Customer Reviews

Strokes of Genius 2: Light and Shadow (Splash S.)

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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The previous volume, "Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing" received both praise and criticism for providing a narrow focus of style, technique, and subject matter in the craft of drawing. The title would lead one to anticipate examples from the masters of drawing throughout the ages, not just a selection of contemporaries who answered a call for submissions. This second volume, "Strokes of Genius 2: Light and Shadow" is a tad more humble in title and far more bold in content. While it still leans towards examples of academic training and realistic renderings, there are fair representations of abstracts, gestures, studies, and various mediums.

This volume should not be confused with a "how to" technique or historical perspective. It's a solid exhibition of drawing examples as explored by today's talent, meant to serve more as inspiration and encouragement to casual enthusiasts and drawing hobbyists, than a serious critique for art students. These are all gifted professionals who deserve a bit of recognition and promotion in print. Were I to find these pieces on display in a local gallery, I would find myself moved, delighted and thoroughly satisfied.

Now knowing what to expect from this publisher and a follow up to the previous volume, I am delighted to include this in my bookshelf. (4 stars)

Length:: 1:11 Mins

Strokes of Genius 2 is like a sketchbook except there are also paintings in addition to sketches. There are brief description by the artists on how each piece are created.

The six categories featured are portraits, cityscapes, animals, the human figure, landscapes, still life & more.

For portraits, there are some really stunning pieces. Some of the pencil or charcoal portraits are done in amazing photo-realistic style, or the why-not-use-a-camera style. Of course, the art captures the subtlety that cameras can't. The rest are sketches of various styles and medium.

Cityscapes section features snapshots of landscapes drawn, not just cities. And it's not really the usual landscapes, but a close up of areas, like under bridges, etc. Somehow, a ship mast created in scratchboard style is also included in the section. Most of the art in this section is muted in colours. Most impressive pieces are from Edmond S. Oliveros and Melissa B. Tubbs with their painstakingly hatched pen and ink drawings.

So it's like that for the rest of the sections. There are rough sketches, detailed sketches as well as paintings, but nothing too rich in colours. The book can feel quite disjointed at places because the wildly varying medium.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I have collected Rachel Wolf's Splash Watercolor Books for many years, so I looked forward to the release of her new "Strokes of Genius" Drawing annual with enthusiasm. The first release in the series was enjoyable, but I think the recently released "Strokes of Genius 2, Light and Shadow" is even better. In my watercolor and drawing classes I emphasize using sketchbooks to created quick value studies on location, so it was nice to see some quality examples of quick sketchbook studies in this book. However, there are also plenty of amazing studio drawings that I can imagine took countless hours to produce as well. In short, Strokes of Genius is a nice collection of drawings that run the gamut from quick and loose, to complex and tight. Expect to see a wide range of mediums, techniques, and subject matter in the pages of this well-organized compilation.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I was expecting "140 examples of the finest drawing being done today" and was surprised to see so many watercolor and oil paintings inside. Huh?!? I really enjoyed the mixed media drawings, graphite, charcoal, pen & Ink, etc though. Not sure if I will get the next volume though if so much space is dedicated to PAINTING instead of DRAWING. Title & description of the book were deceiving.