There are many different drawing methods to learn, especially if you're just starting out. But if you want to improve your sketching talents, keeping a supply of all the essential supplies is insufficient. Utilizing the best drawing manuals will help you achieve your objectives more quickly and excel in all of your next tasks. If you're a beginner, you should take inspiration and examples from books authored by experienced artists who have had great success developing various drawing concepts throughout the years.
Best Books for Learning to Draw for Novices
We took the time to look at the top beginner drawing instruction books, and we identified 10 of them—each having a unique set of methods that would shorten the learning curve. Here is a list of the books we think you should read, along with some highlights of the value each one adds.
1. Best for Concepts: Perspective Made Easy (Dover Art Instruction)
It sometimes seems that concept drawing is only the domain of highly trained experts like architects, interior designers, and engineers. But it couldn't be further from the truth. A notable book called "Perspective Made Easy" dispels the myth that drawing concepts is difficult, especially for beginners. You will study the fundamentals of honing your viewpoint on ideas because concepts are all about perspective.
Regardless of your level of concept experience, this book is more like a primer on three-dimensional drawings and bolters your study of design ideas. Additionally, you'll discover how succinct you must be while adding objects and diagrams to drawings.
2. Best for Travel Sketching: The Urban Sketcher—Techniques for Seeing & Drawing on Location
Is taking so many pictures starting to seem a little boring? Travel drawing could be able to fill the gap. And this book is at the top of the list for using travel sketching to record adventures. Why? Because it includes detailed instructions on how to create several types of suggestive drawings using a pencil, watercolor, pen, paint, and paper.
If you wish to work with a high degree of precision on all your projects, there are many professional viewpoints on the dos and don'ts of travel sketching. This book will provide you tips on the specific aspects to sketch, depending on what you'll find fascinating, if you're unsure, for example, about the type of terrain to focus on, whether it mountains, plateaus, or coastline lines.
3. Best for Real Objects: How to Draw What You See
On the surface, adjusting angles when illustrating actual things could appear to be a difficult chore for a novice. "How to Draw What You See" by De Rayna aims to provide artists with foolproof techniques for capturing what they see in their surroundings on paper. This book goes further than the conventional line drawings you would see in other publications that merely cover the basics. Additionally, it includes a practical orientation on how to develop perspective on modern drawing concepts and take inspiration from the environment.
This is the book to use if you want to brush up on your sketching abilities and stay on top of cutting-edge designs that look difficult to depict. This book is a famous collection that gives actual knowledge on how to draw real objects that you see in real life, despite the fact that it was first published in the early 1970s.
4. Best for Fantasies: Dragonart—How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures
Since it explores thrilling mystical and magical themes, this category is a perennial popularity among children. You should set aside some time to master the principles of depicting the fantasy world if you want to build a mythological beast. Since all you need is an ink pen and some good pencils, it's also not too complicated.
This book has all the variables you need to implement, depending on the emotion you want your monster to express—disgust, fury, sadness, terror, or surprise—so your fantasy drawings can accurately capture the desired atmosphere in a fairy tale style. Every artwork in this book is easily understood by a fifth-grader and allows the reader to combine several concepts to create inventive figures through fantasy drawings.
5. Best for Realistic Drawing: Figure Drawing—Design & Invention
This book will provide you with the technical details of what to put in a figure, regardless of whether you want to pursue drawing as a pastime or want to improve your skill in gesture drawings. You'll also pick up some tips on how to improve your artistic abilities, particularly if you want to make realistic drawing your field of choice for employment.
After finishing this manual, you should be able to draw figures from your imagination with reasonable accuracy. The approach to anatomical drawings in this book is another interesting feature. The reader learns the best methods for depicting the human body without omitting crucial details that would betray the intended gesture.
6. Best for Versatile Drawing Skills: A Foundation Course in Versatile Drawing by Peter Stayner
Although this book contains extensive background information on landscape and abstract drawing, it is still a brilliant work of art for students or experienced artists who want to advance their drawing abilities by learning about a variety of techniques, including both traditional and cutting-edge ones. You could use the activities and other materials found in each chapter as a resource for upcoming projects.
These components will enlighten you on how to fancifully shape, draw, and brighten your works. Along with developing these adaptable skills, you also get to develop creative ideas and make them manifest through drawings. Most importantly, there is a chapter in this book with extensive research on best practices for making drawing systems easier to understand.
7. Best for Animation Sketches: The Sketchbook of Loish—Art in Progress
It may seem like an expensive proposition to create animation sketches on expensive equipment. You won't need to spend any money on a graphics tablet or a stylus pen to learn how to draw in this style. The Sketchbook of Loish is a manual for learning how to use animation to convey a concept or feeling. It features tutorials that have compiled valuable advice on the entire process of creating an animation.
After reading this book, you'll have a better understanding of the many shading techniques, line and brushwork, and how to transform your idea into a commanding work of art. Lois has a strong portfolio, and her work as a digital artist serves as a great source of inspiration for newcomers who want to understand everything there is to know about animation sketches.
8. Best for Exercises: Drawing for the Absolute Beginner—A Clear & Easy Guide to Successful Drawing
A little trial and error is necessary, particularly if you want to improve your drawing abilities. Setting aside some time to complete a lot of activities would be the best way to reduce the learning curve. A guide to understanding the cues that build value and make drawings appear much more realistic is provided in the book "Drawing for the Absolute Beginner."
This book is a must-have if you want to get inspired by the 24 mini-demo projects, each of which includes a step-by-step tutorial, and learn simple techniques like the proper materials needed for various types of drawings. You'll begin with easy tasks like drawing pets and coffee mugs before developing your abilities and perfecting the talent of drawing breathtaking portraits and outdoor scenes like landscapes.
9. Best for Basics: Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson
Learning the fundamentals is the first step to becoming a proficient drawer. And this book concentrates on just what a beginner needs to know. Along with the fundamental processes outlined in this book, you'll have access to a ton of activities that will help you go a step closer to understanding which creativity tips, depending on the project you're working on, you want to use.
If you want to understand the fundamentals of organizing sketches, focusing razor-sharply on minute details, and outlining the key components of a design, this is one of the most helpful publications. If you wish to bridge the gap between beginner and intermediate level, think of this book as a 101 tutorial.
10. Editor’s Choice: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
You should purchase this updated edition if you wish to learn the fundamentals of drawing using traditional points. Betty Edwards, an experienced artist or someone learning the fundamentals, explains how to maximize your artistic potential in her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." This book is still an excellent option compared to the majority of others on the market for instruction on sketching techniques using simple-to-follow examples.
In this book, Betty makes an effort to reveal the brain's capacity to derive value from environmentally friendly concepts and transform them into imaginative illustrations. Therefore, if you enjoy reading and can derive creative drawing inspiration from the context concealed in drawings, you're likely to find this book to be helpful.
