exposure.
The best part is a discussion early on about how to pack all the materials so you don't keel over from exhaustion, hauling too much art gear, along with the usual standard hiking goodies. (I especially needed help with that, given my childlike adoration of way too many pretty colors.)
The emphasis is on SKETCHING, not doing the Mona Lisa. This is important in outdoor work as light changes and speed can be of the essence. I sometimes pick up this book so that I can just relax my techniques a bit.
The examples in the book, in many media and in monochrome or color are a delight to view. Sometimes, it's just fun to sit down with a cuppa and flip through the nice drawings of objects and scenes in nature.
Average customer rating:
- Serves a specific purpose well, as titled
|
First Impressions: Sketching Nature in Watercolor
Edward Norton Ward
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Watercolor Painting
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
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Drawing
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Watercolor
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
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Watercolor, You Can Do It!
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Making Color Sing
ASIN: 0823018202 |
Customer Reviews:
Serves a specific purpose well, as titled.......2006-11-30
If you want to loosen up your work and/or paint outdoors efficiently and effectively, then this book will be a big help--as it has been for me. Even if you want to paint in a more representational, detailed style, than is represented here, getting the basics first as this book presents them could still greatly simplify things to make your process easier.
Edward Norton Ward's watercolor "sketches" (They are signed, so I assume he considers them completed paintings.), which are abundant throughout the book, at first might appear more simplistic than they are. In other words, there is experience and knowledge behind creating an effective, yet simple, watercolor. Mr. Ward has been generous in sharing this knowledge and the thoughts that are behind each painting. His discussions about simplifying the subject and the effects of light on color are particularly good. He also explains his painting process.
This book is useful in any case, but more useful if you paint outdoors, as that is its focus. His tips on traveling lightly and the materials he uses/prepares, has a couple valuable tips that I will use, even though after painting for a number of years I have already gone over the endless supplies combinations for painting outdoors.
The painting on the cover is a good representation of Ward's work and one that I like (although not my favorite). I admit that some of the paintings in this book do not appeal to me as the parts seem too detached and there are too many isolated dabs of paint. Others, however, elicit a sigh of appreciation, because they represent what I would like to be able to do: paint directly from nature in a very direct(impressionistic)style that doesn't involve a lot of fussing in the studio later--if I do not wish to do that--and still end up with a painterly thing of beauty. This book shows me how to achieve that goal more than any others I have studied.
I have just sorted through my rather extensive library on painting in watercolor with an eye to thinning down the collection to about half--to the ones that I deem most essential. I am keeping this book over several boxes of other watercolor books, a number by better known artists, simply because there is something valuable here that I want to learn, and I feel that I will use it as a reference for some time.
Book Description
Everyone, even those who claim they can't draw, can keep an illustrated sketchbook journal. Learning how to creatively illustrate their thoughts, ideas and feelings, readers will delight in recording the world around them as well as the events and details of their lives.
Claudia Nice, one of North Light's best-selling artists, begins by introducing readers to the wide variety of journals available and the materials they will need, then shows them how to make a sketch using basic art supplies like a pencil, colored pencils and pen & ink. She continues with instruction for using a basic watercolor palette and applying watercolor washes to a journal.
The remainder of the book deals with each type of journal individually, giving ideas and techniques to make every effort successful. Types include theme journals, discovery and exploration journals, travel journals, reference journals, in-depth study journals, fantasy journals, garden journals and life journals.
* Appropriate for all artistic levels
* Covers a range of journals for every style and taste
* Popular well-known author
* Friendly instruction and gorgeous art throughout
Customer Reviews:
The Mistress of Pen & Ink!.......2005-03-25
This book not only has great ideas for sketchbook journals, but wonderful detailed lessons on pen & ink work and watercolor techniques. I wouldn't say it was directed at beginning artists, thought. This is more geared to drawing & painting than actual journaling.
Very enjoyable and nice tips..........2004-12-31
I got this book for Christmas and it was a rather nice gift. The copy that was sent to me was a bit imperfect on the cover but I was much pleased with the content. The author presents good tips on how to choose a journal type, the right medium for you and adequate tools, type of drawing, how to draw basic forms and more sophisticated images, what details you should write on your journal, etc.
The images in the book are very nice and they vary in sophistication so they are not intimidating. Even if you really don't know how to draw, there are very nice ideas on how to start, for example use plant leaves to make prints and add details with pencils, paints, etc. Another great thing is that the author advises you to research the subjects of your drawings further, instead of just drawing them.
Overall, I was rather pleased. Now, if only this book would come alive and send me out the door...
Not the 'Journal'.......2002-09-22
Really, this book is good. But to tell you the truth, there's not
much of a 'journal' enthusiasm than I wanted. If you're looking
for how to draw, what you need type of book, than this will be
a good book for you. I recommend Pencil Dancing or Making Pearls.
May be inspiring to you, but it didn't inspire me at all.......2002-08-20
This is more of a "how to draw and paint" book than about keeping a journal. It is packed with plenty of drawings in mixed media from pencil to pen to watercolor and a blend of all of them.
I must say the book is attractive. The format is like a wider-than-long sketchbook, bound attractively with a wide hessian cloth band. But the drawings didn't do anything for me most of the time, though the butterflies were nicely done. There is a very handy schematic for sewing a field drawing and painting carryall to carry your book and implements with you in the field. That was a nice touch.
I already have a library of art instruction books, and that wasn't what I expected from the title. This book just doesn't have enough "journal" content for me, nor do I like the style of drawings so this isn't my cup of tea. However, you might like the style and the art lessons, so your opinion may differ completely from mine.
truly a life enhancing experience.......2002-05-06
I was fascinated by the style and piercing grab Claudia Nice arrived at in her book "How To Keep A Sketchbook Journal" and added some of her suggestions to my own Journaling.
It is amazing but some events I "Liked" became events I "Love"
now that they have been recorded, illustrated and enhanced with the further insights that seem to tease out or arrive when you revisit the past.(Suggestion: Leave space for new insights and spantaneous arrisings of surprising feelings and sensations as your penetrations into your own life take on a new life of their own ) If you connect meditation with your journaling new space opens up and it is like having a Parallel Universe to be alive in. Truly a life enhancing experience...
You owe yourself this books enhancement to the life you own.
When you get the knack of it every day can be an adverturous trip that is worth writing about.
Seems like there is immesurable meaning and depth to life once you start looking.
Thank you Claudia ...
Book Description
The complete, classic guide to the art of pencil sketching
Portable. Erasable. Inexpensive. No other single drawing tool is as versatile as the pencil. Through the centuries, generations of artists have used it to work out ideas, study form, and develop fundamental skills that are crucial to an artist's training.
Pencil Sketching has taught thousands of beginners the basic principles and techniques of pencil sketching. Carefully revised to meet the needs of today's artists, this edition features easy-to-follow instructions, dozens of new illustrations, and more-everything you need to explore the amazing potential of the pencil and learn to sketch with confidence.
- Techniques: shading, texture, value, line, strokes . . .
- Materials: pencils, papers, accessories . . .
- Skills: observation, recording, composition, sketching from memory . . .
- Subjects: trees, landforms, water, architecture, cityscapes . . .
and more!
Customer Reviews:
Simple but Effective.......2003-07-15
A great book.
So many art books give long-winded descriptions of what to do, and even how to do it, yet they fail to capture the essence of what makes a drawing good. Wang concentrates on simple elements and rules of thumb, providing a wealth of wisdom in a few words and pictures.
If you're looking for long descriptions of techniques, this is not the book for you. The author quickly notes the salient points and demonstrates with sketches.
This book has beautiful drawings and covers a variety of techniques: how to hold a pencil, line, composition, values and shading, etc. The author also leads you through how to make specific elements: landforms, trees, water, and more.
scratching a bit on the surface.......2003-03-30
39 of the 111 pages consist of full page printed sketches, wich are beautiful. But the text, which is very rare in this book, is sometimes missing, and throughout this book very superficially. Thomas C. Wang describes one (1) pencil technique, which he is using for his sketchings, other methodes are not discussed or even mentioned. I could not recommend this book to anyone, perhaps for very beginning artist, whom are uncertainly in leading a pencil, but even then there are better books.
Beautiful Book That Inspires.......2002-03-06
I remember the first edition of this book from a few years ago. But this new edition is beautiful in and of itself - I flip through it often. But the real bonus was that it inspired me to sketch again - a skill that I haven't used frequently in the past ten or fifteen years. This one's a keeper because it showed me *how* to do it and then showed examples of how it was done by the expert. I've rediscovered my love of sketching.
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