Book Review: Hand Drawing for Landscape Design: Basic Training

I found a gem of a book at Basheer Graphic Books a few days ago and it happens to be published by them as well. The boss told me that they publish translated books occasionally and this looks like one of them.

Hand Drawing for Landscape Design: Basic Training is a book of tips and techniques for rendering landscapes. It covers natural as well as urban landscapes and people.

What led me to buy the book are the beautiful examples included. I love the quick, loose and bold style of the examples. There are sketches as well as coloured sketches, some looked like marker renders and some like watercolour. Regardless of the medium used, the sketches look so nice. There are plenty of details whenever needed and the textures created by the pencil, pen or paint look great.

The drawing tips are written in Chinese and English. These are quick tips to help make your sketch read better. Things like how you should draw trees, how much details to put, how to simplify, when to use white, how to render skies and more. The drawings kinda look like architecture renders but there is definitely more texture here.

The first chapter talks about hand drawn art in today's digital age and how it still plays an important role in illustration and communication. After going through the book, looking at the examples, you should be able to see why hand drawn art still has the allure.

I can't remember how much I bought the book for. It's not too expensive. Should be around S$25. Grab it while stocks last. It's a great book for those into urban sketching.