The Complete Guide to Drawing for Beginners - by Yoshiko Ogura (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An easy-to-follow, yet comprehensive beginner's guide to drawing.

In The Complete Guide to Drawing for Beginners, experienced art instructor Yoshiko Ogura explains the basics of pencil drawing through a series of lessons that provide insights on artistic composition, simulating highlights and shadows, depicting realistic forms, rendering texture and creating a sense of depth in your artwork. At the beginning of the book, she provides you with all the information you need to get started--what materials to buy, how to prepare your work surface, pencils and erasers--even how to sit correctly when drawing.

Once you know these, Ogura provides a series of easy and clear step-by-step lessons showing you how to draw simple objects while gaining an understanding of the essential concepts of perspective, how to convey hard and soft surfaces and textures, composition and balance. From here, you progress to more complex shapes and objects including landscapes and portraits of people and animals, as she explains all the additional concepts needed to draw these realistically.

This book teaches you how to draw the following interesting subjects:

• Simple forms (an apple, a milk carton, an egg, a mug)
• Hard & soft surfaces (fabric, a loaf of bread, a stone, a book)
• Transparent objects (water droplets, a glass)
• Complex objects (a piece of squash with seeds and pulp, a sunflower)
• Human anatomical features (hands, faces)
• Landscape elements (trees, buildings)
• Animals (a cat, a parakeet)
• Still life (fruit, flowers)
• Plus, many other inspirational examples and ideas!

By the end, all your drawings will begin to look impressively polished and realistic! As you work through the lessons, you'll master all the skills and knowledge that seasoned artists demonstrate in their work.

Review Quotes

"...the right balance of text and visual aids in this guide to drawing that encourages readers to embrace every step of the process, including the struggle...highly recommended for aspiring artists of all types, especially those looking for encouragement to give drawing a go." -- Library Journal

"The Complete Guide to Drawing for Beginners lives up to its title as a user-friendly guide to learning the basics of drawing...[It] is enthusiastically recommended for anyone with an interest in drawing, whether as a hobby or as the first step toward an art-related profession." -- Midwest Book Review

"This book is perfect for a teen or adult who is looking to try drawing and learn some real skills. Each lesson teaches something different and it is so well explained, and there are so many photos to help as well." — Crafty Moms Share blog

"With a dramatically different approach than many drawing how-to books, Japanese illustrator Ogura thinks of all the questions and issues a novice might face, then addresses them simply and head on...It's difficult to see how an in-person class could teach much more. Appended with Ogura's inspirational works." -- Booklist, Starred Review

About the Author

Yoshiko Ogura graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo. She worked for several years as an art director and character designer for Konami and Sega. Ogura went on to study at the prestigious Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in France. She has worked as a freelance illustrator and has exhibited her award-winning art in Japan, Paris, New York, New Zealand, and elsewhere. She has now returned to Japan and opened the Grace Academy of Art in Tokyo, offering drawing and painting courses, art therapy, art counseling, and art events for children.