Customer Reviews

Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have to admit, I was highly skeptical when the author says she can teach people to draw (and some of the student drawings are amazing) in 3 classes of instruction. However, since my interests were cartooning and simple sketching (both of which demonstrated I had no talent whatsoever), I thought it might be fun to see what she was saying. I had already gotten bored with Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain -- it was too long, it had so many excercises, it should couldn't hold my attention span. I wanted a quick fix solution.

And this book gave it. The author says she's not an artist, but a police sketch artist who basically winged it coming in and took a class or two. She had the opportunity to see lots of faces and measure them. And she breaks down the mental block of why you can draw somethings and not others. Finally, you learn all the tricks to make soft portrait-like pictures that lift off the page.

About 3 hours of entertaining reading and I was able to produce very realistic faces that I'm proud to show off. I *highly* endorse this book. Now that I have some fundamentals, I feel like I can go back to the dry reads since I know what to look for.

Wow. This is probably my favorite drawing book. Period.

I must have at least 20 or 30 books on drawing - each one of them have different ways to teach or guide people on doing different techniques. But this book really really REALLY looks far more realistic than the others. And DOABLE too!!! I can tell a 500% improvement in my own art based on what I've learned from this book.

The author gives excellent tips, and her blending technique is easy to follow and she only gives you a tiny list of things you need (special pencils, bristol paper, kneaded rubber, and a blending stump - which all adds up to less than what you'd pay for lunch).

I was a fairly decent drawer to begin with, so I was actually VERY relieved that she didn't spend pages and pages talking about the really basic stuff like other books do. She gets RIGHT INTO how to do it, and how to do it well.

She uses amazing drawings as a way of SHOWING you how to do it, rather than just writing it all out. I am a visual learner, as are a lot of people... and anyone can follow this.

My sister and I both really enjoy this book and have gotten loads of inspiration and tips from this book.

Even advanced level artists can learn a few things from this.

This book is an outstanding resource for any artist who is interested in improving the accuracy of their drawings. The author's techniques apply to all subject matter, not just faces. When drawing portraits, I have always had difficulty with certain areas of the face, namely the curve of the jawbone area and the curve of the nostril. As the author explains, this is because my mind is drawing pictures from a memorized pattern of these facial features. She then gives many effective techniques that are designed to help you overcome these patterns and actually draw what you see, techniques that I had never thought to use before. Her ideas for checking the accuracy of your drawings help you to produce your most realistic work ever. I think that this book, in combination with Lee Hammonds' How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photograpsh, will give anyone (including those who can only draw stick figures) the ability to produce beautiful pencil portraits in a short amount of time. I should know, because I am one of those stick figure people myself! I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who desires to draw more realistically. The ideas contained in this book are extremely helpful and this book is well worth its price.

Carrie Stuart Park's 'Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces' is the best book on drawing realistic faces I've ever found. I'm an artist who's been searching for the perfect book and this is the closest. This book is easy if you're a beginner, you can start rendering amazingly real faces and self-portraits. The author has proven techniques and tools and hands-on exercises to help you be a well-trained artist without taking a class. The examples in the book are before and after works that will help the artist achieve success in no time. There's lots of illustrations for practice. Forget about what you maybe learn the old way of drawing a certain geometric form. Throw that out! This book help you to draw what you actually see. The techniques will help you draw in a short amount of time. You'll surprise yourself how you can produce a fantastically real portrait. And, the price is just right, too!

I am going into 8th grade, and last fall my cat passed away, I was very depressed (as I'd had the cat my whole life) and so to help me cheer up my parents took me on a camping trip. We went shopping in a nearby town and camped near one of the great lakes. (Keep reading, this is leading up to my review) Well anyway, we went into a bookstore and I wanted a drawing book so my mom helped me find "How to Draw Realistic Faces". Originally I'd had (pretty good) line drawings of faces, yet I couldn't figure out the shading or draw what I see. I bought all of the supplies that this book says are needed, and since then my pictures have become awesome. I can now look at something and draw it exactly as it is. The people I draw look like portraits, not cartoons. I took my sketchbook to school and everyone was very impressed at my work. I lent the book to a few of my friends and now they are just as good (if not better) than me at drawing realistic people. This book is easy to understand, and is incredibly helpful. I would recommend it to anyone!!

This book is the end result of years of training police officers to draw correct composite faces. I had been using other drawing books and found there were errors in the materials--incorrect proportions of the nose, pupil not centered in the iris, too large an iris and so forth. I also needed a way to teach the face in an extremely short amount of time. Dr. Betty Edwards introduced seven drawing tools to help you see and draw better. I uncovered about 27 tools to help you as an artist. I hope you enjoy and learn from its pages and it will help you grow as an artist.

I've always wanted to do ANYTHING artistic and at 48 years old was finally convinced it would be impossible due to my engineering background. This book is amazingly simple and straight forward. It is almost like I am in the classroom with the author. When I drew my first eye I was amazed what a few simple techniques and tools could do and soon I had pages full of eyes....I was as delighted as a child discovering ice cream. If you're like me (artisticly challenged)BUY THIS BOOK. Cudos to the author.

I am so excited about this book, it has taken my amature drawings to the look of professional, and all I had to do was devote 3 hours one night with the book and a photo. Ms. Parks breaks drawing portraits down the way all other books have failed. A few "secrets" and you can draw any face. Think features are hard to draw and it's a matter of luck if you get it right? (I did) Ms. Parks shows you how to measure a face and once you have that everything else falls into place. Spend some time with this book and I promise you won't regret it and it makes no difference what your skill level is. I wish all art books were like this one! Bravo Ms. Parks!

Again, I checked this one out from the library before purchasing. I did not want another book that just told me to sit down and 'draw what you see'. When it comes to faces, the proportions are the hardest part for me. This book goes into great detail explaining how to 'measure' the features of a real person, not the imaginary kind we see in fashion layouts. I have actually seen great improvement after only a few drawings. The best way to improve is to do separate studies of each facial feature until we get them right, and this book explains how. Practice is what brings the progress. Finding time is the problem. This book makes it very clear that anyone with good eyesight can learn to draw peoples' faces. It's just like learning any other skill. This woman teaches this course to police artists, ordinary people with no previous artistic training. It works!

I've always grown up wanting to be one of those people who could draw portraits but never had any luck. I havent touched a pencil in over 10 years, but my very first attempt after reading Carrie's book came out wonderfully! And it just keeps improving!

This book is fantastic for amateurs (like myself). Read everything she has to say... it all ends up being really useful. Wonderful book, and I'm already recommending it to all my friends!

Thank you so much Carrie!