Customer Reviews

Perspective Drawing

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

 

 

Perspective drawing is one of the skills many people see as neccessary repertoir for an artist to have. Particularly for subjects such as architecture or some types of still life. The subjects covered in this book include everything from 1,2 and 3 point perspective to circles, ovals, cylinders, squares, rectangles, inclined planes and an entire chapter on cast shadows during different points throughout the day, shadows on overcast days or from artificial light.

The author explains everything in a clear manner without talking down to the reader. He says this book grew out of his 30+ years teaching perspective to art students at San Jose State University. Each concept is shown with plenty of examples and details and the author assumes the reader will practice each of them. One of the last chapters is on Visualization - basically drawing a picture in perspective using the rules and concepts as test that you truly asorbed all the preceding lessons. While I am sure there are other good books on perspective available, I was quite pleased with this one. A lot of beginning How-To Draw type books never give more than a cursory mention of one or maybe two-point perspective. For the majority of artists this book will be all they'll ever need on the subject. There is enough material here that it will probably take at least 6 months to really get a good feel for everything it covers. The book contains a glossary and index. For the amount of information given it is very affordable.

Unfortunately, I would too often come out the other end of a chapter realizing that I had only really learned a small handful of facts that I could universally use. The convoluted drawing descriptions tended to leave me a bit cross-eyed and I found the illustration captions did a better job of explaining what the entire page just did. Still, it does offer enough useful information overall, but despite all the drawing technique, does not really offer many basic solid rules of perspective. Leans a bit more on memorizing techniques in an array of possible circumstances rather than understanding the basics which can then be applied to any circumstance. The book is worth reading however, particularly since it is so short that you will hardly lose anything by doing so, and will likely gain some useful knowledge along the way.

I have to differ with the positive review of this book. I have a little experience drawing, and had some specific questions about perspective, such as how to draw a receding row of arches. This book answered none of my questions. The first several chapters focus on conceptual basics, often drifting toward common sense rather than solid technique. (I don't need to be told that tall buildings seem smaller at the top stories; I need to know how to use that realistically in a drawing). Complicated (and practical) applications of perspective, like portraying rooms full of furniture, are given short shrift. There are exceptions - the chapter dealing with cast shadows, especially the detailed treatment of light on complicated surfaces like stairs, is well-done and potentially very useful - it's the only reason I have not thrown this book out. I don't know of a good practical overview of perspective drawing for all levels, but I have gotten a lot more useful instruction out of the amusingly dated (and cheaper) "Perspective for Artists" by Rex Vicat Cole.

I was disappointed with this book. I thought that it might be more useful than it was. The information about the rules of drawing objects in space was too fundamental for the price of the book. There are competitors in the market who do a better job of explaining the interesting difficulties of representing the illusion of the recession of objects in space with greater detail and clarity. Not a lot can be said in its favour, because it's just too basic and dear.

The book arrive in great time and in near perfect condition for a used book!

The book came in a timely fashion along with its "Creative Drawing" counterpart and has been exactly what I needed for my art class at school.