Getting Started: Discover your "inner artist" as you explore the basic theories and techniques of pencil drawing (Drawing Made Easy)

Don't be misled by this book's small size! Carol Rosinski is a knowledgeable, gentle authority who will take you by the hand and talk to you while you "get started" learning to draw. From the preliminary basics (pencils, paper and erasers) to discussions of line, shape and form, and then on to more advanced topics such as combining multiple images to create a subject and using a computer to emphasize different elements in a drawing, Getting Started gives concrete advice and tons of encouragement every step of the way. Rosinski goes beyond simple demonstration to explain the reasons and feelings that make each element essential to a good drawing. She never wants you to accept what she says as true just because she says it: she wants you to experience for yourself the point she is discussing. For example, to the perennial beginner's question ("How much detail should I include?"), she offers pairs of drawings designed to be viewed at different distances (p. 43) and asks you to reflect on what you see. Any good drawing book will stress the importance of locating the light source in a scene and understanding how light defines objects and their shadows, but Rosinski is not content simply to make those statements and leave it at that. Instead, she presents photographs of a large pumpkin taken at 5 different times during the day, so that the reader can actually see the effects of changes light on an object. Similarly, her discussion of shape and the importance of positive and negative space begins with an exercise in which the student "deconstructs" a photograph by cutting around the main subject and separating it from its background. By completing this exercise (or viewing the excellent photographs Rosinski includes as illustrations), the student can see exactly how line functions to define an object's shape as well as how it serves as a boundary between positive and negative space. With such an able guide at hand, you'll have no trouble "getting started" on a drawing project! This book is a "must have."