Customer Reviews

Mastering Portrait Drawing, Vol. 1

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

 

 

I bought this DVD a while ago from M. Britton's website (same price!)and all I can say as a beginner is that it is worth every penny.
I learned a lot from handling drawing tools, to drawing techniques and anatomy.
As a European (educated in Italy) I found Mr Britton extremely professional and detailed when instructing, in other words, even though he makes the subject easy for you to follow, he doesn't talk down to you by dumming it down.
While you realize how much work is ahead of you to get to that kind of level, the process and the result of the portrait executed by his skilled and talented hands are absolutely inspiring, and doesn't allow you to quit or be discouraged.
From my ponint of you this DVD belongs to libraries!
The quality of the DVD is very good!
Bravo monsieur!

This DVD set is very helpful to capturing a likeness in a portrait. The instruction method is easy to follow and the bonus toutorial cd is also very good. I would recommend it for artists looking to capture an accurate likeness.

I'm glad I found an opportunity to rent this title without scrounging together $130 for it. I wasn't impressed at all.

First, the quality of the production was horrible compared to other art instruction DVD's I've viewed. The lighting was horrible, the camera was constantly going in and out of focus on the drawing. The sound was all over the map.. during drawing it was difficult to hear, and during some of the anatomy explanations it was loud to the point of distortion.

Second, everything seems like it's been drawn out to stretch out over 2 DVD's what easily could have fit onto one. The cheesy title sequences are obtuse and overly long.. in excess of 15 seconds at some points. At one point I had to watch the title fold up like a piece of paper and float away... reminded me of the the last power-point presentation I hated with the canned slide transitions. I understand putting some polish and titles on, but is 10 seconds of black screen with "End of Part 6" really necessary?

The single demonstration drawing is done entirely in real-time, with several pauses to turn around and talk at the camera. At these points it's easier to hear him, but he's not drawing. He's talking... and talking...and talking some more. The drawing, which appears on the front cover, is impressive enough on its own, but in my opinion didn't capture the likeness of the sitter very well at all. He goes on and on and on about measuring, and how important accuracy is, and his drawing is flawed. I can't really go into detail about his drawing ability, for I lack the skills myself (thats why I rented the video), but the phrase "Those who can't successfully do, teach" comes to mind.

Michael Britton would do well to watch some other artist training DVD's and take notes.. more than 1 camera, talk over your drawing video after, not during the drawing, better lighting, better sound, short/no titles, more than 1 demo drawing and for Pete's sake, quit comparing your kneaded eraser to cat feces. It was funny once, during the intro, but the next 5 times I wanted to make you eat the "cat box tool" named such for "obvious reasons".

The only thing keeping me from giving this 1 star is the useful information on sighting and "striking the arabesque" in the 1st portion of this set.

I own this DVD set and I was impressed by the wealth of information that was packed into the DVD's and that the author doesn't "hold back". This is a MUST on a shelf of any serious student!!! In the previous review, somebody has "rented" this DVD which was in bad condition, and then goes on and on complaining about it. But you get what you paid for - I bought the new set and there were no quality issues at all. The instructor has his own, very precise style, which I am not particularly fond of, but hey, it really does work, and the artist is very good both at explaining and at drawing of the portrait. I loved the set and came back to it a few times. Additionally, you can subscribe to artist's mailing list and get all the great tips and tricks in your mailbox, which makes you feel like a part of a big, caring community.