
Part of the problem is that they dive into huge topics. This is not a knock on drawing books it’s simply that there is only show much you can show in a book. Even advanced drawing books can’t go into as much depth as you would need to REALLY need to take your art to the next level. We’re not just talking about step-by-step instruction books either. They don’t dive deeply into the concepts you really need to master in order to improve your drawing skills.
#Drawit to know it book how to#
Many how to draw books only give you what you need to recreate the artist’s image. Those are HUGE topics to cover in depth in one book, no matter how long the book is. Portraits, landscapes, animals, cartoons, nature. When you scan through drawing books, you’ll see a lot of broad topics. Use what you’ve learned to make creative art that you can call yours.Ĭheck out more from Adventures with Art! Drawing Books Sometimes Only Give You an Overview…But, You Can Dive Deeper If you’ve thought through the choices that the author of your drawing book made, how can you use those principles to get creative and think through your own choices? How can you make your art your own? Don’t get stuck in a box copying the drawings from your drawing book. It’s important to constantly test the skills you’ve learned. Draw another dog body, but laying down instead of sitting. Draw another dog nose, but on a German Shepherd instead of a Dachshund this time. To take it to the next level, try applying the skills you learned to a new context. Just because you memorize something doesn’t mean that you’ve internalized the skills, but it IS a good signal that you weren’t mindlessly following the instructions. If you’re following instructions to draw a dog, why did the author choose to curve the snout that way? Why do the ears flop in that direction? What expression is achieved by making the eyes that shape? Put yourself in the artist’s shoes and imagine the thought process they went through to draw the dog you’re now recreating.Ī great way to put your knowledge to the test is to draw the dog again without looking at the instructions. Instead of mindlessly copying each step-by-step instruction, think about how and why the author made the choices that they did. If drawing books are tools that can help you become a better artist, make sure you’re making the most out of them. We don’t blame a nail for not hoping out of the toolbox and nailing itself into the wall.

This isn’t necessarily the fault of the books though. If you’re not careful, how to draw books can be mindless and unproductive instead of instructional. The reader’s job isn’t to think about why each step is there the artist already did that when they wrote the book.

They’re not so great if you’re a mechanic in training who needs to learn everything you could possibly need to know about oil changes through and through.īy default, step-by-step instructions are action oriented, which means that they give you all of motions without any of the explanations. Step-by-step instructions are great if you’re a financial analyst trying to change the oil in your car as a one-off project because your mechanic didn’t have any open appointments. There’s no question why drawing books are appealing to kids and adults alike. You only have a few lines when you start out at step 1, but you have a fully finished tiger when you finish at step 10. Many people choose drawing books because they offer step-by-step directions from start to finish of a project. Drawing Books Give You Step-By Step Directions….But, Think it Through

Let’s talk about the good…and bad…of drawing books and how you can maximize the good and lessen the bad. Then, they wonder what went wrong when they don’t see a lot of benefit as they turn the last page. This means that a lot of artists end up using these books the wrong way. They show you tutorials and send you on your way. The problem is that drawing books don’t give you a lot of guidance in learning how to use them. These books are tools and tools have to be used in the right ways for them to work. With every positive that comes with a drawing book, there comes a negative as well. In order for them to be the most effective, artists should use drawing books as tools to improve their skills instead of as quick wins and finished products. But, even if they’re fun, do drawing books actually help improve drawing skills?ĭrawing books can be great resources if they’re used in the right way. I ended up with a lot of these books and, today as an adult, I still love them. There was a How to Draw book on every topic that was fun and exciting to draw. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you decide to purchase through my links.Īs a kid, there was nothing like walking into a bookstore and seeing the shelf of “How to Draw” books.
