Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces

I’ve always tried to draw realistic but just couldn’t get it. This book helped me passed that block. The step by step instructions are easy to understand and follow that in no time ar all I was drawing realistic faces. It was very gratifying to finally tackled it.

Most of the drawing books I've come across are flamboyantly decorated, promising you the ability to produce similar images - "Picture perfect techniques". As encouraging as that may seem they usually set a bar that isn't met and leaves much to be desired. Hands down this is the best instructional book I've found. It's easy to comprehend, giving practice exercises simple instructions and usually a step by step for understanding the dynamics of what you're drawing, not just reproducing the picture in front of you. Incorporating the information given to my own art from this book has improved the end product drastically.. One of the best artistic investments I've made honestly. If you're patient, open minded, and objective about your own work with practice I truly feel this would be extremely beneficial. It breaks down common misperceptions when drawing and offers new sight to actually see what it is you want to mimic while giving you the necessary tools to do so. I strongly recommend if you're serious about it to invest in high quality pencils, paper and erasers (kneaded erasers are magical) all of which is covered in the book as well.

I read most of the reviews and comments here before purchasing this book from Amazon. I have alot of drawing books. None of them are probably perfect and I'm sure there is always something someone can say to criticize anything. HOWEVER, I think the drawings in the books provide good examples for the lessons and points being taught. Perhaps the "haters" are referring to the drawings in the first couple of chapters showing student's before and after pictures. Some are done by kids. Yes, I think the pictures in Lee Hammond's "How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs" are a little better, but not by much. Anyway, the book is well organized and easy to follow. I like it. If you draw for enjoyment, this is a great book for your library. It is one of my favorites. I also have Walter Foster books; books by Lee Hammond, Bert Dodson, Jack Hamm, J. D. Hillberry, and Joseph Sheppard among others. I don't HATE or REGRET getting any of them.

This is probably one of my favorite drawing books. The author has a lot of useful information, advice, and examples for the budding artist that is interested in advancing to more realistic drawings. My best advancements in drawing have come from this book. The one thing that I will say I do not like about this text is that the author often relies too heavily on tools. Within the first few chapters, she suggests that the artist needs the latest and greatest contraptions to order create work that looks good. While there is a kernel of truth to this, I fear that many serious students or hobbyists have mistakenly spent unnecessary money on things they don't need for a demonstration of their commitment. Good heavy paper, a set of drawing pencils, a reliable sharpener, and maybe some Q-tips are all that I would suggest is really necessary to create work like the stuff you see on the cover.

This is a great text. I am 73 and have re-entered the skill of drawing which I left 40 plus years ago. It has taught me more about drawing the human face realistically than my four years spent in an accredited University for Art Education. The professors?? critiques your work but never taught a skill. When I graduated my knowledge and skills were no better than the day I entered. This book has provided so much solid information. I have to mention also the Charles Bargue materials I have found on line to be very helpful, especially dealing with measurement which i am coming to realize is so very vital to making an accurate drawing. I have two books now by Carrie S. Parks and they are simply escellent books for reference. I must include that these books are not the end all of information. I definitely recommend this text if you are hunting for information of portrait drawing.

Originally got it for myself and my son, but when he decided people weren’t fun to draw, I gave it to a friend who enjoyed it. Bought another one on Amazon for another friends daughter. I like that it’s clean so parents don’t have to worry about nudity or inappropriateness. My friends daughter uses it a lot now, and I like that it teaches you not to just make solid lines and has simple instructions

This book is meant for artist (or artist to-be) that wants to draw from photo. It offers really good tricks to draw face proportions (e.g. using piece of paper to measure the face's portion, using grid to draw, etc). But it doesn't offer much trick to draw portrait from real life figure (other than using a pencil tip to measure..but I really wonder if that's what other artist doing), and doesn't include how to draw faces from your imagination / memories (constructive) as well. The book basically teaches drawing for each part of face (nose, eyes, hair, etc). The thing that I like is how to shade the pictures (to create volume / 3D effect. Without it, the pictures look very ugly / cartoon-like).

I have several books on head drawing. Each is good, each in a different way. The virtue of this particular book is its clear, concise, straightforward organization. The author--a police sketch artist--does not overwhelm you with details; everything has a specific purpose. I bought this book as the required text for my community college class. Our instructor originally planned not to assign any text, simply to make a few recommendations. Then she discovered this book and was sufficiently impressed that she chose to require it. She made a good choice.

This book has some very useful tips for beginners in drawing. But I wouldn't want to implement some of the tips into my drawings, as they are just not realistic. For example: "Seek round objects in your subject". It leads to blob-like shading, unnaturally smooth and with unrealistic highlights, as if a face was made of aluminum, not skin. Paper white should not appear on skin areas. Also I'd like to say that edges between shapes - such as iris and eye balls - should not be as hard as in the drawings of this book. It makes them look like stickers. We see things with two eyes and a focus distance, so that most edges we see are more or less blurred in our vision.

The book was delivered quickly. I would consider it to be in “very good” condition, better than I has expected. Looks like it was barely read! The book content is very helpful and full of great information/instruction.

It is more than my expectations It is perfect for beginners It gives examples for how to draw shading for eyes,nose,lips,ears,face,hair and body

This book was just what I was looking for. It's condition is excellent and I'm very pleased with it. The book is instructive and the author is clearly an expert artist. I've enjoyed looking at the book and learning new techniques.

Contiene alcuni consigli che potrebbero essere utili ad un primo approccio al disegno. Tuttavia alcuni di essi lasciano perplessi: primo tra tutti quello che mostra le pupille disegnate con un cerchiometro. Alcuni disegni, nell'intenzione di essere realistici, assumono un aspetto "metallizzato" irreale. Se sapete già cos'è un ritratto scegliete altro.