Very versatile book with different kinds of drawings. You learn the history of art, artists and the technique. The information is presented in a way that provides relief with different kinds of pictures.

I think this is a good companion for someone just getting interested in drawing. It introduces the reader to the fundamentals. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one.

very very nice book, full of helpfull tips

EXCELLENT resource. I found so much to draw from for my own novice practice. Bravo!

As a mixed media artist, im constantly researching and reading books on all forms of art.

I love how "foundations of Drawing" is well informative, yet easy to read, covering the history of drawing, how it was used by famous artists, how it has changed, and what materials were used and how we use them today. I also really liked the artwork included in the book.

I picked up <i>Foundations of Drawing</i> because I've always enjoyed casual doodling and am always interested in opportunites to improve my techniques. <i>Foundations</i> is a gorgeous book, with carefully chosen illustrations at least every other page. However, don't go into the book looking to learn basic drawing skills or improve your techniques. At its core, I think this is more of an art history/ art appreciation book. Only the last twenty pages or so, which are very high-level "walkthroughs" of still lives, portraits, figure studies, etc, were much in the direction of artistic instruction. The majority of the book delves deeply into the history of different materials and techniques as well as discussing various artistic schools and styles. While I didn't really learn anything to improve my art, I did learn a lot, from new artistic terms such as <i>sfumato</i> to the effects of different papers and brush materials. If you're interested in the history and logistics of art, or if you want a coffee table book full of gorgeous and thoughtfully-chosen artwork, then <i>Foundations of Drawing</i> may be worth a look.

~3.5

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Typically when I choose a drawing book I am looking for tips on how to improve my drawing and practice ideas. However I was pleasantly surprised by the historical information this book provided. I learned a lot of interesting facts I was not aware of. The book contained wide variety of full color reproductions of art work.
The book does go into detail on the technical aspect of drawing. Explaining different techniques and proving tips. However, I would have liked more step by step illustrations to practice on your own. I am a beginner so I was only able to complete two lessons.
There is a lot of knowledge to be gained from reading this book. The artwork displayed is very enjoyable. The detailed description of drawing tools is helpful for the beginner. But the technical drawing instructions are geared more towards the experienced artist.

Drawing from the basics of human figure drawing.......

Foundations of Drawing: The Complete Guide to the Techniques, Practice, Tools, and History by Al Gury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So as folks may or may not know, I consider myself primarily a painter by profession, and a reader by nature. So when a lovely pile of art books popped up in my reviewers queue, I felt obligated to take a look see.

The first thing to know, is that one should not attempt to read art books in EPub format. Normally I have the love, but these heavily illustrated books need to be either PDF or better still, hard-copy. To be fair, books like these are meant to be references and textbooks, so expecting them to be in paper format isn't unreasonable, and is probably still the easiest way to use them as intended.

"Foundations of Drawing" is a clear attempt at being a comprehensive text/reference book, and in that it works, including sections on composition and anatomy. This is however the type of text that will be more suited to classroom use than as a resource for self-learning. The the text is dense and wordy, but again, this is not unusual for a textbook aimed at mature users.

However, as a self-study course, this text many be too dry, the explanations too esoteric, particularly to younger users intent on diving into the creative pool with all speed. The language is formal, almost stilted, and information is delivered in chunks a little bigger than I find comfortable.

Overall, this really is a comprehensive text, but it needs the backup of an instructor and peer discussion to really get the most out of it.

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I am giving this 5 stars and cannot wait until it is officially published so I can buy a copy to give to the 2 art teachers at our town schools as well as my artist friends. I LOVED the history, the techniques and the museum tour quality of the photos. I will go back to this book over and over because it feels like a teacher, just with a lot of pages :) Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to have the chance to review this book.

I can't draw but I really enjoy this book, I learn a lot of new information about art history, tools, composition, and techniques. Al Gury's explanations are clear and easy to understand. I never read of Al Gury's books, but I found this book quite useful and detail. I will definitely check his other books because I learned so much from his book!

Foundations of drawing is exactly what you'll expect from it, introduces the reader to drawing while offering a systematic view of this big theme. After the reassuring words that anyone can learn to draw, it runs through the history of drawing from prehistory to our time, then passes to the description of the materials, the furniture of the studio, the presentation and storage issues, the techniques and elements of drawing. Follows the description of the esthetics of the various styles and finally offers elementary tutorials for drawing the various subjects, from still life to figure and portrait drawing. If you are serious about drawing you'll need much more but this volume is very comprehensive and complete starting point. The book is richly illustrated with classic and contemporary drawings in various styles and techniques, including the author own work. Highly recommended for beginner artists.

Fantastic and intresting book! Instead of the common how to draw books, this book goes deeper and was like taking a intro to drawing class where you really learn all the foundation skills and knowledge to take drawing seriously... though this is much more through than the intro to drawing classes I have taken. It covers: History, eras and styles; Materials and mediums-history of, types, uses; Elements of drawing and essential drawing skills, holding, measuring/sizing, methods, types of line, space, perspective, shading, value, texture, planes, position and drawing from photographs, and Content- asthetics, classicism, realism, abstract, architectural, portraits, human forms, and animals. It is really so very intresting to read if you have any interest in drawing or art at all. Could be used as a textbook but also is just informative for your average person as well. Enjoy!

This is an excellent book. The illustrations are amazing and so varied and the information and instruction provided has great depth. Many drawing manuals skim over the details but this was one does not. I found it thoroughly engaging. You could feel the passion of the author oozing through the pages. A wonderful book and I would definitely want to own a hard copy. Many thanks

I found this book appealing and informative, with just the right number of images. Many of the drawings included are beautiful and inspiring as examples, too. The text of the book serves as a great sample of technical and instructive writing for technical writing courses, also.