Rating: 
Summary: Best book for drawing.
Review: If you have always wanted to draw - this is the book to have. The exercises are well written. Once you complete the exercises, you will view things in a different and better way. When I went through these I saw a lot more beauty in simples subjects than I had before. This is just an exceptional book. You can learn to draw from this one book.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly insightful book that shows we can all draw well!
Review: Most of us have heard the term, "right brain thinker" at some point, and it usually refers to the artistic type of person. Many of us think that certain things, like being able to draw, is a God given talent. Our stick figures, and two-dimensional landscapes are our best efforts. This is because we simply lack the talent. This book debunks that notion, and shows that you too can draw like an artist.The brain theory is actually rather simple. Our brain is made up of two hemispheres a right and left half. The sides are specialized somewhat so the senses of hearing, touch, vision, etc. are divided among the two. Right-brained people (those more in tune with the right brain) are more visual, and thus often tend to be natural artists. The whole trick is training the visual component (your eyes) to communicate with the part (your hand) that does the drawings, and trust the feedback. This is simpler than it sounds. Exercises given in the book, show us how the worst chicken scratch makers, can become very good with just a little practice. Was Doctor Edwards a brain guru who came across this in her research? The answer is a resounding no. She taught art classes, and observed that some new students in art programs would draw badly for several months. Then they would suddenly become much better, apparently almost overnight. What she found, was that it was not the students skill that had improved. It was instead, the way they looked at the world they attempting to draw. If you draw badly like I did, you will of course be skeptical. Do the exercises, and try the visual techniques for a short time and you will be convinced. I could never hope to draw a human, or an animal before reading this book. I had learned to do 3D mechanical drawings from a drafting class I took, but anything else, looked like paper cutouts. This book gave me the ability to make some decent drawings. While it won't necessarily make you a master, if will give you confidence in your hidden drawing abilities. The book has been around for quite a while, so I believe its not just pop culture. The title probably keeps it from being more wildly popular. Trust me, you won't be reading a text on brain psychology. The book is easy to read, interesting and very helpful to improve your drawing. Plus, even professional artists might learn something from the visualization techniques.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Beginners Book Ever!
Review: I bought the original when it came out, and I still refer to it.
The basic premise of the book, is simple. It teaches you how to really see what your looking at, once you do most anyone can draw. Which leads to the Right Brain Left Brain stuff. Our right brains sees what we are looking at, but our left brain tells us what it is supposed to look like, and stylizes it. Like those aweful flat paintings in the old Greek Orthodox cathedrals. Betty reopens your eyes, and shows you magic in the most everyday things. By teaching you the basics of Juxaposition, Negavtive space and portrature. If you've never drawn anything but stickmen, and want to learn. There is no other place to start, I've owned and tossed most of the old school beginners texts. This is best place to learn how to see, and then how to draw it!
Rating:
Summary: Learn to find things beautiful
Review: This is a significant book. If you commit yourself to it (some hours of concentrated work on the drawing exercises are required to gain what it has to give), I expect that you WILL learn to draw, amazingly well, and you will gain much more than that. The double meaning of the title is an important part of what makes this book so significant - the exercises in this book retrain your brain, and you see things in a different way (unless you're already left-handed, I guess). You really draw on (make use of) different parts of your brain after actively using this book, and those parts of the brain do more than draw well for you. After going through the first few exercises in this book, I found that I saw things differently, and began to see beauty all around me in the simplest things that I hadn't appreciated visually before. A remarkable experience, a remarkable book.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent resource.
Review: This is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn to draw
from a child to an adult. From a talented artist to joe sixpack. This book simplfies drawing but "never dumbs it down". It is a wonderful resource for anyone who is a professional artist. Alot of what they teach in here is stuff that isn't taught in art class or even art school. It is a fine book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is recommended for other reasons besides drawing..
Review: I would have to agree with many artists when they say this book doesn't make you Vincent Van Gogh just in five days. Basically this is only for improving your skills or maybe brushing up on them a bit (like I am). No, it isn't for skilled artists, who already know how to see things when they draw. Like many had previously said before me "The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study" is the only book I would recommend for "serious" artists who take Art (with a capital A, as Dr. Edwards has said) as something they want to excel in and maybe make a career of. As much as I have to admit that Dr. Edwards is a little full of it, her way of instructing one to shift to the right hemisphere of the brain for full creativity is a great one. It's not only for drawing, it's for expanding your way of thinking. Part of the reason why I got this book wasn't only to improve my skills, but to find a way somehow to improve on academic standards. And not just my education, but the way of seeing a different way. I don't agree with her stating that one would be a wonderful drawer after studying exercises and the literature she provides, but I do believe this whole entire book is the first step. After reading it, you have a choice of continuing on to more serious books like "The Natural Way to Draw" and taking art courses or you can just take what you learn to sketch when you are stressed and need a way to escape from reality for just a while. My final analysis: I think a lot of people have already said this but I will say it again: Don't expect to be a intermediate artist and learn to draw like a professional. If you have your revelations about this book, here's a clue: GO TO YOUR LIBRARY AND CHECK IT OUT FIRST. That's exactly what I did before I even considered buying it; that way you won't waste money on a book then whine about it later because it wasn't what you expected. You always try on clothes before you buy them and you go to. the electronic store to play around with the devices. Do the same thing before buying any book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for beginner's who think they can't draw
Review: It's very interesting reading the reviews here, many suggest The Natural Way to Draw (Kimon Nicolaides) but in the reviews for that book some people suggest Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It all depends on what you're looking for. If you know how to draw, then Edwards book is definitely not for you. If you think you don't know how to draw, then this is the perfect book. It's fun, you can make rapid progress, and you can finish the book in a week or two (depending on how much time you have). If you couldn't draw before starting the book, I gaurantee you will be impressed with your drawing afterwards! The book teaches you how to copy what you see. So if you're drawing a person, a room, or a landscape, it works great. If you want to draw cartoons, imagined scendes, or something from memory, I don't think this book will help you. Finally, people seem to not like her left brain / right brain stuff. Whether you believe it or not, you can still benefit from the book. Personally I believe it. When I drew my chair, my left brain told me that the angle between one leg and the bar connecting the two back legs was 90 degrees, so I drew it 90 degrees even though from the angle I was looking from, the angle was clearly not 90 degrees. So why did I draw something I didn't see? That is the entire premise of the book, and is why most people "can't draw". I started over, yet I still find my left brain telling me how something is supposed to look. But now I'm aware of it and I draw what I see. The result is things that were difficult such as a winding staircase, the wrinkle in a shirt, etc. are all easy. Overall I highly recommend this book for anyone who thinks they cannot draw.
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Summary: I can't draw, either - but now I can...sorta...
Review: ...Well, better, anyway.
Okay. Try it. Take a picture, turn it upside down, and then try to draw it. You will be absolutely amazed at how much better it turns out that if you'd tried to draw it right-side-up. That's an object lesson about how our left-sided, analytical, gotta-get-it-right brains get in the way of our ability to create art.
The newest edition of this classic book is chock full of such suggestions, examples, and exercises.
Not to be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: Did Edwards throw out her left side
Review: The essential question of any how-to book is: Does it work? For this book, the answer is probably yes. But in reviewing this book, I have to compare it to other how-to books on drawing. Such a comparison should convince anyone that Betty Edwards is merely repackaging familiar drawing exercises with a psychological theory she finds convenient. In fact, the focus on brain laterality is useless as far as drawing is concerned, and there are other books that are more worthwhile. My main concern is with the book's pseudo-scientific tone, which borders on being anti-scientific. The actual science behind Edwards' theory is scant and superficial. You just can't come to the conclusions she comes to, and the way she applies her theory is redundant. You can replace her annoying terminology of "R-mode" and "L-mode" with "creative mode" and "analytic/logical" mode, and there is no difference in meaning. It would even be clearer and more accurate to tell the reader to "Draw what you see, not what you think you are seeing" instead of saying mystifying things like "Shut off the buzz of L-mode, so you can mentally shift to R-mode." The towering giant of drawing books is, of course, Nicolaides' NATURAL WAY TO DRAW. Edwards attempts to make sense of what goes on in the brain to help us draw, but her bland writing style and her pseudo-psychological approach negates her credentials. If the book works, it is because the exercises are time-tested. The way to learn to draw is by spending time drawing, and studying the drawings of the masters. Classes help, and so do books, but if you get one book on drawing, the serious student would reach for Nicolaides. And if you're really into neuroscience, get a recent college textbook.
Rating: 
Summary: Ideal for those with no confidence
Review: I can understand why some previous reviewers who already have developed skills in drawing would see this book as overrated but I think that it is heavily aimed at those who believe that they can't draw and who are radically unsure of how to begin. My own experience was that this book debunked some of my core beliefs about drawing: I can't draw because I don't have the manual skill; people who can draw are dismissive of those who are not as able as them; there is no use in trying if I can't become a brilliant artist; etc, etc. This book made me realise for the first time, despite attending art classes for many years at school, that drawing well is not about the dexterity of your hand but about how you see things, the approach you take to looking at an object and how you translate that to the page. Not having a scientific background, I am not able to judge the accuracy of Edwards's use of right/left brain theory but in some ways the 'truth' of it is irrelevant. What is important is that you recieve the confidence to give it a go and to persist, and not be intimidated by those more advanced than you. Subjectively, I have found that time spent drawing is a very different experience to my usual language based pursuits, and I do feel that I'm stretching hitherto unused faculties, whatever side of the brain they are on. I would strongly recommend this book to any beginners interested in improving their ability to draw what they see. Practising this is no less of an artistic endeavour than any other - the element of originality and self-expression exists in everyone's unique way of seeing and interpreting things around them, This book simply helps you to pay more attention.
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