Sarah Simblet

Over the years, I've found these DK books to give really great value and to have really great illustrations. "The Drawing Book" is no exception. It has a wealth of beautifully reproduced illustrations and covers ...pretty much....the entire gamut of drawing. Sarah Simblet deals with pencil, pen and ink, crayon, chalk, brush silver point ...and probably other media that I can't recall at the moment. She gives examples from both well known artists plus her own work to demonstrate the possibilities with drawing. Unfortunately, I find that her own style of drawing doesn't greatly appeal to me. Maybe I prefer something a bit more finished than her 2 min sketches and rough outlines. I think there are other, better books around which actually teach one to draw but as an overview of the possibilities with drawing, the book is pretty good. Before actually reading it from cover to cover, I had the impression that it was a definite "keeper" in my collection. Now, I'm not so sure. I will keep it for the moment but not sure that I will refer to it very often. However, four stars from me.....(the quality and quantity of the illustrations lift it out of the ordinary).… (more)

While this is not the most interesting book in the world and definitely not the kind of thing I would choose to read in an idle Sunday afternoon, it is probably one of the most insightful that I have ever read. For someone who is trying to learn how to draw or even improve their skills, this book is awfully useful. It has lots of good reference images, excellent quality photos and excellent bone reference in beautiful translucent pages with the exact positioning according to the model posing. The reading... well, it's not fun, but the amount of information is great and very descriptive. When you finish reading the book, you will, at the very least, have a very good notion of the human anatomy and how it can affect your drawings.

Excellent book to use as a reference. I'll definitely check this a couple of times when I'm drawing!… (more)