An Introduction to Drawing

Just like other books published by Dorling Kindersley, this one is profusely illustrated by closely-spaced drawings and photographs that almost crowd out text. It's a short book, at 72 pages, but it covers, however briefly, artists' materials used in drawing, as well as a large number of drawing techniques and subjects. Artists' materials covered include pencils & colored pencils, pens & inks, chalks & charcoal, pastels, watercolors and paper. Techniques covered include ways of working, getting started, linear drawing, tonal drawing, layout & construction, forms and modeling. And subjects covered include buildings & architecture, interiors & exteriors, landscapes, figures & drapery, life drawing & portraits, movements & gestures and drawing for painting.This is a good catalog of drawing techniques and subjects, but if you're interested in learning to make accurate, detailed, realistic drawings, it's not the one for you. Drawings by the author are quite impressionistic and underworked by comparison with those in, say, How to Draw the Human Head by Louise Gordon or Botanical Illustration in Watercolor by Eleanor B. Wunderlich or Rendering in Pen & Ink by Arthur L. Guptill.