[.ca] Life Drawing in Charcoal (ISBN 0486282686)

Valuable Drawing Instruction for Every Level Student:
Working the whole page all at once is key, by keeping in mind masses and tonal value. This technique is like painting 'alla prima' while working from larger masses to smaller details, because it creates while it plans. This is the best way to learn, beginning with how to place the figure properly on the page, saving time from redoing large parts because of an improper start. The step by step approach with over 200 illustrations makes it easy to follow along. Not only is this the most efficient approach, it's the most exciting, achieving immediate progress with the greatest chance for accuracy. The traditional practice of teaching the beginner to draw, using lines, only encourages bad habits which single them out as an amateur, while providing no special advantage over the approach in this book. I recommend this book for all levels. For the beginner it is essential to first learn these principals of working with masses instead of lines, so telltale of the amateur. For the more advanced artist, there are many techniques useful to refining their skill.

Good but.....:
I really liked the book as others share in their review. But, I guess I really need some basics in regards to a break down. This book covers how to just get in and do the whole body, slowly laryering with charcoal. I like working in the charcoal, it is fast and easy to work with in regards to fixing mistakes. Once charcoal is in place, other mediums can be used over it if you are wanting to make your drawing into a painting. It is a good book though. The fours stars is only because I was expecting some breakdown of the figures.

Bringing Charcoal to Life:
I recently reviewed a book on life drawing where the author used a painstaking process to make gorgeous pencil drawings. He focussed on building up tone through meticulous hatching and shading. (And outlining and measuring - very obsessive but rewarding.) This book also focuses on tone rather than line, this time in charcoal and without the rather anal measuring and outlining. In fact it is far more accessible to the average life student, because the methods Graves uses can likewise be used in a life class. You don't need days and days of posing. Nor do you need the foundation drawing skills required by the other book. This is a book which can be put to immediate use. And very valuable it is, too. Expect an improvement in your results the first time you put the lessons taught by Graves to use. You will find yourself looking at your model as a collection of tonal areas, rather than lines, and consequently your drawings will have more shape to them. They will be brought to life. The essence of Graves' method is to work with two tools - charcoal and a chamois. Tones are built up with the charcoal, and the chamois is used to lighten them. One early exercise uses a "wash" of charcoal to create a background and then shapes are picked out with the chamois to make the drawing. Darker values such as shadows are added with more charcoal. The book starts with the basics. Tools, media and techniques. All illustrated and described, along with exercises illustrated for the student. Chapters are presented as exercises, each focused on a different topic. Lines and shadows, proportions, alignments, composition and so on, each building on the last. Step by step the final image is built up from broad tonal masses to detailed shapes. Construction lines are shown and at each step Graves tells us precisely what he is doing and why. I particularly liked the illustrated explanation of the difference between lines and outlines. The body has lines, such as the creases formed when folding the elbow, and outlines, being the imaginary line where the body finishes and the background begins. Drawing body lines reflects reality, but drawing outlines imposes something that isn't there - we don't see bodies surrounded by lines - if the background and the body are the same colour they blend into each other, they don't form a line. Graves uses negative shapes to help define the outline, a much more natural and satisfactory method. Graves shows and tells in a pleasant, consistent manner how to improve our techniques. There is something here for all levels, but this book is perhaps best used by an intermediate artist rather than a beginner or an expert. A few basic skills help to get right into it, and if you are already achieving good results you may not feel happy about changing your ways. Having said that, Graves provides plenty of flexibility and new ideas to add to an existing skill base. This book *will* help you improve your style. Highly recommended to anybody with an interest in drawing the nude. Especially valuable to students attending life class for the first time.

Lovely!:
You can learn a lot abt the human anatomy and charcoal techiques. Good buy!

Akin to "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain":
Having learned to draw from Betty Edwards' "right brain" approach, this book is a natural follow-on. It teaches a painterly approach to drawing by capturing the masses, rather than the contours, in much the same way as DRSB does. I've struggled with contour drawing from the beginning, whereas I see the masses and tones very easily. The drawings in this book are beautiful, and it's great confirmation and affirmation of the DRSB training I've had. See my other review for DRSB.