Favorite Art Books 13

Several years ago I reviewed How to Draw, an excellent text by Scott Roberson and Thomas Bertling as one of my favorite art books. That particular book provides absolutely solid information on how to draw most objects (not faces or figures) and how to do it in proportion and perspective. The book has the added advantage of allowing access to video content recorded during development of drawings for the book. In that review I highly recommended the book.

Since that post in 2015 I acquired the authors' companion text How to Render which was published in 2014. Like the previous book, this one is clearly written, well-organized, and provides excellent information. Its early chapters do provide a review of drawing in perspective but Roberson and Bertling recommend strongly that the reader first have a good working knowledge of those principles. While the reader will gain insight into many of the issues involved in rendering objects in space, knowing how to produce a believable and accurate drawing is fundamental. So this book is not as likely to be as useful to a very new artist.

Understanding three face lighting, from "How to Render"

The authors begin with a careful introduction to basics--types of light and shadows and how shadows are cast on all sorts of shapes. They provide a very brief review of principles of perspective, but again recommend mastering the content of their first book before going too deeply into this one. The middle chapters of the book provide excellent introductions to rendering all kinds of forms from the simple geometric forms everyone learns in school to much more complex shapes.

Although the book may seem to be aimed at digital artists, the authors make a strong case that one must learn with traditional materials first. "Not having the option to 'undo' necessitates pre-visualizing an image and improves the decision-making process." Accordingly, they show ways to render using graphite, markers, pastel, water media, and other media. Importantly, they are rightly adamant that it is practice that brings skill and judgement, regardless of the medium being used. That isn't to say that the authors slight digital means of rendering. In fact they devote considerable space to digital methods and certain programs, notably Sketchbook and Photoshop.

Examples of reflections from "How to Render"

One the most valuable section of the book for me deals with rendering reflective surfaces. They begin with very basic information about the interaction of light with solid objects then transition to the properties of reflections as related to the kind of surface encountered. The penultimate chapter deals with rendering all sorts of surfaces--metals, wood, glass, plastic, and many more.

This is a relatively advanced book for realist artists regardless of medium. In order to derive the most benefit from the book, I would recommend a thorough understanding of the authors' previous book, "How to Draw." Nonetheless, this book is highly recommended.

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Favorite Art Books 12
Favorite Art Books 11 (links to Parts 1-10)