(Part 2) Best pencil drawing books according to redditors

Hi - thanks! Yes, this was drawn with an H and an HB and maybe a B pencil, I think.

Edit: Actually it was an H, HB but mainly done with a Dixon Primary #1 pencil.

I found a book called The Pencil by Paul Calle in the 7th grade and have been in love with his style ever since.

Here are some examples of his work as found on Google. His work is just beyond awesome – it's just so awesome, unbelievably great work.

I took a drawing class at a community college. Cost me $35 plus pencils and paper supplies. It gave instruction and a reason to spent the time and focus on learning. I'd recommend that as the primary strategy.

A big part of learning to draw is to learn "to see". Most people don't actually see what they look at but instead they let their brains tell them what their brain/memory presumes they are looking at, abstractly.

This is where/why you get amateurish child-like drawing that look horrible initially - your brain "knows (better)" superficially and overrides what's actually hitting your eyes. Then you draw this abstraction and it's always wrong and unrealistic looking. So you have to "unlearn" this way of seeing things to learn to draw.

There are a lot of books on this subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Techniques-Learning-Peter-Jenny/dp/1616890541

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-See-Draw-Larry-Wither/dp/B0013MELQS

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Artists-Brain-right-brain/dp/1440308446

These books can be helpful and are often used in drawing classes but the first thing is to start drawing.

One other hint I've learned: the #1 and #2 parts of the face you MUST get right (and in fact you can do only these two parts and create a recognizable portrait - of a Western person for a Western audience) are the shape and details of the eyes, and of the nose/mouth. It's different if you are in Asia (asian models) - then it's the outline of the head/hair and nose/mouth.

Check out the Full Metal Coloring book this artist did, it’s awesome! Full Metal Coloring Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533006733/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2MEXDb3ZNYWSZ

The key is just to practice a lot.

Go to an art store, buy a pencil set, some compressed charcoal, some newsprint, a kneaded eraser, a blending, and a drawing board.

I could never draw, but this semester I took a drawing class and I'm surprised with how much I've progressed.

The teacher never actually showed us how to draw anything. In class he would set up a still-life and we'd just draw it. He'd walk around giving us advice about how to think and how to see.

We used this book. For the first few weeks we practiced a technique known as gesture drawing.

To gesture draw: draw fast, draw energetically, don't edit, if you make a mistake then just draw over it--don't worry about erasing early on. Initially your drawings will probably be bad and you will feel a lot of frustration. To learn to draw you just have to accept that and keep moving.(several people in my class dropped because they couldn't handle how bad their drawings were. Had they stuck with it they probably would be much better now)

Also save all your work. I've saved all my work from this semester and it's surprising how far I progressed. My early drawings look like a child's scribbles while my final drawings are pretty good.

Kudos to you. I recommend a decent color art pencil set to go with that. I'm a big fan of giving kids stuff a bit advanced, she can grow into it, and she has the internet to look up things she doesn't understand. That book is a wonderful mix of science and art and not what I had in mind when I read coloring book. You could even round out a bit more of the art theme by getting her something like


http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Cool-Stuff-Illusions/dp/0692382518/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449870508&sr=1-2&keywords=art+instruction+books

This one is free on the kindle app.

Me-yow! My hobby is drawing and you can never have too many sketchbooks! You know, I tell people that every year and you wouldn't believe how many people think it's too lame to gift paper. Seriously, I LOVE getting paper! ^___^

There is Batman Unwrapped by Andy Kubert, Batman Unwrapped: Hush and also Batman Unwrapped: The Court of Owls. And David Finch also has a Batman Unwrapped coming out in the near future if I remember correctly as well.

There is also this covers book by Adam Hughs, though I have never seen it in person so I'm not sure how cool or not is is.

And the Alex Ross book that /u/ThomsYorkieBars mentions is called Rough Justice. This isn't the only Alex Ross book though, but it is his only DC centered book. He has another book about work he has done for Dynamite.

this comment

That right shoulder looks much better with the shading, it doesn't look like it's floating now - good on you for giving it go!

Keep track of your light source and always think of where on whatever you're shading that light will hit, and where it won't - this way you'll know where you highlights and shadows will be.

For a good introduction into shading I recommended reading the grpaphic novel 'The' Drawing Lesson' by Mark Crilley. It's a good starting foundation in the basics of drawing. His YouTube videos are quite good too.

I'd also recommend these channels and learning resources (I'm a novice myself) :

Mark Crilley - YouTube

• Mark has many videos and is a phenomenal artist, though many videos are How to Draw X-Thing, there are lots of tips along the way.
  https://www.youtube.com/user/markcrilley
  
  Draw with Jazza - YouTube
  
• Jazza's newer content isn't as good for learning from - it's mostly YouTube entertainment - but his older videos have a lot of great information in them.
  https://www.youtube.com/user/DrawWithJazza
  
  Alphonso Dunn - YouTube
  
• Alphonso's YouTube channel isn't as popular as the others I've linked above, but he is a great pen and ink artist and I love the way he teaches. I highly recommend his videos to help anyone get a better grasp on perspective and drawing 3D objects with depth.
  https://www.youtube.com/user/LighterNoteProd
  
  The Drawing Lesson - Book
  
• This is the grpaphic novel I mentioned above - the price is pretty good if you get the eBook version. Amazon has a web reader too, so you don't need a Kindle to get use out of it.
  https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Lesson-Graphic-Novel-Teaches/dp/0385346336
  
  Draw a Box - Online Drawing Lesson and excercises (free). See also r/ArtFundamentals )
  
• This website takes you through a number of fundamentals and sets exercises and homework to help you practice. You can submit your work to the Subreddit and the community will help by providing feedback. If you use this service for receiving feedback, don't forget to give back to the community where you can. But I recommended you learn to self critique and correct your work as well, it will help you improve more quickly.

One of the projects from this book which I can recommend https://www.amazon.com/50-Drawing-Projects-Step-Step/dp/0785832947

I have a book coming in a couple of days which I think will get me off to a good start. How To Sketch by Kerry Godsall.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Sketch-Exercise-Kerry-Godsall/dp/1479322237/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1468117116&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+sketch+kerry+godsall

From what I read of it it seems to be pretty straight forward and not too dialogue driven. I believe I can pick up a lot from it and I'll be buying the one by Liron Yanconsky in a couple of weeks.

I have These Pens which are under $5 with free shipping :)

Or This Colouring Book for less than $5 with shipping :)

Or many others in other wishlists haha! :)

Bonus: These are too cute!!