After having gone to
college for four years and earning a Bachelor's Degree in Art, working in
advertising and marketing for 25 years and teaching Drawing, AP Drawing and
Commercial Art for 11 years I've learned one important thing: preparation is everything!
I've drawn people
and animals all of my life and I can state categorically, "There is nothing
magic about drawing. It takes time to
study, prepare and practice."
Part of drawing any human
or animal is not just putting lines on paper.
Over the years I've
driven into my students' brains that it is just important to know about the
things that don't show when drawing animals and humans as it is to know what's
on the outside.
Like an architect or
engineer an artist must understand the building blocks of human or animal
figures. Muscles, bones, tendons, skin
folds, hair patterns-they all play an important part in drawing living,
breathing creatures.
Dover Publications understands
this and that's why I am so excited to introduce three titles that I believe
every artist worth their pencils and paper should have:
First up is Victor
Perard's 'Anatomy And Drawing'.
This book examines
the human body (male and female, young an old) from every possible angle and position
(both inside and out).
Pages contain illustrations
that demonstrate how to draw every part of the body shown from the inside
out. Bones, muscles, connecting tissue,
heads, ears, eyes, noses, hands, action shots, figures in repose, group shots,
male, female, old, and young are all examined in minute detail. Muscles and bones are labeled and
categorized. It's like having an
anatomy book at your fingertips.
Another word of advice
to anyone seriously considering making art your vocation: take anatomy and
figure drawing classes. That way you
get to experience the "in and out" of the human figure.
It's not only
important to understand in inner and outer workings of humans, it is just
important to know the same about animals.
Trust me. Drawing animals is much more difficult than humans-at
least from my experience. Just the sheer
number of animals is mind-boggling!
In Ken Hultgren's "The
Art Of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature" you'll learn
everything there is to learn about drawing animals.
Muscles. bones, fur,
scales, skin, proper action poses, drawing techniques and more are included in this
'must have' resource for the artist.
If there is one thing
I learned after studying this book it's, "I have a lot to learn!"
It's all well and good
to be able to draw the human figure. However
(other than a few exceptions) humans do not tend to run around naked. They are clothed and have been for many centuries.
"What People Wore'
by Douglas Gorsline, provides 1,800 illustrations from Ancient Times to the Early
Twentieth Century.
Every conceivable type
of clothing is included: suits, dress, gowns, headwear, shoes and sandals and every
type of accessory ever dreamed up by man.
The book is an invaluable
guide to all things fashion.
I plan on using it as
a reference for a number of projects I'm currently drawing. It's true what they say, "Cloths do make
the man."