Art is a very subjective, personal thing. What is art to one is static to another. However, Betty Edwards never claims to make the reader into a Degas or a Botticelli, or even a Salvador Dali. Her focus is simply: drawing is not about what the hand is doing with the pencil, it's about seeing and letting the whole experience take you into that spacial/perceptual mode that we've been criticized out of as children, with net effect of artistic arrest.

I never fancied myself as an artist. However, I've always wanted to draw recognizable objects and people. With this book I've been able to do exactly that.
Additionally, I've discovered an aspect of myself that I now let myself go into when working in Blender 3D, and that has actually even helped me in my career as cath-lab nurse, when you stare at a fleeting 2D image of a coronary artery tree and deduce that third dimension.

It's an interesting read even if you've no desire to learn to draw – I'm sure you can find it at your local library. You might find that you'll want your own copy, however. Compelling stuff.

I couldn't understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting

its only a metaphor and it's used to take you away from our common view of the world that we tend to simplify and abstract for the everyday life task.

It just helps us to "change our point of view" on things, rediscover them and rediscover the act of drawing…

Specialy when drawing human faces, we tend (by instinct, it's not "realy" controllable) to interpret them first by it's expression and emotions it make us feel, rather than "seeing it as a thing" that we can draw. The method for ex. of turning the image upside down take the expression away from our primitive brain analyse and let us draw the lines we see …

It's a Classic nowadays in art cursus … I'm amased that so many just discover it today . (but late is far better than never ;p )

- I know that there is still a long way before I’ll be able to draw from my imagination, but the book has already brought me the clue and the confidence for this work. -

Well, I wanted to say "the urge" instead of "the clue", but it can make sense also (I hope!):o).

Philippe.

I still require a lot of practice, but the book acted as a catalyst that boosted my drawing skill. I couldn’t be more grateful for it!

This is exactly what I think, and I have purchased the book only after I discovered it on this blog.

I have only read less than the half of the pages, but tha book has already acted like a detonator, blasting my fear about drawing.

If you have visited my site, you may have discovered some watercolours. They are all showing landscapes because I have never been able to draw human faces!

Few hours after reading the first page of the book of Betty Edwards, I have made my first self portrait in which I can recognize myself that I have ever drawn!

I have understood that I was looking to humans in a different way than I was looking to landscapes.

Maybe because they are open volumes, I was looking to landscape as a whole.

On the opposite, in my attempts of drawing humans beings, I was focusing on details and drawing symbols instead ofd drawing
reality !

I know that there is still a long way before I'll be able to draw from my imagination, but the book has already brought me the clue and the confidence for this work.

Philippe.

Your thoughts about drawing are very touching. I don't think such attitude has existed in world of art for hundreds of years. Naturally admirers of fine art have always thought that "it's all talent" as it makes their own lack of skill and interest easier to cope with.
But drawing is very much a technique, what to draw is not. Nor are are style and taste. And those come both before and after learning drawing.

As drawing is most important tool for visual artist it is teached. How people then use this technique is up to them. Some use it to convey their idea to a group. Some only draw elves with boobs and swords. Some do illustrations. Some do fine art, but they all must handle the same basics.
Some very talented artists did learn those basics at very young age, and only their final style is remembered or referred to. Like Picasso who got his formal art teaching from his father – before he went modern he knew traditional drawing and painting inside-out.

I haven't read the book, but the point "oto" had was quite true, the pictures are not great. In some cases the "before" images are better. Results are very stiff, disproportioned faces with strange anatomy and even stranger line (some of them are so distorted they're interesting). Maybe it is useful, but:

If you want to learn drawing (pretty essential skill for artist), read Loomis. If Loomis is too complicated, draw little nested circles and straight lines. Try to do that with full hand motion and don't squeeze that pen. Repeat until comfortable. Practise loose lines. Don't dab with your line and quit being careful. NEVER USE ERASER! Draw whole subject with only one line. If the line goes wrong, draw another line upon it. Then do it under 1 minute, 30 seconds, 15 seconds and then in two seconds. Most of the stuff you do is born dead, learn from it and make a new one.
Then do all those by pinching the *END* of the pen between your thumb and forefinger and on bigger paper. This way you can't control the tip and you should gain some understanding about loose lines. Then read Loomis again and follow his advice. Make sure that you can handle previous chapter before going to the next one. Handling those proper basics will improve your technique vastly.

But if possible, figure drawing lessons either in art school or in public courses are invaluable. As is other art education, if teacher is good.

The more you draw, the better it will be. That won't happen if you give up.
btw, sculpting is very useful for 3d-modeling..

Betty Edwards' book may be good for motivation, but I see it as unsystematic "kickstart". It gives you a few tricks that boost you from zero to something – compared to zero, but very little in terms of real skill – then abandons you without a ckue and with a couple of vicious habits if you are unlucky.

@Ping!: well the review is some kind of true but i think the author of this review is missing two facts: first it doesn't really matter if it is really your left or right brain and she also says that really early after the thesis, she might be wrong there but she says she uses the left and right brain as a symbol. (and i think its more a psychological part for the reader that tries to cover the fact that you have very unsharp senses in the beginning that need to be sharpened)
second this book is not a book about techniques at all, its about to start and finding joy in drawing, she also sayes something like "if you can draw a head with practice then you can draw everything with practice and i show you that you are can draw a head!"

schools, teachers, books and all it's just a "system"….good or bad!?
Another long thread? :)