I have the book and it really is superb for anyone wanting to learn to draw. How good you are Teoh to give away copies to friends who want to learn to draw. You are a real ambassador for the art of drawing and sketching.
Excellent review! For me, this book ranks up there with Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" as the "go to" book on learning how to draw. My copy is completely worn out. Love it!
as someone who has read far more 'how to draw' books than i should have (procrastination anyone?) i truly belive that Keys To Drawing is the only book someone needs if they're just getting into drawing; more than enough in this book to keep someone busy for the first couple of years; highly recommended
I have the Kindle version, really good book, on my list along with "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards when it comes to getting people to see they can draw.
I don't think it's perfect for everyone. The first time I read the first chapter I got really frustrated and angry, and was upset how it just asks you to add shading to a drawing, without even explaining how to do shading. I went to a different book, which covered more basic stuff, and now that I've got a bit more comfortable, I think I'll enjoy this book more, since it does seem like there's a lot of good info in there.
I have the book too and it is really helpful. I haven't finished it yet. I started it this last summer and when I saw this I remembered I have it on my bookshelf! Thanks
Saying from a personal experience, this book probably wouldn't be suitable for absolute beginners like who can't draw basic shapes angles ( well everybody can draw, but let's just say that they have never practiced for the sake of drawing). Don't get me wrong, it's a very good book. The first chapter of the book tells about how to think when drawing, how to blind draw, restatement, knowing vs seeing e.t.c. and the very first exercise of this book is to observe your legs carefully and draw them applying blind draw method, which is well, absolute beginner can't possibly draw a leg. So my opinion is this book is great if you want to improve your drawing and be a better artist, not for begginers.
Follow all the exercises in the book to the letter. Then with diligent practice afterwards, your skills will continue to improve. Drawing is not an overnight success thing, it’s a skill that takes years of practice to master. I don’t think there’s any other beginner books that compare to this (other than ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’, but that book is mostly text). Every other beginner book is more about follow these exact steps to draw this exact picture-which doesn’t help you learn drawing. However, there’s a book by Mark Kistler named ‘You can Draw in 30 Days’ which is a basic intro to constructive/form drawing (which isn’t covered much in the Keys book). So give that a shot.
My impression of this book is that it's much loved by artists who already know how to draw, or at least people with a predisposition to drawing. I've never in my life come across a single person who said that they learned to draw from this book. Thank you for making this video, however, it's very nice, and it's kind of you to share your books and your experience.
@@louduva9849 I don't know you personally, so what follows could be a shot in the dark, in which case sorry about that. First, you've got to work out what exactly you think you're lacking in terms of drawing. Like, when you think in your mind 'oh, I'd like to learn to draw', what is it that you're wanting to learn? This isn't a stupid question, believe it or not. For example, for the overwhelming majority of people I've met who say that they 'can't draw', the problem is that instead of drawing literally what's in front of them, they are 'drawing' what they are thinking and the result doesn't look good to them. Thinking gets in the way of drawing, to put it briefly. To 'diagnose' what is it that you're trying to learn when you say 'I want to learn to draw', either buy (cheaply!) or borrow from a library a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Just do the exercises in that book and skim over the psycho-drivel, it'll honestly save time, since you can't learn drawing by reading anyway, only by drawing. After these exercises, you'll be pretty clear about which questions to ask next. Here's what I mean. First, once you've tried the exercise of drawing the upside-down picture and seeing how good the result is, you'll know firsthand that you CAN draw, that the problem isn't in some mystical power that some people magically have and you somehow don't. Second, as you're doing the other exercises, you'll see what aspects of your drawing are OK as they are and which could use improvement. Then you're pretty much in the same boat as people who think of themselves as 'can draw' and are working to improve this or that aspect of their drawing. Common examples include tricks of correctly estimating relative sizing of objects, learning to decide on the number of values to express in the drawing, etc. Hope this makes some sense.
I would have to disagree. Watch the videos by Sophie Lawson. She did 2 videos, one of them a few years later. She said she would never have gotten into drawing if it wasn’t for this book and that it was a life changer. Follow all the exercises in the book to the letter. Then with diligent practice afterwards, your skills will continue to improve. Drawing is not an overnight success thing, it’s a skill that takes years of practice to master.
Loved seeing the book review and enjoyed seeing you looking at the book and thank you so much for sharing your videos with us and happy new year to you.
Been meaning to go back and restudy drawing. Just this video reminded me of my old high school lessons! Definitely going to pick this up in the future.
Hi Teoh. I bought this book a year ago after you pointed it out in a video at an art store and, I think, you listed it in the video description. At the time I was still trying to find my way into sketching and I haven't made use of the book. Perhaps now I shall. Thanks for reminding me :-)
Awesome! I saw a glimpse of this book in another of your videos and searched for a video review...was going to request you review it. I have this book but haven’t yet committed to it. Thanks for reading my mind!
Hello artists, I love this book! Today, I found an explanation on page 75 that confused me. Maybe you can help. The example of finding a midpoint on the seated artist example notes that it is a horizontal shape. When I measure it out, I note that it is a 6 3/4 inch SQUARE. My midpoint is very different than Bert's. Help, please!
I recommend this because you get to draw straightaway. The other book has too much text which is good if you want to understand more of the drawing process.
PERSPECTIVE MADE EASY BY Ernest R. Norling - AUDIOBOOK ESPAÑOL COMPLETO ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vawGnXjlZWk.html&lc=UgzyXs5HyBn3KAjPoc14AaABAg
I've already got a lot of books but your channel is really amazing and your videos are always awesome. So I ordered it from your affiliates link. Thanks! Also thumb up because why not. :)
What's that course he mentioned where he covers the content taught in the book? Whenever I'm studying a subject lke fihure drawing or anatomyI use both a book and video tutorials at the sametime, like Loomis and PROKO together. And I wanted a class that complements this book.
Theo Yi Chie hello, one question if you don’t mind, the exercises are to be made each time they appear, and you do them with the knowledge gathered until then, or you finish the chapter and do them all with the knowledge gathered? Thanks in advance my friend Cheers
@@bengbeng2005 Hello there, no my friend I didn’t finish the book and I hardly started it, I decided to follow first the fundamentals through the site “draw a box”. Cheers
Hi!!! I know it’s a strange question...but those times I feel like a productivity robot...I’m developing websites and less and less time for drawing. Do you know any book with creativity exercise? I need to free my mind. I saw the tv series abstract, and one of the exercise the designer shows, was to take an object and drawing it in all possible implementation.. I need somethings like this, to take like an hour for me, and be free, and I know that it’s a paradox that I need a book to feel free 😅. Any ideas? And thanks in advance 😘
