You Will Be Able to Draw By the End of this Book Paperback – June 6, 2017

You already know how to draw. You did it as a kid. You just want to up the game. This book can help.It shows you how to use concentration of line to get a darker tone if drawing with a ballpoint. It shows you how to get perspective (in drawing, not life -- I have never found a good guide to getting perspective in life). It shows you how to approach a host of different subjects, including an animal. Well, not how to approach the animal, just how to approach drawing it. I suggest a cat. Everything is better with a cat.I would follow this with the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain set by Betty Edwards. They would work together to bring most folk to the intermediate level. This starts easier, that ends harder.What I like:1- This book starts at the absolute beginnng with mark making.Exercise 1: Grab a pencil. Draw lines all over the page. Done.The point is to then look and see what effects the variations of those lines has. What happens if you group them tight on one side and loose on the other? Is that different if they're parallel or not? Now you know something about shading, particularly with ink. It then moves to blind contour, and exercise by exercise, it grows more complex. You build on the skills that came before.2- The book lays absolutely flat, which is good for drawing.3- The paper in the book is actually good to draw on. It's not printer paper. It's a quality sketchbook paper. It can handle some wet applicaiton without buckling (not much).4- It exposes you to a variety of skills and techniques, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Subractive drawing, for example, whiere you cover the page in graphite or charcoal, and then eraset the lights, where you normally start with white paper and add the darks.5- It builds a solid foundation for improving your drawing.What I don't like:1- The rubber band closure. Mine is starting to break. I tend to lose it. It's annoying. I wish I could find a good replacement before the current one breaks completely.2- Fairly early on you get something like a draw like a printer exercise. I think that was too hard for a beginner and totally unnecessary. It goes back to a better level after that.3- It never tells you to keep an index card or scrap paper under your hand to keep from smudging. This is a basic introductory book. Someone should mention that.What you need:This book introduces supplies gradually throughout, which is a pain if you want to just pick it all up at once. The partial list on page 12 will carry you only a few pages. Comprehensively it is:1- Pencils HB, 2B, 6B (Mitsubishi Uni are best of breed in my opinion) and a sharpener (I'll suggest electric if you want the best experience).2- Erasers: white (Pentel -- that damages the pages least) and kneeded3- Ballpoint pens (fineliners will also work)4- Viewfinder. I went with Color Wheel The Artist's View Catcher, available on Amazon, but you can make one in about half an hour with cardboard, a craft knife, a steel ruler, a cutting board, and the instructions in the book. It's cheaper, easier and more accurate to just buy the thing.5- Charcoal, a mix of vine and willow strips (Both Winsor and Newton and General's sell mixed sets, available on Amazon). A set of charcoal pencils (I'd recommend General's) is also good. These are what I suggested the electric sharpener for. Softer charcoal pencils tend to break in a manual sharpener.6- Fixitive for charcoal7- Cloth for smudging charcoal. I'm evil. I use paper towels. It's not like the cloth will be that reusable after you rub it in charcoal anyway.8- Brush pens (Tombow rules the roost for those, but not the alcohol based pro)9- Bottle of ink, ideally india ink.10- Dip pen and a twig11- Container for water. A plastic or paper cup is good for this or there are fancy ones for painting.12- Paint brushes for ink.13- An animal. Yes, that's in the supply list of the project on page 82. I don't suggest a fish (they don't stay still, where cats and dogs sometimes nap) although he says an aquarium is a fine place for this. I don't think he has fish. I have fish. Trust me. Don't use fish. If you don't have an animal, a squirrel in the park can often be bribed to pose, or try the zoo.14- A person to pose. You'll need a head in profile and a reclining person. For profile, you could draw someone at a cafe or on the bus if you can't get a volunteer. For reclining? I just drew my roommate while she was sleeping. Don't tell her.15- A scrap paper or index card to keep under your hand so you don't smudge the drawing. It never calls for that.Optional (sort of): A drawing board. A sketchbook for extra practice. I say sort of because if you stay with drawing after this book (and what's the point otherwise?) you will need these

No the book isn't poorly made. The spine is meant to open that way so the book can lay flat.Yes, the strap is a large rubber band taped to the back of the book and it does a great job. Eventually I'll probably take the tape of and it'll still work just fine.The blank pages are exactly what makes this book so good. This isn't just a how to book, it's your sketchbook to do the things it's telling you how to do and when you're done it's a reference guide you're going to keep with you. It's a brilliant design and the fact that people are upset about the author providing you space to work in the book is a little ridiculous. Having those pages means you can just pick up this book and a pen or pencil and start practicing. It isn't like the book is mostly blank pages. For every blank page there are probably 3 or 4 pages of text and illustrations.This book is really good. One of the things I love is the presentation. This completely breaks free of the stuffy, dated feel that a lot of drawing books suffer from.As for the intent of the book, no you won't be a master artist by the end of it. No book is going to do that for you. You need time and practice. What this book does is set you on the right path and then serves as a reference for what to work on. Once you're done with it it becomes a great resource to return to for some guided practice. And if you aren't an absolute beginner then this book is great for figuring out what to practice and how.

Definitely a great learning tool just make sure you have time because of the details and practices this is not a rush through type of book. You are learning or perfecting a skill be patient and trust the process

As one of those people who has always thought of themselves as "not able to draw," "not creative," etc., I'm finding this book to be a revelation.I love the bite-sized exercises that focus on one aspect of drawing and allow you to work for 5 minutes or an hour.Some reviews have described the poor quality of the book, but if you read the introduction, you will find that all of these things are intentional: the pages lie flat, there is some room to sketch. I actually appreciate the fact that it's not fancier: I'm not paying for a glossy hard cover, but I am paying for the author's knowledge and some decent drawing paper.Sure, there are some blank pages, but plenty of content, and the author tells you to buy another sketchbook as well, because there isn't enough space to do all of the exercises over again. As an example, the photo above is of one of the first exercises. Clearly, if my drawing is going to improve, I need more practice (and more paper).Finally, I like that I have a great teacher but I can meet with him on my own time and I don't have to be self-conscious about my drawing.

I've thoroughly enjoyed working through this book and using the tools and techniques in this book to work on some basic drawing skills. I'm having fun and improving at the same time.

This book is interesting. First it's mainly for an older audience, I find it hard that anyone under 16 would find this interesting. Seems more in line to those over 30 or so. The cover is vibrant but after that it's mainly just black and white. Some "tasks" (this is a work book, with many pages/sections blank for you to draw right on it).I wanted to like this book, but found it rather confusing, with some tasks mundanely easy, and others step 1 would be easy, but step 2 feels like step 10 and you have no really idea how to get from 1 to 2 without already being very good at drawing.Some drawing look terrible, beginning and end... maybe just a personal preference. Overall, kind of confusing, some areas are good, others odd and not useful. Make sure you know what you are getting into...