Customer Reviews

Life Drawing: A Journey to Self-Expression

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

 

 

I have many, many figure drawing books and this is by far the best. It is jam packed with information and inspiration and in an amazingly short time I am thrilled with the results I am obtaining. There are loads of exercises that are interesting and fun. The nine chapters it contains are:

1 Getting Started ( Sample Exercises: observing how we see, rhythm and curve, Circling, measuring, angle finding,five star, the elastic band, negative shapes, zig-zagging)

2 Perspective and counterbalance
3 Contour, the specific outline
4 Exploring tone
5 Anatomy, the inside story
6 Marks, methods and hues
7 Movement: The body in Action
8 Altered Images
9 Personal response and self expression

As an example here is a piece from the book explaining the advantages of the 'rhythm and curve' exercise for the artist:
- He/she stops worrying that 'this drawing must be perfect because it is a long pose'.
- there is no time to worry about what their drawing looks like to others.
- the technique loosens up hand/arm/body movement, and opens up eye/brain/hand channels, and because the artist must work at speed, this stops the brain 'correcting' the drawing.
- Short poses can be more dynamic, and therefore visually stimulating.
etc. (and this is just the first exercise of many! :-D ).

I have applied the techniques and theories to subjects other than the figure and an thrilled with the lovely arty results. This is an all round super star book that is worth its weight in gold.

The book is written in a warm and very encouraging way.
This book is my life drawing 'bible'. I reccomend it to everyone, beginners to advanced, as well as to teachers who will get great mileage from its many lessons and ideas.

As a figurative sculptor. I have a studio full of anatomy and life drawing books, but Bridget Woods' 'Life Drawing, A Journey To Self-Expression' does indeed stand out.
Artists that write 'how to' books, generally have their own style and the drawing you see on the cover is often pretty much what you get throughout. Turning the pages of Ms. Woods' book however shows that this artist is comfortable in a huge variety of styles, from realism, to lovely interpretations and beyond (pages 66, 62 and 134 are personal favorites).
Traditional subjects, such as anatomy and perspective, are cleverly covered, but what makes this book different is the huge range of practical advice for so many different styles, presented with such enthusiasm, in an unusual but easily understood format.
Any artist, at any level, will find inspiration and ideas in this book. It should be required reading for any life drawing group and should be on the shelves of Barnes and Noble, Borders etc., as it is superior to most of the 'how to' life drawing books found there.
Though relatively unknown in The US, Ms. Woods is I understand, a popular teacher at a variety of colleges in her native England. It is easy to see why.
I would confidently recommend this book to anyone interested in drawing the figure.
Ed Hamilton

What a wonderful, wonderful book! This books has everything! It covers things for the very beginner and yet offers things for the most advanced. I was very impressed that the author also included the private thoughts and doubts all artist experience and yet confidently asserts that one WILL learn and be among the very best. As a book-a-holic, I own hundreds, if not thousands of books. This is one I would save in case of a fire. BRAVA Bridget Woods, BRAVA!

This book fails to do what it's supposed to do, teach!

For starters, the text is simply very confusing and doesn't follow a path which is comprehensible, simply put, it reads like a magazine instead of a coherent book. The author seems to have issues explaining what she means in a coherent way.

The subject matter deals with models and live drawing, something only available at certain times, certainly not when reading the book, so unless you can convince me that this book is targeted at studio artists who have a model at their disposition 24/7, this book misfires.

Another issue is the style, it's ridiculous to incorporate hundreds of drawing styles and cram them all into one book, often not even by the same artist, it's a wish-wash of confusion.

Very disappointed in this book, if I could rate it 0 starts, I would have.