Drawing from Within : Unleashing Your Creative Potential

Rating:
Summary: A great how-to and sketchbook
Review: Drawing From Within by Nick Meglin and his daughter Diane, empowers the reader to reclaim the entitlement of sensory pleasure that accompanies the experience of "unselfconscious" drawing.

The action of putting pen to paper conjures in many people a fear of "misrepresentation," a reluctance to commit for fear of "doing it wrong." The Meglins address this limiting belief by reframing the concept of making art. They inspire the reader to reclaim the right to the pleasure of taking risks and trusting one's own perceptions.

In Drawing From Within, the Meglins speak with one encouraging and humorous voice. Based on years of experience in teaching drawing (Nick) and mentoring self-development (Diane), this inspirational father/daughter team creates an atmosphere of willing experimentation for the reader. In this context, even the inexperienced can feel safe enough to remove negative self-judgment and thereby take the time and space to produce spontaneous and satisfying drawings. An enjoyable and validating read!

Rating:
Summary: Sigh... He means well, but nevertheless...
Review: Ever have an art instructor who, well meaning as he or she was, would simply toss out inspirational, yet impractical advice? This is what this book is, an art instruction book by an art teacher who goes by the toothless philosophy of, "You learn to draw by drawing," and "If you sit there long enough, you will learn to draw." In this type of approach to art education, the basic idea is that learning to draw is an intuitive process-- no need for rules or principles; just sit there and draw!

The problem with this type of attitude is many-fold. For one, it does the worst thing it can do for beginners, and that is to mystify the art process. (In other words, it makes the process of art so mysterious that learning to draw becomes esoterica and the posession of the Anointed Few-- i.e., the geniuses and prodigies who somehow can "get it" while the rest of humankind can't.) Secondly, it encourages students to ignore the real practical tools that they will need to learn how to draw. In other words, if I'm a beginner and I read Meglin's book that pretty much says, "Hey-- screw the principles and rules of drawing; just sit there and draw!" I'm not going to want to learn helpful things like the rules of perspective or human anatomy or tonal values. This is a big mistake! Unless you truly are a whiz at art, approaching drawing like this (forget the rules/ just draw from your heart) will just have you sitting there spinning your wheels like I did for several years in art college.

The last problem with this book is that it teaches an undisciplined approach to drawing and observation. There's nothing wrong with "learning to draw from observation" as long as you're disciplined about it. From experience I have learned that the best way to draw from observation is to have a purpose while doing it-- i.e., don't just go out there with a sketchbook and draw whatever you feel; set a goal (for example, decide one day to draw differnet types of trees; another day, to draw animals, etc.). This book doesn't teach that, which I think is the worst thing you can teach an art student.

Because of these reasons, I must rate this book a two. If you're a real honest to beginner, I suggest reading the under-rated Keys to Drawing. Otherwise, skip this book.

Rating:
Summary: Drawing Tips with a Big Dose of Pep-Talk
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I enjoyed some things about it quite a bit. Particularly the assignments at the end of each chapter. I liked these so much I wish there had been more. But the majority of the book is about relating why drawing can not be taught. Ok...on one level I can agree with that. Obviously someone who only occasionally draws, sits around thinking about drawing, listening to a teacher lecture about drawing or reading about drawing isn't going to learn how to draw or get better at it. But on another level I'm not so sure having an instructor is not helpful. Otherwise, why did the authors even bother to write this book?

Also, simply drawing - even making tons of drawings everyday - is no guarantee you'll get better. As someone who plays classical guitar and the banjo I can attest that HOW you practice drawing effects you just as much (although I agree this is best assessed by your own personal goals of what getting 'better' is). As the old saying goes, "practice wrong and you only get better at getting it wrong." So think carefully about your own needs and what you are looking for. Do you find yourself suffering from blocks, anxiety about what to draw or too much of the silent inner critic? If so then the chapters in this book may be quite helpful and enjoyable for you. If, however, you are in need of practical tips for spurring further creative efforts there may be other books that are more suited to your needs.

I can sum up the book's philosophy in one sentence, "just do it." That's it. The entire book's chapters are filled with arguments about why you only get better at drawing by actually drawing. Along with some of the authors' opinions that trying to teach drawing skills is a futile effort. So again, I say, think carefully about your own needs. What exactly are you searching for in a book about unleashing creativity? If you have a hard time being creative because of internal conflicts this book could be quite helpful. If you are NOT in need of a self-help oriented book there are other books on the market that may be more suited to what you're looking for. For example, the assignments at the end of each chapter is something I truly enjoyed. You get the same thing many times over from Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing without the self-help psychological component of Drawing From Within.

So the bottom line is - do you want a drawing book where most of the pages contain psychological pep talk and annecdotes for overcoming "blank page" block? Or do you want a more practical exercises/tips book? Your answer will determine if this book will be enjoyable and helpful to you.

Rating:
Summary: Good intentions are not enough, alas
Review: This would be a great book - if I already knew how to draw.
When the first - the very first - drawing exercise starts out "Draw a human figure" (I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically it) I know that the target for this book is _not_ people who don't know how to draw. If I knew how to draw a human figure, why would I have this book? Looking at it objectively, though, I can see how it would be useful/helpful to an experienced and trained artist to use these exercises to 'unlearn' some bad traing and open up creative avenues, etc etc.
But why not put in something for those of us who _can't_ draw?

Rating:
Summary: Good intentions are not enough, alas
Review: This would be a great book - if I already knew how to draw.
When the first - the very first - drawing exercise starts out "Draw a human figure" (I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically it) I know that the target for this book is _not_ people who don't know how to draw. If I knew how to draw a human figure, why would I have this book? Looking at it objectively, though, I can see how it would be useful/helpful to an experienced and trained artist to use these exercises to 'unlearn' some bad traing and open up creative avenues, etc etc.
But why not put in something for those of us who _can't_ draw?