These are some of the absolute bestest drawing books I have ever encountered – all long out of print, and now, thanks to the magic of the interwebs, available for you to download and peruse at your convenience!
- Harold Speed: The mind bomb! “There are no short cuts to excellence…” Speed tells it like it is. Still probably the best single introduction to what drawing is really all about, almost 100 years later. Read it!
- Andrew Loomis: Loomis is incredible – probably the best drawing teacher I ever encountered. Take the time to read his introductions and thoughts as well as studying his information-packed illustrations, he has a lot of good stuff to say about the correct mental approach to drawing and to learning. Do draw as well as just skimming through these – not copying but applying the principles to your own drawings. Guaranteed worth every minute.
- Creative Illustration: Meaty stuff on composition, line, tone, colour etc and a bunch of specific advice on commercial illustration.
- Drawing the Head and the Hands: Solid construction of the head – invaluable!
- Eye of the Painter: Composition etc with examples from a variety of painters.
- Figure Drawing for all it’s Worth: Proportion and anatomy of the figure.
- Fun with a Pencil: Solid construction of heads and bodies – examples in a cartoon style but very applicable to all styles of drawing.
- Successful Drawing: Composition, light and shadow, and perspective in some detail.
- Gottfried Bammes: Wonderful book with buckets of information about anatomy, particularly nice as it deals with the body in motion, how joints work etc… In german (but still worth it for the illustrations).
