Drawing Lifelike Subjects: A complete guide to rendering flowers, landscapes, and animals (Step-by-Step Studio)

by Diane Cardaci, Nolon Stacey, Linda Weil, and Diane Wright

Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Lifelike Subjects teaches beginning artists how to create realistic, detailed drawings in graphite pencil.

Featuring in-depth instruction on basic drawing techniques, creating texture, developing likeness, and more, Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Lifelike Subjects is the perfect guide for you as a beginning or intermediate artist. After an introduction to basic materials and pencil techniques, four accomplished artists offer insight, tips, and step-by-step demonstrations that help create detailed, lifelike drawings of your chosen subjects, including animals, flowers, and landscapes. Learn to create texture and likeness using basic pencil techniques, understanding perspective, exploring light and shadow, developing values, and more.

• Dogs & Puppies: From a soulful Basset Hound puppy to a full-grown German Shepherd, learn to draw your chosen breed step by step.
• Flowers & Botanicals: Explains basic flower anatomy and how to render detailed still lifes and florals using basic pencil techniques to convey light and shadow.
• Beautiful Landscapes: See the world through the eyes of an artist as you recreate coastal scenes, warm cottages, and pastoral landscapes. 
• Lifelike Animals: Capture the essence of your favorite wild animals, including elephants, tigers, lions, wolves, and more.

Throughout the book, artists Diane Cardaci, Nolon Stacey, Linda Weil, and Diane Wright offer practical drawing techniques and easy-to-understand, step-by-step instruction, but also encouraging words. The journey through Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Lifelike Subjects is not about making perfect drawings; it's about achieving likeness and drawing skills with each new project, while having a great time.

The books in the Step-by-Step Studio series introduce beginning artists to the fundamental tools and techniques of their chosen medium. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step projects help beginners hone their skills while creating artwork across a variety of subjects, from still life and landscapes to animal portraits and botanicals.

• ISBN13: 9781600589003
• Publish Date: 30 March 2021 (first published 1 July 2009)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 May 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Walter Foster Publishing
• Edition: Revised Edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 144
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Drawing Lifelike Subjects is a tutorial and technique guide for rendering landscapes, flowers, and animals aimed beginning to intermediate artists. Previously published in 2007-2008 in several other volumes, this second edition is due out 2nd March 2021 from Quarry on their Walter Foster imprint. It's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This volume has a similar format to the other familiar (and beloved) volumes in the series. The introduction covers tools, materials, some texture techniques, and some general drawing info (very basic). The following chapters contain the tutorials, arranged thematically: dogs & puppies, flowers & botanicals, landscapes, and lifelike animals. Each of the tutorials contains step by step line drawing from basic outline to finished drawing. I felt some of the steps hopped over a lot of intermediate refinement, but all-in-all they're followable and clearly illustrated.

I could see this booklet, bundled with a drawing set, being a superlative gift for a young artist up to adult age. The drawings are detailed enough to look quite professional, but not so extremely advanced that they would frustrate a keen beginner.

Five stars. I love that there are high quality tutorial books available from this classic art-publishing imprint.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.