annieb123's Review of Drawing the Head for Artists (For Artists)

by Oliver Sin

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.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Drawing the Head for Artists by Oliver Sin is a technique and partial tutorial book aimed at artists and students of portraiture specifically for drawing the head and face. Due out 6th Aug 2019 from Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 160 pages and available in paperback format.

One of the things which impressed me very much about this book is the depth of the information provided by the author for achieving specific results (which are also illustrated in the book). He gives details about materials and tools selection and how to hold and use those tools to achieve the desired shading or values or effects.

The book follows a logical format and different sections are easy to find (there's an index included). The introduction (~14% of the page content) covers some very basic artistic philosophy and mostly very detailed specific materials and recommendations. There are sidebars with extra info interspersed with the artist's own astoundingly beautiful portraiture (see cover).

The next chapters progress through concepts and techniques, portraiture poses, facial features, depth and dimension, mood, children and elderly people, and alternatives for backgrounds and special effects.

This is a gorgeous book to look at. It presupposes a high level of expertise, and it might help to think of this as a master class. There is a short bibliography and materials list at the end of the book.

Five stars. Highly recommended as a source of inspiration. I also enjoyed seeing some pages from the artist's sketchbook in pen and ink. They were very fast and informal sketches and it heartens me to see that even an artist capable of the portraiture included in this book also has sketchbooks full of very fast and informal line sketches.

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

Drawing the Head for Artists (For Artists)

by Oliver Sin

Reviewed by annieb123 on Aug 5, 2019

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