Share your favorite art books!

[Rinzy]

Really, I'm the only Bridman fan here? Aww, shucks. Here are some of the books I've used for classes or bought on my own that I really enjoyed:

Constructive Anatomy
Book of a Hundred Hands
Heads Features and Faces

And not by Bridgman:

How to Draw the Human Figure: An Anatomical Approach, y Louise Gordon

That's all I've got for now that haven't been mentioned already, though.

[QT Melon]

Not at all! You have not even seen a quarter of my collection of books. If you go to my Weasyl account I have a folder that should have a lot of Bridgman studies.

I highly recommend buying the small individual books rather than that big one that compiled some of his books together. It left out quite a bit of info.

His best book is the green Life Drawing one. I highly recommended reading that one before Constructive Anatomy.

[SirCoffeecup]

[insanejoker]

Are there any books that help with background painting and approaches?

I see the Color and Light book listed a few times here and mentioned often. Would this help with that? I feel like I'm walking blind every time I try to tackle this and it's extremely frustrating sometimes.

[QT Melon]

Do you mean painting? Landscapes? Scenes? When you say backgrounds, you're trying to think of it as a separate object which may be the first problem. You need to think of a scene presenting a story. That makes you realize you have to work your elements together.

James Gurney Imaginative Realism
Mastering Composition

[insanejoker]

Do you mean painting? Landscapes? Scenes? When you say backgrounds, you're trying to think of it as a separate object which may be the first problem. You need to think of a scene presenting a story. That makes you realize you have to work your elements together.

James Gurney Imaginative Realism
Mastering Composition

Sorry - yes, painting scenes and landscapes. Wrong terms on my part. It's more getting all that detail in there and how to get it without painting every crack or leaf by hand. I'm getting better at trees (I do know that you don't actually paint each leaf individually and whatnot). And yes, I think you're right - I am probably thinking too much of it as a separate element. I am trying to remedy that right now.

I will look into those books! Thank you!

[Sergsune]

[Sassafras]

I like Joseph D'Amelio's Perspective Drawing Handbook. Loomis is good. Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less is a good one for the absolute beginner, I think.

[rbartrop]

[Crulton]

I am a new one to here. I hope that I can be friends with all of you. I'd like to share things with all of you and welcome you to share things with me. I'm interested in various things, such as painting, landscapes and so on.