I'm a mostly self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you along on yours. I laughed when I read your post because you just fished inside my brain to write it, clearly — as opposed to it being funny! I used to work in a book shop and got really good at looking at art instruction books, then putting them back on the shelf.. I deduced that they were printed to make money out of the unsuspecting novice, and not to actually instruct anyone, and promptly banned my students from buying anything.

I love all three books that you have listed and certainly learned to think and to see differently and begin-to-understand, differently, because of them. They were all written a loooong time ago… My runner up would be Colour and Light by James Gurney — another interesting book, guiding and instructing on seeing as opposed to techniques. Later sections of the book contain really useful tips about perspective, composition and a little bit about value. A Tool for Learning. There are hundreds of step-by-step exercises, all written in a positive and encouraging tone that makes you want to keep trying.

I started using this book as a rank beginner, and after thirty years, I still return to it book and find new ideas and challenges. A classic book for those who want to learn to see and draw the natural world. Many thanks to you.


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I am very interesting to know the most important books and you now help very much. I am study draw at home and I follow it is possible this books! It was the exercises from that book that really helped me to look closely at color and see how colors effect each other. You also get exercises to do from the book. Thanks for doing this, and hopefully saving us all some time and money. I know that you have previously mentioned it somewhere on your website — or maybe in the recent webinar?? Both of those authors cite Nicolaides as the teacher who first introduced contour drawing.

This book was also the first where I encountered the concept of gesture drawing. I worked with the Nicolaides book for a long time when I was just getting started and it was really helpful. His directions for each exercise that he introduces are great and he has schedules in the book that tell you which exercises to practice and for how long. He has lots of good insights about the drawing process as well. This book was really important for me as a beginner, and continues to be one that I return to frequently. I remember posting this quote from the book near my drawing area: All the books you advised are outstanding, esp.

Drawing on the Right Side, so long as one takes the time to actually perform the exercises. I was absolutely amazed at my progress with that book. Hello Paul, Good idea this post.

10 Books EVERY Student Should Read - 2017 Book Recommendations

About figure drawing, there is this great advanced and detailed book: Thanks for all your work. Thanks to you I have both the Speed and the Dow but have failed you by not working continuously through them. I have found Bridgemans Complete guide to Drawing from Life useful as a source to copy from and to understand anatomy better. Thought provoking and timely as a reminder that I must return to the Speed and Dow this winter. Thank you for the great explanations of what to expect from each book and for keeping the list narrow.

This is an excellent resource. Great post as always. I can only suggest one book for the list. Its a great book for artistic motivation. Oh yes Paul, I have all of them and some. On my kindle I have all 3 books by Juliette Aristides. They are all very valuable in their own way. I use all of these books at different times. We all have our unique way of learning and to find what is right for us we have to investigate. However, the bottom line is practice….

Love being able to download free books that are over years old. Dorian just had a webinar on his new course on Mastering light and Form.


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  6. Here is the link for replay: I am also very familiar with James Gurney, thank you for the link I had missed that one. Thank you for being such an inspiration Paul. Hi there, I am fairly new to your site and am learning and enjoying it tremendously. Your post reminded me how it is time to go through my art books and cull, trade, sell most of them!

    What you said is all too true. Some of the books were given to me or I bought in the beginning years. I have all four of the books you listed and have dipped into them over and over again. It has the properties you mentioned in your post. All your posts are so inspiring. This exercise gives immediadte result and is so meditative. Thanks so much for publishing these links, Paul!. I have Googled the Bargue plates and have found some few posted here and there to work from until such time I can afford to buy the actual book.

    I, too, have become very selective in choosing whether or not to buy art books. To me, too many of them seem to rehash information I already have in other books. I have had loads of fun with some of the exercises in that book and have recommended both to people as well. These are all worthwhile as well. The two books that taught me how to see and how to develop a logical approach to drawing when the goal is accuracy and relative speed are:.

    Drawing in the Digital Age: Angle-based methodology based on simple math. New ways to see and draw by Raphael Ellender. He presents very clearly and precisely his approach to drawing from where you look when drawing a straight line, to perspective and gestural lines in life drawing.

    Smashwords – Learn Yourself: A Manual for the Mind - Companion Book – a book by Aaron Garrison

    Hi Paul, what a terrific blog post! I would like to add here how much I like the Famous Artists 3-Volume set that you often find on Ebay. Always love posts about books, and this one features two of my favorite ones. Thank you for sharing! Great opportunity to re-read and refresh our knowledge. While Dow is a great resource, to me it is hampered by low quality scans but even more by the fact that is a rather complicated text. As a pedagogic tool, it really would benefit from being broken down into smaller pieces and having excercises set out more clearly.

    Loomis books may have their faults, but since I have nothing to compare to and not having the master drawers expert eyes and hindsight knowledge, I really like the Titan reprints. They make me want to pick up the pen. I bought a copy of the Harold Speed book, but it was such bad print quality that I had to throw it away. I went back to the pdf I already had, and printed it. Quite a wordy fellow by the way, but at an intermediate level I think it could be useful to me. The Charles Bargue stuff — it is like a bunch of dry oatmeals that I have to eat … it is probably healthy and nutritious, but by Jove… it will kill me.

    Learn Yourself: A Manual for the Mind - Companion Book

    And as Paul has hinted at earlier in his postings, the reproduction of a plate is not without its issues. What I really need I think, is a mix of Dow and Loomis, for me today. The big challenge is to start out on the journey without falling prey to pessimism because it seems such a long haul to even being halfways good. I own the Bargue book, and totally agree. The should have printed the plates to the correct size, otherwise what is the point. It contains the very basic concept we tend to forget when starting portait and figure drawing.

    Great post as always, Paul. Solomon is another precious classic. The Bargue book has been on my to-order list for a while now. You show it at any school and be offered admission. Drawing realistic textures in pencil by jd hillberry here is where you learn to take value and tone to the next level. He teaches you what tools to use to get various effects. I have slowly been getting digital versions of the books I love. I cant find all of them but I did manage to find quite a few allowing me to free up some space. Its not a perfect system for sure.

    There are several books that are just better and easier to read in hardback. Some parents with extraordinary IQs, for example, have pushed their children in bizarre ways—with often disastrous results. Other parents have wholeheartedly devoted their lives to the children they wished to make into prodigies, only to find little solace in the long run. Somehow through all this, the book provides healthy encouragement for ordinary, non-savant types. There was a disconcerting tendency through the book to switch between prodigies even mid-paragraph, but otherwise, highly recommended!

    Sarah Levitt has written a book to help leaders better understand how other leaders wend their way through the difficult, sometimes lonely path of great leadership: A Book for Magnificent Leadership: Through interviewing successful leaders, Sarah has laid out guidelines that others can find useful. Sousa, now in its fifth edition , which was recommended to us as a top neuroscience-based book on learning.

    There are so many books to help teachers understand how younger students learn. But you may be surprised to learn that there are virtually no books for those students themselves, or for their parents. The funny but deeply informative pictures alone are worth the price of the book. We make it a practice to ask people about their all-time favorite book. A Memoir , by Jeannette Walls. So we finally broke down and read it. This book, incidentally, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for weeks, and has over 7, Amazon reviews with a 4.

    Walls experienced, along with her brother and sisters, a deeply dysfunctional upbringing. The audiobook is read by Walls herself—you may be able to get two free audiobooks through this link. The Case Against Education: If you are in any way involved in education, or you think education is important as we do! But unlike The New Education , The Case Against Education is rigorously argued, and it will force you to examine the premises of your support for learning.

    The eloquence and intelligence with which Gatto vivisects the modern K world makes the book a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in education; it is particularly worthwhile for parents. We went into this book with high hopes—Davidson characterizes herself as a contrarian instigator with provocative new ideas about how to revolutionize higher education. Her ultimate underlying recommendation for improving universities?

    Throw more money at them. No wonder academicians love her despite her self-proclaimed contrarian stance. How readers would have benefited by seeing a profile a student like Tulio Baars , who has taken over MOOCs to self-educate and used that knowledge to found an innovative new data analysis company! This is one of the few books we are reviewing without recommending.

    Education and the State , by E. We believe this is one of the most important books written in the last twenty years. An Antidote to Chaos , has been floating at the top of the Amazon best-sellers listing for several weeks, so we had to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Peterson, with his wonderfully listenable accent from rural Canada, reads the audio version of his book. You may be able to get two free audiobooks through this link. Covey actually read the Audible version of his book. There is a reason this book has been translated into 32 languages and has sold over 5 million copies.

    It is one of our personal, life-changing favorites—a synthesis of timeless principles for personal effectiveness that focus on character, rather than technique. The stories he uses to convey key ideas help the ideas resonate unforgettably. We only wish that Dr. Covey were still alive to do a MOOC! He goes into the nitty-gritty of travel, preparation, and what it feels like to be on stage, plus tips on calming down about verbal flubs and the like. We happened to pick up Hit Refresh: We were astonished to find a CEO who is the real deal as far as caring both for his customers and the employees of his company.

    Also includes interesting perspectives on quantum computing and artificial intelligence. This week, we opted for some light reading with Daily Rituals: How Artists Work , by Mason Currey. This is basically a compendium of workaholic work habits of a number of famous writers and artists. In one way, the book was a little unsatisfying, because most of the descriptions of people work habits were very short.

    On the other hand, the brevity of the entries is part of what made it such an intriguing book—Currey breezed through the lives of dozens of creative people in a way that allowed us to quickly glean key ideas from a lot of different people. It was gratifying to learn that many writers are bothered by noise, just as we are. Audible version available here. This is a nice book for listening.

    Two free audiobooks may be possible through this link. The Impact of the Highly Improbable — a no-holds-barred vivisection of so-called experts. This is one of those books that we love because it confirms our own previous experiences with regards experts, particularly academic experts. This book explores, in broad-ranging fashion, how helping can hurt. The reader will emerge with a much deeper and nuanced understanding of altruism in reading this book, the best on altruism in the last 15 years. The Science of A Meaningful Life. Redirect is a great and thoughtful book.

    The book has terrific explanations—no wonder it is so highly rated! Yes, Steve did the Audible narrative , too. Working as a professional stand up comedian is hard. His latest book When: Right from the start, we were riveted to read of a ship sunk on a sunny afternoon within sight of shore—with over a thousand lives lost. How did it happen? Dan himself reads the Audible version, here. We received this delightful book for Christmas.

    By making fun, in hilarious fashion of common parental foibles, it also helps us keep in mind what good parenting really entails. Barb regifted this to her pediatrician daughter—the book is now an even bigger hit, making the rounds with her fellow pediatrician-residents. We very much enjoyed Extra Virginity: But you may not know that exercise coupled with a healthy diet has a bigger impact on our health, and our ability to learn, than either exercise or a healthy diet alone.

    But which diet is best? So read this book to help you do your part in making healthier and tastier! Pre-order to be first in line for a copy! We prefer the hard copy over the e-reader copy, because the images are easier to see on the hard copy. And yet another excellent, but hard-to-get book on art is Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing , by Margaret Livingstone. There is a reason this book has been translated into translated into 32 languages and has sold over 5 million copies.

    Influence will help you to see more clearly the subtle influences that others are exerting on you—and allow you to more easily bring people to agreement with your own ideas. If you want to try Audible, you can get two free audiobooks through this link.

    This stealth world-wide best-seller has been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide. Unlike most books on learning, A Mind for Numbers delves into the neuroscience—walking you through research insights that are immediately and practically useful. Wynne and Donald M. This 32 page long, award-winning coloring book is actually used in some regular classes, and could be a particular boon for the wide-ranging interests of home-schooled kids. Suitable for ages 8—12, but grownups also seem to enjoy the relaxing process of coloring while they learn.

    The Audible version seems to be on sale now. We read this book when it first came out in , and then reread it again recently. This has clearly been beneficial! We happened to pick up the book TED Talks: But instead, as we like to say in English, it knocked our socks off!

    This riveting book should be read by anyone who needs to communicate with others which means everyone , and especially by teachers. Even as Anderson regales us with the intriguing and sometimes hilarious stories that lie behind the great TED talks, he gives all sorts of useful nuggets about how we grow to trust and learn from others. Highly recommended, also in the Audible version , which is actually read by Chris Anderson. His Life and World , by Robert Massie, is in our opinion, truly one of the greatest biographies ever written—fully deserving of its Pulitzer Prize.

    Not only does the book provide great insight into Peter the Great—it also takes us down some of the stranger rabbit holes of history. Barb babbled so much about this book at home that she was temporarily banned from discussing it. Author Jack Weatherford has spent years traveling, exploring, and researching in Mongolia. This is a not-t0-be-missed biography! Jack Weatherford himself narrated the audio version.

    Who would have thought that a little physically handicapped boy in manly Mongolia, and his more-than-a-decade older mentor and, eventually, wife , could grow a nation? Yet Walker is also a masterful writer, full of witty, insightful metaphors that give an in-depth understanding of how and why we need to sleep. Do not miss this book. Da Vinci will always remain something of an enigma, because the inner turmoil he communicated so poignantly in his paintings is not something he described in his otherwise comprehensive notebooks.

    Da Vinci tackled virtually every field of science and turned it into art. As Isaacson observes, we ourselves can learn to observe life more fully by seeing how the magnificent Leonardo did it. The Art of Learning: Not only was Waitzkin an eight-time National Chess Champion—he is also a world champion in martial arts.

    My 3 Best Art Instruction Books

    Josh is a wonderful writer with a wealth of telling stories—his book is hard to put down. Good writing seems to run in the family: We love The Like Switch! With the information in this book, you can find yourself making friends quite literally with the flick of an eyebrow. The Psychology of Persuasion. The level of effort to produce this fantastic volume, and the extraordinary nature of the illustrations themselves, have to be seen to be appreciated! At first, her recommendations may simply seem impossible. Dan Pink says it best! When some of the most prestigious business schools in the world began providing free versions of their courses online, Laurie Pickard whose great ideas Barb featured in her latest book, Mindshift saw an opportunity to get the business education she had long desired, at a fraction of the typical MBA price tag.

    This book has an amazing 5-star rating with over reviews on Amazon.

    Browder was the co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, which specialized in Russian investments. On a side note, we often think that relentless focus is the best way to learn and be successful. If you have trouble keeping your focus on just one thing, it may sometimes be an advantage. Barb would not have become a successful writer or MOOC-maker! Anyone who writes will benefit from reading this book. When you are trying to focus on something difficult, whether reading a book or anything else, one of the best things you can do to help you keep that focus is to block out sounds.

    Earphones like these are used by professional memory champions to help them keep their focus—whether in competition or just learning something new. Goya , by Robert Hughes. This, perhaps, set Goya unwillingly apart from the world—allowing him to be the last of the Old Masters as well as the first of the Moderns. His The Shock of the New: Rebecca read the Audible version of her book. Rebecca Fett is a science author with a degree in molecular biotechnology and biochemistry. Before becoming a full-time author, Rebecca spent ten years as a biotechnology patent litigation attorney in New York, where she specialized in analyzing the scientific and clinical evidence for biotechnology companies.

    This book has enabled Barb to largely get off of medications for rheumatoid arthritis—remarkable, given her 30 years on a cornucopia of drugs. The central idea of this book is that Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple have become pernicious monopolies. One result, according to Foer, is that the writing world has changed dramatically, and not for the better.