The idea is that you progress through various short tasks and some longer projects to build up skills. These are in classic Search Press staged captioned photographs showing how the drawing builds up. Some of them have exactly the right amount of stages, while others had me scratching my head wondering how to get from a simple outline through to an intricately shaded final step. Fortunately, most were of the former type, and an unusual feature of the book is the final section of traceable line drawings at the back. Instructions are given on how to transfer these, and then they can be shaded in without the drawing part getting in the way. This is similar to the Ready To Paint series, and makes it easier to learn how to add the shading and other details. The book also contains many examples of the artist’s work with captions explaining how a certain effect has been achieved, as well as a useful index. Anybody who wants to draw can learn a lot from this primer.