Book Review: Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within

The multiple 5-star reviews on Amazon lead me to get this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I expected.

The book teaches expressive drawing as compared to representational drawing. Whether or not you'll like this book will depend on which drawing style you like.

Representational drawing aims to create a likeness to what's seen. Expressive drawing, at they teach in this book, aims to link the artwork to your ideas and emotions.

The guided lessons cover the art basics such as line, shapes, balance and others. There aren't any lessons on rendering shadows (representational art) or composition (e.g. golden arc/rectangle or guiding the eye).

Many lessons are give ideas on loosening up and playing around with art, with respect to the particular subject taught. However, the emphasis is on enjoying the drawing process, rather than worrying about the end product. Maybe because of that, many examples fall into the category which I'm not particularly fond of -- abstract art. I feel that it's difficult to appreciate these artwork unless you're the one who create them.

You can preview more pages on Google Books - I wish I had - before deciding if it's your type of book.

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 01

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 02

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 03

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 04

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 05

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within - 06

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Comments

Parka, do you have any recommendations on books that are more representational drawing?

Parka, I have already seen those images on Auad blog, but they look like being scanned from old magazines. Charlie Parker from Lines and Colors blog told me that the images are reproduced from originals and that they look great. However, all pages and spreads from the book I have seen so far do look somewhat drab. That's why I wish to see the flip-through video.

thanks!

yikes, I agree with you Parka.
I never really understood why people
would want to create abstract art in the first place.

The title and cover image make me wonder why you think this book would offer you anything other then what it did. Anyways, I think the book is rather unique in what it teaches, albeit not for everyone. The are plenty of practical drawing books out there. If you're looking for a book that deals with representational drawing in an expressive way I would recommend "Experimental Drawing" by Kaupelis (?sp)...

Thanks for the review though - I have this book on hold at the library. I'm curious to see what I think based on your review.

Thanks!
-b

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