Can’t
draw but always wanted to? Grab a pencil,
some paper and a copy of this book, and there might
well be nothing stopping you…
When
is a course not a course? When it is designed
to be like anything but, with a strong sense of fun
and a feel for the many situations of everyday life
that can be enhanced with a spot of art. Divided
into six chapters, this book goes from making marks
through tone, composition, patterns, observation and
beyond. Start simply by getting back to basics
(what you lost when that first teacher told you that
you were no good at art) and drawing like a child again. Listen
to music and make marks to it, go outside and draw what
you see on paper or in the sand, make a picture out
of a piece of string to show where a line can take you. Each
double page has a task on it illustrated with examples
and often with things to look up or artists to go and
take a look at. Some good web links might
come in handy here, but I guess that might be lazy. There
are pictures to make from dots a la Seurat, pictures
from torn paper, making drawings of objects like stones
and chocolates, watching a strawberry decay and recording
each stage and more. I like the way it involves
the reader with ordinary things that anybody can find,
and the parallels it draws between each task and the
art that you see in galleries. This is not
the way I learned, but it is perhaps a good way to teach
an adult bite-sized lessons that can be fitted into
an average day. If you have always wanted
to draw but feel daunted by the more traditional approach
in many art primers, this might be for you.
|