Cover Image: The Art of Drawing People

The Art of Drawing People

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Member Reviews

I very much enjoyed this book. A concise guide to drawing people, you learn how to draw different expressions, features, etc. Easy to follow, even for the novice.

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This is a great gift for someone else, or yourself! Many of us want to draw better, and our drawings would help us in our creative endeavors, but it can be intimidating to get started. This book gives you the basics in easy pieces--usually just 1-2 pages--so that you don't feel overwhelmed. I found I was seeing everyone's face differently after reading the book! I plan to continue to use the techniques to practice my drawing skills.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

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The Art of Drawing People is a new tutorial guide for portraiture in the form of mini classes for various parts of drawing a human subject. Due out 3rd Sept 2019 from Quarto on their Walter Foster Jr imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The first ~20% of the page content is an introductory chapter introducing the tools, materials, and concepts for human portraiture. The authors cover the choice of materials and how to use them, learning to translate what you actually see to the page, a little bit of composition theory, some perspective studies, and troubleshooting potential problems using the example of characteristic ratios in a child's face.

At each lesson, important points and potential problems are highlighted in sidebars along with clear illustrations of the points being discussed. The book is lavishly illustrated. The chapters following the introduction cover heads and faces from different viewpoints, general portraiture including drawing from a reference photo and highlights and realistic hair, lighting, and more. There are also lessons on full body portraiture and a special treatment of children.

Nearly all of the tutorials have multiple illustrations which contrast the steps from outline sketch through contour and shading. I do not personally feel that this is a beginner guide though there are certainly lessons which can be used by artists of all levels of expertise. This would be more suitable to the mid-level to advanced artist looking for more specific study in portraiture. I liked that the art styles shown in the book come from several different artists, showing a range of styles. I also appreciate that there are numerous different treatments of light and shading at different positions from full face forward to three quarter profile to full profile.

This would make a great support and resource text for classroom or library settings, and also for the artist's (or would be artist's) home library.

Four stars.

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The Art of Drawing People is packed with tips and techniques and is extremely helpful for not only beginning artists, but those of any skill level.
Some areas covered are basic pencil techniques, practicing lines, pencil strokes, contour drawing, action drawing, Portraits, Facial features facial proportions, planes of the face, drawing from a snapshot, capturing personality, developing hair, drawing the body, drawing children, and drawing babies.
The Art of Drawing covers what materials are needed as well.

I find this how to book extremely helpful and I recommend it or anybody interested in improving and building up their drawing skills.

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The illustrations and projects in this book are wonderfully varied, but this is not a book for the absolute beginner. There are not a lot of steps and the book would be more suited to someone at an intermediate level. The tips and ideas are very good and it would make a great gift for someone already interested in or studying art. A great book for artists looking to widen their skills.

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The Art of Drawing People is great for beginners or art classes. There is great information and techniques. Well written and easy to read.

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As someone who lacks the artist ability to draw anything more than a stick figure I couldn't be more excited to try finding a book that will help me learn to draw just a little better. I have tried drawing super hero but found it didn't give the foundation or the basics I needed to learn the human face.

This is a great step by step with pictures and guidelines that will help the starting artist find their guide, paper, pencils, shading and more.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Walter Foster Publishing for the advance copy of Debra Kauffman Yaum The Art of Drawing people.

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Good illustrative instructions but I don’t think this is a beginners book. Great for artists looking to improve on their drawings and perspectives.

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As I’m a portrait artist and I’m always looking for tricks and tips so this was of great interest to me. Very good indeed, extremely clear precise instructions especially how to get the proportions and light correctly. I did learn a lot and was pleased to be reminded of a few things. I will certainly be recommending The Art of Drawing People to budding artists,

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