As a response to the ubiquity of drawing in contemporary consciousness and a corresponding dearth of critical engagement with the medium, these collected essays provide original interpretations of artists' drawing today. Questions of process, politics, scale, and community raised in the work of the diverse group of artists are situated within the historic discourse on drawing and demonstrate the extent to which contemporary practice challenges previous definitions of the medium. From the room-encompassing drawings of Monika Grzymala and Barbara Bernstein or Sophie Calle's expansive exploration of the Jerusalem eruv to Andrea Bowers's graphite renditions of protest to Ellsworth Kelly's proposal for a memorial to September 11, the essays explore the implications of drawings' departure from the confines of a sheet of paper. Essential reading for both the academic and general audience, this book provides in-depth discussions of artists and projects that have never been treated in a sustained, analytical way; each essay will interest the wider contemporary art audience, as well as students of drawing. Taken as a whole, the volume represents a pertinent and stimulating engagement with issues of paramount importance to our understanding of contemporary art and its place in museums, galleries, and the public sphere.

While most sketching guides leave the artist with static bowls of fruit and flower vases to develop their skill, "Urban Sketching" takes its inspiration from the living, breathing world around us Contents include the nuts and bolts of sketching and drawing as well as a range of techniques specific to this artistic genre. Readers will discover:

• Rules on perspective that will aid inn capturing landscapes, buildings, and objects accurately
• Tips for capturing the essence of people in sketches when subjects are on the move
• The art of adding notes, commentary, and even speech to sketches
  Chapters on sharing sketches through social media, joining the international urban sketching community, digitizing work, and more make this new guide the quintessential resource for anyone interested in joining the exciting art movement. More than 350 full-color illustrations throughout.

This accessible book explains the significance of relationships between the body and the mark, visual imitation, drawing and writing and visual storytelling, providing a simple guide to these key ideas. For millennia drawing has been conceived as an exploratory activity, mediating between the vision of the drafter and what they are drawing. Drawing reveals hidden relationships, directs attention, scrutinises the material world and provides plans for further action. The book unpacks the key ideas that have shaped the rich, complex and foundational activity of drawing. It presents an unexpected, engaging and authoritative range of illustrated examples of drawings made by culturally and historically diverse people for different purposes, with different media, in widely different times and situations. Educator, author and artist Simon Grennan builds together concepts to create a complete guide to ideas about drawing.

Drawing the Head for Artists is the definitive modern guide to drawing the human head and portrait, featuring the classic mediums and methods of the Old Masters. Written by celebrated portrait artist and veteran studio instructor Oliver Sin, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume leads readers step-by-step through his method, from establishing a point of view to applying the timeless principles for creating an accurate and expressive likeness. Among the topics covered: Essential Materials & Techniques:Learn about necessary supplies and basic drawing techniques, including hatching, various stroke styles, and blending. Applying the Essentials: Explore how the concepts of sight-sizing, value, negative space/shapes, and plane changes factor into a portrait's underlying structure. Techniques for Creating Depth & Dimension:Investigate how contrasting shapes, overlapping forms, and linear and atmospheric perspective are used to enhance depth. Creating the Illusion of Three Dimensions: Examine how edges-contours as well as changes in value-are used to convey three-dimensional form. Brimming with striking images that document all the phases and details of the author's process, Drawing the Head for Artists inspires and informs all artists, from aspiring to accomplished, on how to successfully portray the physical subtleties and emotional eloquence of the human face. The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

Date Me is a collection of comics that tells stories of dating in a wheelchair, social situations sculpted by people's response to a wheelchair, and the struggle of trying to fit in from a different perspective. Dating is hard enough as an able-bodied person. Throw in the variable of a wheelchair and the "hard" becomes "almost not worth it." Kristin Beale shares stories of her crazy family, the unique and often lousy ways people interact with her because of her disability, and her often failed attempts at dating in a wheelchair with a strained, but ongoing determination not to give up. Relatable for many people who have dated in the 21st century, Date Me offers a different perspective from a wheelchair user and how to interact with them. With a few extra indiscriminate stories thrown in, Kristin's stories keep readers entertained as she reveals the struggles and triumphs of living in a wheelchair in today's world.

Vivian Wong shares her love of colored pencils and explains that one way "baby artists" improve their work is by copying what they see. Love Colored Pencils is designed to enable exactly this. *Named One of the 54 Best Colored Pencil Drawing Books of All Time by BookAuthority* Look over Vivian's shoulder as she demonstrates all the techniques you need to make luscious drawings in the wonderful, soft, blendable medium of colored pencil. On one side of each spread, Vivian demonstrates a technique or she colors in a subject, and on the opposite page or the next spread, you are encouraged to try it yourself, drawing directly in the book. Exercises throughout offer fun ways to explore drawing while being inspired by Vivian's popular and colorful drawing style. Vivian will teach you about: Holding your pencil Pencil pressure Hatching and crosshatching Stippling Scribbling Blending Color mixing Creating tones with color How to color facial features And more! Practice your skills as you follow Vivian's simple instructions for drawing facial features, many different hairstyles and hair colors, an owl, a leopard, and a variety of flower types. This is a book for all levels of artists who want to explore this versatile and fun medium with a colorful and talented artist, baby step by baby step. With Vivian by your side, you can't go wrong!

True beauty is found in nature, making this the perfect sketch book for your art inspiration! As if being responsible for dazzling sunsets and the aurora borealis were not enough, nature is also guardian to the universal principals of design. With mathematical perfection, its recurring structures seem to magically adapt as they show up in hundreds of ways: the radial star at the center of snowflakes, fruits and flowers, and the arms of starfish; spirals at the heart of nautilus shells, unfurling plants, and swirling storm systems. Borrowing the beauty of nature's forms can help you create beautiful artwork. Observing the structure of nature's forms can help you to be a better designer. The inspiration is limitless. Nature's design magic is a balancing act found in its perfect ratios. The sections of this sketchbook--Star, Branch, Spiral, and Fan--focus on four of those disceptively simple design principles and why they work. Author/artist Yellena James uses her own nature-based drawings to guide readers toward looking closely at each design form and the places where it occurs. Readers will discover ways to use each form in their own artwork, realistically, abstractly, or as motifs in repeat borders and patterns. In a non-academic fashion, the text explains nature's beautiful balances, and the art of using them when you draw and design.

Computers can calculate perspective angles and create a drawing for us, but the spontaneity of mark making, the tactile quality of a writing surface, the weight of a drawing instrument, and the immediacy of the human touch are sensations that keep traditional drawing skills perpetually relevant. The sensuality and convenience of the hand persists and will survive as a valuable communication tool, as will the need to accurately express your ideas on paper. As a professional, understanding the foundations of drawing, how we process images, and how we interpret what we see are principal skills. Understanding linear perspective enables artists to accurately communicate their ideas on paper. The Complete Guide to Perspective Drawing offers a step-by-step guide for the beginner as well as the advanced student on how to draw in one-point through six-point perspective and how to make scientifically accurate conceptual illustrations from simple to complex situations.

Building on the foundation established with the first book in the series, Framed Perspective 2 guides artists through the challenging tasks of projecting shadows in proper perspective on a variety of environments and working with characters in perspective set in particular situation or setting. Author and artist Marcos Mateu-Mestre reveals the many techniques and mechanics he has used to become proficient in such endeavors, including using anatomy, shadows, and clothing folds to define the shape and volume of characters within an environment. He also shares how to effectively observe a model or object to extract the right amount of information to then translate it into an impactful graphic and visual image, the goal of every visual storyteller.

Discover how to bring polar animals to life in 6 easy steps. Award-winning artist Jonathan Newey teaches you to transform simple shapes into majestic polar bears, snowy reindeer and awe-inspiring whales. Choose from an albatross mid-flight, a tottering penguin chick and much more. There are 25 different animals to create, in a variety of poses and styles. Each project starts with a few basic outlines and progresses into a finished tonal drawing, and a final coloured version shows you how to develop your drawing even further. Perfect for beginners, as well as budding artists, you'll be amazed how easily you too can draw polar animals with this inspiring guide.

Good drawings aren't always the ones that you've spent a lot of time over; some of the best pieces are swift, energetic studies that capture the feel of the subject in just a few well-placed lines. This book contains a series of exercises that develop the core skills for drawing buildings and cities, all of which can be completed in a quarter of an hour. Understand perspective Play with proximity and point of view Record details such as reflections and shadows Capture the character of buildings and cities

From bed head to battle hair, the way you style your manga character's hair can make or break their look. In this guide, discover hundreds of styles to transform your sketches into amazing illustrations. How to Draw Hairstyles for Manga includes: Detailed information on how hair influences characters and scenes, how it grows and moves, common male and female hairstyles, and more! Step-by-step instruction for sectioning and drawing hair to achieve more realistic looks. Plus, learn tips and tricks for taking styles up a notch. 600+ illustrations showing hundreds of hairstyles from multiple angles. From French braids and ponytails to defying gravity with underwater looks and epic battle scene styles, this book has it all! With step-by-step guidance and hundreds of sample illustrations, this is your must-have guide to drawing hairstyles for your manga characters. What are you waiting for? Grab your supplies and get started drawing with style!

The first authoritative collection of drawings by legendary modern architect Lina Bo Bardi Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) was one of the most prolific and visionary architects of the twentieth century. Raised in Italy under Mussolini's Fascist regime and emigrating to Brazil after World War II, she championed the power of architecture and design to embrace everyday life. Her boldly modernist designs range from concrete-and-glass structures like the Sao Paulo Museum of Art and the culture and leisure center SESC Pompeia to furniture and jewelry. This is the first book to examine one of the most intimate and expressive features of her life and work, but one she rarely shared with the public-drawing. Bo Bardi produced thousands of drawings in her lifetime, from picturesque landscapes drawn when she was a child, to sketches made as part of her daily routine as an architect, to fanciful drawings that show different aspects of her private life. In this beautifully illustrated book, Zeuler Lima, the world's leading authority on Bo Bardi, brings together a careful selection of these and other drawings, many of them never published until now. Bo Bardi drew on card stock, tracing paper, regular paper, and newsprint. She used pencils, watercolor, gouache, ballpoint pens, and felt-tips, producing drawings that combined surrealist elements with an eye for color and joyful forms. Lina Bo Bardi, Drawings sheds critical light on the creative sensibility behind some of the twentieth century's most striking modernist designs, and provides a rare window into the design practice of an architect like no other. Published in association with the Fundacio Joan Miro

After more than thirty years of research and teaching, artist Valerie Winslow has compiled her unique methods of drawing human anatomy into one groundbreaking volume: Classic Human Anatomy. This long-awaited book provides simple, insightful approaches to the complex subject of human anatomy, using drawings, diagrams, and reader-friendly text. Three major sections-the skeletal form, the muscular form and action of the muscles, and movement-break the material down into easy-to-understand pieces. More than 800 distinctive illustrations detail the movement and actions of the bones and muscles, and unique charts reveal the origins and insertions of the muscles. Packed with an extraordinary wealth of information, Classic Human Anatomy is sure to become a new classic of art instruction.

15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces, Anna’s first book, is one of our strongest selling titles. She made watercolour approachable, fun and easier than ever - and now she’s doing the same with the latest painting trend, gouache. A marriage between acrylics and watercolour, gouache is the next big thing in the art world - it’s easier to control than watercolour and allows for richer pigments and easy fixes, making it a great option for beginners. Anna shows you just how magical gouache can be - and each of her 50 projects can be completed in just five easy-to-follow steps. Divided into chapters on beautiful landscapes, colourful flowers and plants, cute animals and more, readers will have a big variety of projects to choose from. And each step is accompanied by an image, making it even easier for readers to follow along. Anna is the founder of DearAnnArt, an online art community with hundreds of thousands of followers.

What is 'performance drawing'? When does a drawing turn into a performance? Is the act of drawing in itself a performative process, whether a viewer is present or not? Through conversation, interviews and essays, the authors illuminate these questions, and what it might mean to perform, and what it might mean to draw, in a diverse and expressive contemporary practice since 1945. The term 'performance drawing' first appeared in the subtitle of Catherine de Zegher's Drawing Papers 20: Performance Drawings, in particular with reference to Alison Knowles and Elena del Rivero. In this book, it is used as a trope, and a thread of thinking, to describe a process dedicated to broadening the field of drawing through resourceful practices and cross-disciplinary influence. Featuring a wide range of international artists, this book presents pioneering practitioners, alongside current and emerging artists. The combination of experiences and disciplines in the expanded field has established a vibrant art movement that has been progressively burgeoning in the last few years. The Introduction contextualises the background and identifies contemporary approaches to performance drawing. As a way to embrace the different voices and various lenses in producing this book, the authors combine individual perspectives and critical methodology in the five chapters. While embedded in ephemerality and immediacy, the themes encompass body and energy, time and motion, light and space, imagined and observed, demonstrating how drawing can act as a performative tool. The dynamic interaction leads to a collective understanding of the term, performance drawing, and addresses the key developments and future directions of this applied drawing process.

"Have you ever experienced the peace of walking through the woods or the excitement of a storm gathering on a beach? Artwork provides the ability for us to capture those moments and share them with others."

"Drawing Nature for the Absolute Beginner" offers a great beginner's course on drawing nature. In their fun and friendly teaching style, Mark and Mary Willenbrink show you how to realistically capture the world around you.

All you need to get started are some simple supplies, basic techniques, and inspiration. From field to forest, beach or mountain, begin with a structural sketch, apply values and textures, and, before you know it, you'll be drawing everything you see. You'll even learn how to render favorite wildlife such as chipmunks, deer and eagles

• Follow along with easy step-by-step demonstrations to draw rocks, seashells, butterflies and even more developed nature scenes.
• Gain a working understanding of key concepts such as perspective, value and composition.
• Discover simple tools and tips you can use right away to improve your art.

Refresh your creativity and boost your motivation to draw with the expert help of The Drawing Ideas Book. If you're stuck in a rut - or simply just stuck - this book is filled with ideas for what to draw, how to draw and even where and when to draw. Packed with arresting examples of creatives' drawings and sketchbooks from all over the world, it's sure to fire up your creativity. Imagine it, doodle it, sketch it, ink it and more. Discover the infinite possibilities of this essential art form, from its key mediums to unusual processes, across subjects from figure drawing and landscape sketching to abstract compositions.