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Rating: 
Summary: Just another co-authored
Review: "A Foundation Course in Drawing" by PETER STANYER & TERRY ROSENBERG As a general rule, there are not many "really good" co-authored books out there. This rambling and disjointed introduction to drawing is no exception. It seems as though, when books have two authors, that both persons simply agree to give a half-effort, in hopes that the two of them can put together a whole, dynamic book. It just doesn't seem to work here. What I look for, when judging a book, is the KEYWORDS of the title, which are the words of the author's own choosing. Words such as "complete guide"...."complete course" ..."basic"....
"foundation"...etc. This establishes that a beginner must be able to pick up the book, grasp it, be entirely inspired and satisfied with it and all the material covered therein. Such words establish that these books are not for INTERMEDIATE students with a foundation in drawing principles, but this book does move into INTERMEDIATE material, and sacrifices BASICS to get there. The problem with a multitude of these drawing instruction books are flaws that fall into several categories: (1) they try to cover virtually EVERYTHING in art generally, including PAINTING or COLOR, or COMPOSITION which means they must skip quickly over their DRAWING BASICS for the beginner to do so. A good drawing book must start with DRAWING, and stick with DRAWING only, for at least 3/4ths of its chapters. The really good drawing books do this. (2) the author is extremely dull and uninspiring to begin with, illustrating the book with ordinary household objects for suggested drawing exercises; objects like can openers, coffee pots, key chains, tables, chairs, bicycles and has no true justification for putting another drawing book on the market (good books are already in print), and copying the same outline for growth that other books have. (3) the author is too wordy, loading down the book with unnecessary theory and intellectualizations. With those flaws in mind, it is clear that "A FOUNDATION COURSE IN DRAWING" is too broad in scope and moves too quickly away from basics into intermediate material (flaw 1), is no better than other books on the market (flaw 2) and the drawings and illustrations are among the worst availble in a basic drawing HOW-TO. (they are REALLY BAD!) The text is alternatively overly-simplistic or overly-complex. "A FOUNDATION COURSE IN DRAWING" is a poor introduction for any beginner, but the book is inexpensive for 276 pages if that's all you want.
Rating:
Summary: Just another co-authored
Review: "A Foundation Course in Drawing" by PETER STANYER & TERRY ROSENBERG As a general rule, there are not many "really good" co-authored books out there. This rambling and disjointed introduction to drawing is no exception. It seems as though, when books have two authors, that both persons simply agree to give a half-effort, in hopes that the two of them can put together a whole, dynamic book. It just doesn't seem to work here. What I look for, when judging a book, is the KEYWORDS of the title, which are the words of the author's own choosing. Words such as "complete guide"...."complete course" ..."basic"....
"foundation"...etc. This establishes that a beginner must be able to pick up the book, grasp it, be entirely inspired and satisfied with it and all the material covered therein. Such words establish that these books are not for INTERMEDIATE students with a foundation in drawing principles, but this book does move into INTERMEDIATE material, and sacrifices BASICS to get there. The problem with a multitude of these drawing instruction books are flaws that fall into several categories: (1) they try to cover virtually EVERYTHING in art generally, including PAINTING or COLOR, or COMPOSITION which means they must skip quickly over their DRAWING BASICS for the beginner to do so. A good drawing book must start with DRAWING, and stick with DRAWING only, for at least 3/4ths of its chapters. The really good drawing books do this. (2) the author is extremely dull and uninspiring to begin with, illustrating the book with ordinary household objects for suggested drawing exercises; objects like can openers, coffee pots, key chains, tables, chairs, bicycles and has no true justification for putting another drawing book on the market (good books are already in print), and copying the same outline for growth that other books have. (3) the author is too wordy, loading down the book with unnecessary theory and intellectualizations. With those flaws in mind, it is clear that "A FOUNDATION COURSE IN DRAWING" is too broad in scope and moves too quickly away from basics into intermediate material (flaw 1), is no better than other books on the market (flaw 2) and the drawings and illustrations are among the worst availble in a basic drawing HOW-TO. (they are REALLY BAD!) The text is alternatively overly-simplistic or overly-complex. "A FOUNDATION COURSE IN DRAWING" is a poor introduction for any beginner, but the book is inexpensive for 276 pages if that's all you want.
Rating: 
Summary: A Top Drawer Drawing Book!
Review: I'm a professional artist and, for fun (as well as drawing tips), I like to check out How-To Drawing Books. A Foundation Course in Drawing is the best one I've ever read. It gives clear, concise instructions which have immediately given me a whole new range of options for my work. I'm recommending this book to all my colleagues--it's a must read!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: One of the best drawing books I have found. Covers a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: This is a great book filled with constructive projects for Drawing. It is good for people who are beginning to draw to Art teachers. If you are an Art teacher the projects are useful for your classroom in developing student's drawing skills. It thoroughly covers the basics of Drawing. It covers drawing from still life to abstract. I highly recommend this book. It is easy to understand and filled with diagrams for those visual learners out there.
Rating:
Summary: Novices and Art Teachers Get This Book!
Review: This is a great book filled with constructive projects for Drawing. It is good for people who are beginning to draw to Art teachers. If you are an Art teacher the projects are useful for your classroom in developing student's drawing skills. It thoroughly covers the basics of Drawing. It covers drawing from still life to abstract. I highly recommend this book. It is easy to understand and filled with diagrams for those visual learners out there.
Rating:
Summary: only if it is free
Review: would I recommend this book. I am a professional artist and I find there are so many good books out there... this is not one of them. The drawings are good but not great, and certainly not great to learn by. The lessons are so, so. Each time I open and close this book, I get hardly anything at all...
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