"How to Draw" - Dusting off an oldie!

How to Draw - Edward H. Freedman

I've had this book for years, as in, I was a kid when it first came into my possession. It used to belong to my Grandfather who gave it to me back in a period of time where I had expressed interest in drawing. Somehow, almost as a miracle, I've managed to hold on to it and so I cracked it open today.



The pages are yellowed a bit by age, but the message is as consistent with any message on drawing I've seen to date: if you can write, you can draw. The lesson, as it is with other sources, is that drawing is a learned skill, not an inborn talent. Natural talent, which does exist in this space, can certainly speed up the learning process, but it's still a learning process.

In any case, I decided to go through the first couple of chapters where Freedman walks you through some initial insight around the basics of form and concentrates on cylindrical shapes in every day life. By virtue of getting you to draw some ones and zeros, Freedman starts to demonstrate how basic some forms actually are and that if you concentrate on that, the rest will naturally follow.

Interestingly, a good sign that this book is older is that one of the first examples he uses is a cigarette! Unlikely to see that in a more modern book.

In any event, I think I will continue with the book's exercises and finish it out. It's only 128 pages and it's very clear, concise, and well illustrated (as you'd expect). It's been a lot of years since I've read it, but highly recommended if you manage to come across it in a used book store.