The Art of Pencil Drawing [Paperback]

Ernest W. Watson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (January 1, 1950)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823002764
• ISBN-13: 978-0823002764
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent investment ! you will not regret, at a good price, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Pencil Drawing (Paperback)

This precious book has been an eye opener for someone starting in art with pencil drawing.
Watson deals exclusively with pencil drawing, does not go into any other medium. And he gets his point across much more efficiently that all these books that touch on all media, yet never leave the reader satisfied because they never deal with any medium or subject as thouroughly as Watson does.

He starts out with a few definitions/descriptions of basic tools, but doesn't spend too much time on that. He goes on to tonal values with illustrations, describing which type of paper used each time (and that's precious information that authors rarely give). He goes on to explain how much detail to include with respect to distance from the viewer to the object depicted. Next comes composition: how to draw your viewer into the picture and keep him there, how to frame your subject, how much or how little detail should be included on the main as well as on secondary elements, how much line drawing should be done around the focal point, what details to include, which to leave out.
Then comes pattern and its composition, accompanied with a discussion of its tone and value. Shadows comes next, how to manipulate shadows arbitrarily, not to follow exctly your source, but to play your darks and lights against each other so that they enhance each other and again keep the onlooker inside your picture. Textures is an important section and how to obtain them, either by pencil manipulation alone, or by working with various grains of papers.
Another chapter is devoted to town and city, perspective in proportion, architecture, what emotional incentive prompts you toward a scene or another, getting accustomed to onlookers. Then it's on to landscape sketching with the use of symbolism, and a section devoted to tree forms.
He concludes with imagination, memory and the subconscious. He also establishes a clear distinction between a sketch and a drawing.
Experience and improvisation are only at your fingertips once you've thouroughly studied and applied Watson's principles.
The books closes on a gallery of the author's drawings.
Everything he teaches and recommends he also illustrates in his own hand.
Although this book is a reprint from 1968, it's more than up to date, and therefore worth its weight in gold.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Book by the Master of the Medium, June 14, 2005

By 

M. Moran "sunnyside44" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Pencil Drawing (Paperback)

If you need those silly little breakdowns that some people think are teaching aids then go for a Hammond book or one of the lesser pencil artists because this gem is for the serious individual who wants to learn and master the technique of pencil drawing with values. Watson's writing is as precise and clear as is his drawings and it is here that you will find real teaching in the art of how to see and how to translate what you see into truly beautiful drawings.
GET THIS BOOK FOR THE PICTURES , THE TEACHING AND ABOVE ALL THE EXAMPLES OF FRESH, CLEAN, BEAUTIFUL PENCIL WORK!!!!!

His technique and use of a value palette of light to dark strokes from different grade pencils is nothing short of remarkable and his enthusiasum for the student learning the many so-called tricks of the trade is metered with wisdom and stunningly skillful examples of this available medium.
I had this book at the beginning of my journey as an artist and I bought it here on Amazon in a fit of nostalgia.
Well just the chapter on how to get into and out of a sketch gracefully was worth the price.
I forgot how wonderful leaning over the shoulder of a real master was with all the systems and idot proof methods totally dependent on only photographs that proliferate this genre
Well, this wonderful book brings pencil drawing back to its rightful place at the head of the artists list of cheap and marvelous tools.
YOu have all the needed information plus the techniques for drawing clean clear crisp pencil work well illustrated and tempered by knowledgeable paragraphs on compoosition and lighting, handling your pencil with the spepcial point he shows how to make, as well as examples to follow and apply eventually in plein air sketching.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Book on Pencil..., September 25, 2005

By 

Holly Ingraham "ailurophile" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Pencil Drawing (Paperback)

...but then I've been drawing with one since I could pick one up. If you need a step-by-step "how-to" just this side of paint-by-numbers, this is not your book. If you want to be given the techniques to then apply to what =you= want to draw, buy it!

This one book takes you from choosing materials and learning to see, through composition and using light and shade (valuable in any media, and cheap and easy to master in this one) to outdoor sketching both rural and urban. The final section on working from memory and imagination is particularly invigorating.