Drawing Portraits

This book shows how to draw features really well. It is a drawing book and he describes pencil or charcoal drawing techniques. Since I am a painter I would like to have had some of the features shown with brush strokes.

This book was very good for me in learning to draw portraits.

This book was an excellent refresher for me, relearning how to draw after a thirty-five year hiatus. An instructor of a portraiture course I recently completed led me to the book, and it was a very strong guide in my return to portrait sketching. - Marty

Graves uses the traditional method of breaking the face down into its components. He provides illustrations of how to draw each feature from frontal, half profile, and profile views. He is particularly good on the mouth and lips (seven pages are devoted to the subject), with the lips under the influence of varying emotions. His discussion of the hands (17 pages) is detailed and will teach more than I have so far had the time to absorb. His fewer pages on the ear and eyes are also good. The brief sections on composition are good, although I wish they were longer. Not so good on hair. All in all, I would recommend it to the serious student. I don't think any single book could teach all you may want to know, but this book will certainly add to your knowledge.