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A review by readsewknit
Modern Drawing: A Contemporary Exploration of Drawing and Illustration by Chelsea Ward
5.0
My family is artistic. I also consider myself creative, but the drawing gene skipped me. Unlike three of my four siblings who took advanced art classes in high school and beyond, I stopped in junior high, when it ceased being a required class. I enjoyed art, but my high school class requirements filled up quickly, and the art classes I was interested in had prerequisites I didn't have time for. My claim to fame in junior high was my art teacher telling me I was a natural with my charcoal figure studies.
This is all to say that I enjoy art, but I am not a natural at creating it. Enter Modern Drawing. This book engaged me. There are great details, what I imagine my siblings gained from classes in high school and college. Chelsea Ward tries to focus our attention, that when we notice objects, they can all be broken down into basic shapes. How we should notice where the weight is and what areas get the light.
Ward then shares resources and terminology, but she's quick to say she started with a basic pencil and paper; readers are encouraged to use whatever they have and not put off beginning until they have identical materials.
My older daughter is gifted at drawing, and she has amassed a collection of drawing books. However, this book is a step above, a natural stepping stone from those helpful beginning texts. In those copies, there's one way to draw an object. In this text, though, Chelsea Ward is preparing her readers to have an artistic eye to analyze what they see and translate it to paper. She does regular studies to walk us through her steps, but with her text, she lays out WHY she is doing each step so that we can internalize it for ourselves.
This book is visually appealing and I was captivated by it. All of her drawings caught my eye, but my favorites were her studies from travels (a page full of bicycles, or pigeons, or vases). I can see this book appealing to those with bullet journals who aspire to creativity but need some guidance, although . And I suspect it's only a matter of time until I start some pages in my bullet journal to test my newfound confidence (perhaps with the applicable pages of this book open next to me in the beginning).
This is a book I want to add to our home library, although I'm going to have to make sure my daughter understands she doesn't get to claim it for her own -- we're going to share this one!
This is all to say that I enjoy art, but I am not a natural at creating it. Enter Modern Drawing. This book engaged me. There are great details, what I imagine my siblings gained from classes in high school and college. Chelsea Ward tries to focus our attention, that when we notice objects, they can all be broken down into basic shapes. How we should notice where the weight is and what areas get the light.
Ward then shares resources and terminology, but she's quick to say she started with a basic pencil and paper; readers are encouraged to use whatever they have and not put off beginning until they have identical materials.
My older daughter is gifted at drawing, and she has amassed a collection of drawing books. However, this book is a step above, a natural stepping stone from those helpful beginning texts. In those copies, there's one way to draw an object. In this text, though, Chelsea Ward is preparing her readers to have an artistic eye to analyze what they see and translate it to paper. She does regular studies to walk us through her steps, but with her text, she lays out WHY she is doing each step so that we can internalize it for ourselves.
This book is visually appealing and I was captivated by it. All of her drawings caught my eye, but my favorites were her studies from travels (a page full of bicycles, or pigeons, or vases). I can see this book appealing to those with bullet journals who aspire to creativity but need some guidance, although . And I suspect it's only a matter of time until I start some pages in my bullet journal to test my newfound confidence (perhaps with the applicable pages of this book open next to me in the beginning).
This is a book I want to add to our home library, although I'm going to have to make sure my daughter understands she doesn't get to claim it for her own -- we're going to share this one!