BOOK REVIEW: “Foundations of Drawing” tries to be too much …

I’m not an artist.

I don’t have any artistic skills and I’ve never had any training in creating artwork.

For me, drawing a straight line is a challenge!

Nevertheless, over the years I’ve thought having the skill to draw or even to paint would be both an asset to my work and a personal enjoyment. So, when I had the opportunity to review the book, “Foundations for Drawing: A Practical Guide to Art History, Tools, Techniques, and Styles,” by Al Gury (published by Watson Guptill Publications), I thought this might be the opportunity to start an art education and serve as a prompt to try my hand at drawing.

The problem was that the book claims to deliver more than it does.

From the introduction of the book, the author makes this claim: “Foundations of Drawing is a guide for teachers, students, artists, and the general reader to the traditions and practice of drawing in Western culture. The overview of the history of drawing and of drawing materials, concepts, and techniques provides a practical look at the art of drawing and will be a useful text for anyone who is interested in learning about drawing, returning, to drawing, studying drawing, or teaching drawing as well as for longtime practitioners of the art.”

That’s a lot to promise, and as it turns out, too much to deliver.

For a book to be equally valuable to an art student as it is to an art teacher, or for an artist or someone returning to artwork, would mean the book would have to be remarkably comprehensive. What a student needs is very different than what a teacher needs, or what the active artist would benefit from would be different than what would be helpful for someone returning to artwork. The result is that the book covers several topics but in a mostly summary form.

Not even in survey form, but in summary form.

To cover all the topics ranging from art history, essential drawing materials, and essential drawing skills to essential aesthetics in drawing to essential drawing demonstrations, the author can only provide summary information, otherwise a more comprehensive approach would make for a massive volume or multiple volumes.

In short, the writer tries to accomplish too much while only delivering the tidbits of summary information.

One example: the writer often refers to something called “hatching lines.” An artist or art teacher would likely understand what hatching lines are, but the new art student (or total art novice like myself) would likely be clueless. It isn’t until more than 100 pages into the book that the author finally defines what hatching lines are.

When you try to be the ultimate resource for student, instructor, artist, and “general reader,” you’ll have to be far more comprehensive than what you’ll find contained in “Foundations for Drawing.”

Let me close with a “however.” If you’re interested in a very fast-moving summary about drawing, then you might find this book what you’re looking for as a means of “dipping your toe” into the world of drawing. But if you’re looking for something that is more educational and more significantly equipping in nature, this isn’t the book you need.

Scotty

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”