art books

nomichi

Hi I'm just looking for suggestions on a couple art books. If anyone can suggest anything that would be great. So far I'm thinking about these two, as they are inexpensive.

Perspective Drawing Handbook

Is this a good book on perspective? Any other suggestions?

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life

I also looked at the Vilppu Drawing Manual but that is more expensive than Bridgemans. Anyone compare the two?

I probably need a book on color theory but I'm not sure about those. Any recommendations on anything would be great. Preferably on the low end price.

My goal is to draw on paper and color on the pc. So anything that would suit that. I'm not so great at drawing with my tiny wacom. Maybe when I get a bigger one I will have better results...

Joao Sapiro

id take a look at a lot of impressionist paintings too

nomichi

ok, no book recommendations?

Joao Sapiro

well i dont see the point of buying a book since theres tons of content on the internet , there was this guy that made 178 drawing lessons , id buy the dvd personally , surf the net for impressionist , realism , hyper realism , study theyr technique and apply to painting.

MoP

Bridgman is very good, I also like Civardi's drawings, although his text tends to be a bit more convoluted, and the muscles aren't described as well as in Bridgman.
A lot of people like Hogarth, but I'm not a fan of the way he draws anatomy (all exaggerated and bubbly, looks weird to me).
Loomis' figure drawing and illustration books can occasionally be found on EBay, that's where I got mine, they're a vital resource IMHO.

Of course, if you can afford it, the more good books you can get your hands on, the better
I would rather have Bridgman, Loomis and Hogarth (which I do!) than just being told one of them is better and sticking with that. The widest input can create a more diverse output.

Mark Dygert

You can find/view some of the Loomis books HERE. I would highly recommend them.

As for color theory I would hit the interweb and read a few. Also look up light theory. Really it starts to get subdivided into very specific categories pretty quick and its easier to make recommendations about books if you can narrow down what it is you are looking to do, be it character art, level design, traditional 2D art? Quite a few painting tutorials go over some of the basics as they explain how to do various things.

These are some pretty good free tutorials about painting;
http://www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials

nomichi

[ QUOTE ]
well i dont see the point of buying a book since theres tons of content on the internet , there was this guy that made 178 drawing lessons , id buy the dvd personally , surf the net for impressionist , realism , hyper realism , study theyr technique and apply to painting.

[/ QUOTE ]

I want to work away from the computer at my table so I would like a good book to study. I do browse the net for any interesting tutorials. I think I need to get a better grasp on the fundamentals before I can really look at other's work properly. At my current skill level it's probably not gonna help much .

@Mop:

I think I'll go ahead and get the bridgeman book. I have some hogarth and I'm not really liking his methods. They just don't seem to suit me. I remember other books I read growing up which seemed to work better for me, that may be why Hogarth isn't sitting well also. I have a couple of the Loomis books as e-books that I found somewhere online a while back. I think I still have them anyway...

As for perspective, should I try to learn that first or after or at the same time? I wish I had the time and money for proper art lessons

MoP

"How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way" has some cool tips and techniques for drawing in perspective, also for character design. I like the book although it's rather simple compared to Loomis etc, it still has its place, teaches different aspects of art.

Loomis' "Creative Illustration" has a very good section on perspective, not to mention composition and colour theory.
I think it's a good idea to study perspective alongside other aspects, that way you can learn to work on a character in an environment and apply correct perspective to the whole scene, rather than drawing characters and objects in a void.

Mark Dygert

One book I forgot to mention that sounds like it might be good for you, is "Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy" by Christopher Hart, for being as cheap as it is, its well worth it. While I don't think he get everything 100% right (I'm just a picky art snob) its a good book and gives you some great rules for anatomy. I honestly think books like these mixed with the Andrew Loomis books later on can make ok artists much much better.

My mother (who was an art teacher) would pound you over the head with "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I've read it, and its a good read, but man she's one chatty B. Her editor could have cut the book in half and still gotten the point across.

nomichi

Thanks MoP, I think I've seen that Marvel book before. I'll look for it again.

@Vig:

Sorry I didn't see your first post. Must of posted right before my last post. I'll look into the anatomy book you suggested. I've glanced at Drawing on the right side of the brain but never read it. Maybe I'll see if the library has it if you think it's worth working through.

edit: I am most interested in character art btw.

EarthQuake

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Human-Head...TF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Ex...TF8&s=books

Rhinokey

i agree while how to draw comics the marvel well is pretty basic, it is also verry usefull. its the first drawing book i "really" paid attention to, and the one that i feel helped me the most, i actualy recomended it to my girlfriend yesterday (she teaches gradeschool art) for a good book to put in her class

MoP

I would steer clear of Hogarth for actual anatomy and body structure, but his books have some great tips for achieving depth to drawings, and also some rather interesting techniques for creating "flow" in a figure (some rules for which way limb segments curve based on their position, for example), which I found helped me quite a lot.
I really don't like his drawing style though, and a lot of people I've seen who relied mainly on Hogarth for learning to draw, end up just reproducing Hogarth's style rather than creating their own fusion of ideas by studying many sources.

nomichi

I went ahead and ordered Bridgeman's and Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy. I found a copy of Perspective Made Easy that I thought I had lost, anyone used that one?. Hopefully that will be good enough to start with.

Thanks everyone.

Pingpang

edit: Agreed what you guys say on Hogarth, not meant to emulate style. Its just a good reference and helps visualize volumes as it relates to 3d modeling.

This guy has good books
http://www.campusi.com/author_Burne_Hogarth.htm

fritz

i have to agree with MoP on this one. hogarth is good for knowing what muscle goes where...but peeps that follow his books and his books only start reproducing it. if you choose to use his books heavily, just make sure you mix things up...try things...do some self-portraits...study multiple resources on the internet...stand in front of the mirror and study. it helps.

nomichi

right, like I said before, Hogarth wasn't sitting well with me. Maybe after I study work by other authors then the Hogarth will become a good supplement. Wish me luck