Customer Reviews

Drawing from Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a worthwhile addition to my "how-to" shelf for a number of reasons. It's one of the few books that addresses the idea of removing your own stumbling blocks to improve your skill as an artist. Very often, the biggest obstacle to getting something down on the page is yourself: some bad habit you've picked up, or a good habit you haven't developed. Better still, the book has lots of sketches by well-known artists and illustrators that you wouldn't get to see otherwise: a nice look at their own thinking and drawing habits!

Drawing From Within by Nick Meglin and his daughter Diane, empowers the reader to reclaim the entitlement of sensory pleasure that accompanies the experience of "unselfconscious" drawing.

The action of putting pen to paper conjures in many people a fear of "misrepresentation," a reluctance to commit for fear of "doing it wrong." The Meglins address this limiting belief by reframing the concept of making art. They inspire the reader to reclaim the right to the pleasure of taking risks and trusting one's own perceptions.

In Drawing From Within, the Meglins speak with one encouraging and humorous voice. Based on years of experience in teaching drawing (Nick) and mentoring self-development (Diane), this inspirational father/daughter team creates an atmosphere of willing experimentation for the reader. In this context, even the inexperienced can feel safe enough to remove negative self-judgment and thereby take the time and space to produce spontaneous and satisfying drawings. An enjoyable and validating read!

This book is not just another "how-to" book. They're are lots of those! Rather, this book is about self-discovery and its visual expression. It's a new approach which facilitates learning, even for the professional artist. Try it!

I have owned just about every book written on drawing, and the great majority of them leave me feeling terribly inadequate, as with my limited natural ability, my work looks pretty sad compared to the examples in various books. But, Drawing From Within concentrates on just having fun drawing, makes one realize that the most important thing about drawing is the satisfaction of it, on a personal level. This is a book that should change your attitude about drawing, and, surprisingly, may make you a better artist in the long run! My favorite art book, bar none!

This would be a great book - if I already knew how to draw.
When the first - the very first - drawing exercise starts out "Draw a human figure" (I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically it) I know that the target for this book is _not_ people who don't know how to draw. If I knew how to draw a human figure, why would I have this book? Looking at it objectively, though, I can see how it would be useful/helpful to an experienced and trained artist to use these exercises to 'unlearn' some bad traing and open up creative avenues, etc etc.
But why not put in something for those of us who _can't_ draw?

Nice drawings in the book but that is about it. I don't like the North Light book club tone of this book. Which is your typical surface North Light surface dweller book. Get Spirit of Drawing or Art from Intuition instead.
I don't agree with the chapter materials don't matter. If your not comfortable with your materials your not going to be creative.