Keys to Drawing

by Dodson, Bert

• ISBN13: 9780891343370
• ISBN10: 0891343377
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781440308673
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-06-01
• Publisher: PENGUIN
• More Book Details

Summary

Bert Dodson's successful method of "teaching anyone who can hold a pencil"how to draw has made this tome one of the most popular, best-selling art books in history - an essential reference for every artist's library! Dodson offers a complete system for developing drawing skills, basing his approach on 55 "keys"to drawing - rules that don't need to be memorized, but realized. Dodson helps artists learn to trust their eyes and sharpen their observation skills through 48 practice exercies, reviews, and self-evaluations. Topics include learning to control proportion, scale, movement, depth, pattern and more! Bert Dodson, a talented draftsman, painter, and illustrator, taught illustration and drawing for several years at the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. He has also illustrated over three dozen books. He lives in Bradford, Vermont.

Author Biography

Bert Dobson, a talented draftsman, painter, and illustrator, graduated from Arizona State University and later studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He then taught drawing and illustration for several years at the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. He has illustrated more than 70 children's books, worked as an animation designer for the PBS series Intimate Strangers, and is the creator of the comic strip "Nuke."

Table of Contents

Introduction	8	(10)
The Drawing Process	10	(30)
Internalizing practical dialogue
Using triggering words
Drawing ``blind''
Restating
Seeing vs. knowing
Individualizing
Shape consciousness
Focusing
The Artist's Handwriting	40	(30)
Separating your two handwritings
Freeing your hand
Controlling your hand
Copying
Emulating
Exploring mediums
Erasing
Proportions: Taking the Measure of Things	70	(32)
Sighting
Finding the midpoint
Using plumb and level
Looking for comparative measurements
Foreshortening
Intensifying proportions
The Illusion of Light	102	(26)
Mapping
Modeling
Managing edges
Analyzing the light
Intensifying mood
Merging shapes
Designing with light
The Illusion of Depth	128	(20)
Overlapping forms
Diminishing sizes
Converging lines
Softening edges and contrasts
Drawing through
Sighting angles
Using eye level and vanishing points
Drawing ellipses
The Illusion of Texture	148	(24)
Articulating and suggesting
Sensing the stroke
Repeating and varying
Contrasting textures
Shifting strokes for distance
Pattern and Design	172	(26)
Designing with shape
Sensing pattern
Framing
Cropping
Straddling opposites
Identifying tangents
Drawing and Imagination	198	(24)
Joining two bags
Creative playing
Making the familiar strange
Working in sequence
Drawing on diverse sources
Exploring themes
Bibliography	222	(1)
Index	223