Drawing Ideas: A Hand-Drawn Approach for Better Design Kindle Edition

I am in the design trade, so I review this book as a professional.There is much that is good, even great here, particularly for the design or architecture student.However, there many inconsistencies, enough so that I would not recommend a student spending full price on it.First, it could be quite a lot slimmer as much of the text is padding and /or redundant.The book is bound in very heavy card board with sharp corners, making it awkward to carry about.The chapter on binding and creating one's own sketchbook is superfluous. . .and a little precious. While clever, with sketchbooks, and reams of (recycled ) paper easily and cheaply available, no student I know is going to do this. This chapter should be eliminated in forthcoming editions.The drawing instructions are excellent, as are the recommendations for, and examples of, keeping a sketch book. These examples are some of the best available for students.Oddly one of the weird inconsistencies of this book are the drawings of people: Page 22 is a particularly good example of this---the drawing technique itself is good, but the figures are so awkward ( head way too large & too round for an adult, glasses, clothing and shoulders poorly drawn & scaled--is it meant as a joke?); it is almost as if these were drawn by someone other than the authors. This is jarring in a book which is mostly geared to product design.There is no doubt that the authors know their stuff in drawing, sketching etc. but they are not quite as skilled when it comes to combining those examples with text, chapter headings and layout. The "Top Tips" pages are awkwardly laid out : the all-caps texts in a variety of sizes does not lead the eye well, nor does the scattering of the numbers in all kinds of sizes. The earth tone backgrounds don't lend readability,either.There is much good in this book, but it badly needed an editor who has experience in data viz and typography.

I have a fairly strong art library; I live in a rural area and have to teach myself. This book is a great addition to anyone who is interested in communicating visually. Rather than focusing on HOW to draw, the primary focus of this book is (implicitly) WHY to draw. It does not give ideas on what to draw (which is at least suggested by its title). Instead, it is concerned with HOW to communicate your ideas visually, effectively, and efficiently. If you're looking for HOW to draw in an extremely effective way, try Robertson's and Bertling's "How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination." Between it and "Rapid Viz", you have the two best "how to draw" books I've found in the last ten years - and they're both available from Amazon. "Drawing Ideas" is the perfect companion volume to these two books; in my opinion, this triad - Drawing Ideas, Rapid Viz, and How to Draw - make up a complete art library. All that's left is paper, pencil, and practice . . . good sketching to you!

Well presented and well-bound. Geared toward product design and architecture. I was hoping more for bringing to life more science-fiction-like imagery, but I can apply what's covered within this book to that subject easily. Scott Robertson's How to Draw covers more of the stuff I'm interested in, but it is so concise and precise that it slows the read.This is a good read, from start to finish. It doesn't get bogged down with too much detail that isn't supported by relevant illustrations. I also appreciate the periodic numbered generalization pages. They're supportive and clever. Which describes the rest of the style of the book itself.It might be a textbook, but was so pleasant to read that I kept going and felt afterwards that I had a little better grasp of the process of getting the pictures in my head onto the page.

This book is excellent for helping me layout and execute visual stories. In my job one of my roles is to help people understand what is possible with technology which does not yet exist, telling the story is my job. Mark's different approaches and ideas are great. Additionally he shows some drawing styles I can adapt to my own style. The ideas in the book are sophisticated and subtle enough that a beginner should let it supplement other resources. For the seasoned professional who needs to brush up on drawing skills (because stock images don't always give you exactly what you need) or never had to really develop their drawing this is an excellent book. This is a book to keep revisiting and as time passes its value continues to evolve for me.

I was actually looking for this kind of practical book, showing me some real cases of designs. Learned a lot from others real works.

Really great sketching book. Quite a bit past the Dan Roam level simple stuff, but has good explanations and development. Better than some really fancy sketching books intended for professional designers. This has that too, but in a simpler, more practical way. Also covers a broad variety of sketching including diagrams, presentations, etc. Starts from basics to more complex sketching.

I am a third year interior design student and I wish I found this book sooner, it helps with techniques for drawing conceptually, diagrams etc... I really love this book and am glad I bought it. I use it in my design studio to help me try out new drawing techniques for diagrams! Honestly, this is the best book to give any design student even as a gift. So glad a friend recommended it to me!

It was good. book cover should be light weight paper. Paper selection may be better with finer grain for better details. Message was goodenough in terms of faculties view point. More finished version of each topic would make this book better. Illustrations are well chosen butmay add more selection with balanced regions in the world. Please pursue and explore.

Thank you for this awesome guide book for getting ideas for art and design. Getting ideas is one of the biggest roadblock that an artist/designer faces on their every day work and making a reference guide for the same is a very important contribution. This book covers the basics of every type of design( product, fashion, animation). Note- This book doesn't give in depth process of the process of making the design in every field, but it gives you what it claims, that is how to draw ideas for your design and this has been explained in depth step by step process with texts supported by diagrams, sketches and photos. The paper quality is not glossy but its thick and the quality is good. The only thing that was disappointing was that the hardcover binding was a little damaged at the edges and also at the binding.

Muito bom o livro! Gostaria que o e-book autorizasse a cópia para efeitos de tradução, pois ajudaria muito a compreensão de quem não tem fluência em inglês.

This is an excellent book for those just learning to draw. The examples are simple, beautiful, and easy to follow. The 'drawing bootcamp' gets you to speed on foundational skills for drawing. It is a nice mix of technical learning as well as exercises for the imagination. If you have some latent artistic talent and a little ambition, you will be able to make drawings you are proud of using this book. It took me about a month, but I am very happy with my progress!

This is a good book if you're already quite accomplished. I think it falls a bit between two stools. There are brief 'revision' bits (a drawing 'boot camp') which are a bit too short. Then there's a lot of 'advice' which really is just that, rather than 'teaching'. Perhaps 3 stars is a bit hard - it is a good book - but there are much more focussed books out there if you want a 'how to'.

Love it!