Life Drawing in 15 Minutes by Jake Spicer

Life Drawing in 15 Minutes by Jake Spicer ISBN-13: 9781781576267 Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Ilex Press Released: Sept. 4, 2018

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Drawing expert Jake Spicer introduces you to life drawing. From understanding relationships and proportions and considering basic anatomy, to learning about mark-making and tonal values, Jake takes you through the process of drawing the most rewarding of subjects. With step-by-steps and techniques derived from his proven life-class methods, Jake gives you the skills to create beautiful life drawings quickly, successfully and, ultimately, in only 15 minutes.


My Review:
Life Drawing in 15 Minutes is about how to draw the human figure quickly during a live, life drawing session. While most life drawing is of the nude human figure, I liked that many of the drawings in the book were of clothed people drawing the model. Anyway, he briefly covered the basics--what is life drawing, possible tools and materials that you can use, how to best to position yourself at a live session, and such. At the end, he also talked about setting things up to hold your own life drawing session.

He mainly talked about different ways of seeing the figure (outline, tones, etc.) and some methods for quickly getting the human figure on the paper and in the correct proportions. If you have trouble with the traditional "stick figure first" approach, then you might find his methods easier. I find the idea of marking the outer boundaries and "carving away" to create the correct human proportions and pose to be much easier. He suggested some exercises to prepare for a session and went through the steps for drawing a pose that is held, for example, for 15 minutes. He also focused on the details of several body parts and gave tips for things like foreshortening.

The instructions were easy to understand (even, I think, for non-artists), and he was always encouraging. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their skill at drawing the human figure.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Nature Instinct by Tristan Gooley

The Nature Instinct by Tristan Gooley ISBN-13: 9781615194797 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: The Experiment Released: Nov. 20, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Master outdoorsman Tristan Gooley has long encouraged his readers to look closely at the world to discover its hidden clues. Through careful cultivation of our senses, we can use the Big Dipper to tell time, for example, and a budding flower to find south. In The Nature Instinct, we learn how to train ourselves through slow observation so that, ultimately, we can intuit the inner workings of the world around us without having to stop to think about it. Discover how Gooley and other expert observers—from hunters in the English countryside to the Pygmy people in the African Congo—have recovered this lost sixth sense that unlocks a subconscious, deeper understanding of our surroundings.


My Review:
The Nature Instinct is about how the author learned to be more aware of nature, especially about how animals act. He started each short chapter by describing a time when he observed a certain thing or used a skill. In the case of learning to navigate by using the sun or stars or becoming more aware of the wind direction, he described how the reader can learn to do this (even if you don't live in England). In the chapters about animal behavior, he talked about how certain animals--mostly wild animals--act and why.

I had thought the book would be more about practical skills rather than things like how to anticipate which tree a squirrel will run up when it feels threatened. It seemed like most of the book was either about anticipating animal behavior or why we should take the time to closely observe nature. I already enjoy observing nature, and it felt like the book was more trying to intrigue and educate people who normally don't spend much time doing so.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Art Studio: Faces & Features by Walter Foster Creative Team

Art Studio: Faces & Features by Walter Foster Creative Team ISBN-13: 9781633226432 Paperback: 114 pages Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing Released: Nov. 6, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Drawing and painting heads, faces, and expressions can be an intimidating prospect for a beginning artist. Art Studio: Faces & Features is here to help with more than 50 tips, techniques, and step-by-step projects. This intuitive guide shows you how to work with graphite and colored pencils; acrylic, oil, and watercolor paints; pastel. This range of mediums is the perfect way to experiment, build artistic confidence, and define your own unique style. The Art Studio series is designed to give an overview of each art medium to help beginning artists delve into fine art and determine which media they like the best.


My Review:
Art Studio: Faces & Features explorers drawing human faces in graphite pencil, oil and acrylic, watercolor, and pastel. They started by talking about the tools, materials, and techniques used in different mediums (though this is more a definition of terms than teaching a beginner how to use the medium). Since so many mediums are covered, none are talked about in depth. They then talked about facial anatomy, proportions, and how to draw the various features on the face. There were many tips about common errors that would be useful for anyone having trouble making realistic faces.

They then gave step-by-step demonstrations of drawing several portraits in each medium (graphite, oil and acrylic, watercolor, and pastel) and included many different types of faces (baby, child, adult, old, male, female, plus different skin tones and hair types). The instructions were basically what colors the artist used and what order they did the features. The graphite pencil section was the most useful, in my opinion. They did provide some tips specific to drawing portraits in each medium. This book would probably be most useful to an artist who is interested in drawing portraits but who has not yet settled on a medium that they prefer.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Atlas of Disease by Sandra Hempel

The Atlas of Disease by Sandra Hempel ISBN-13: 9781781317907 Hardback: 224 pages Publisher: White Lion Publishing Released: Oct. 30, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Behind every disease is a story, a complex narrative woven of multiple threads, from the natural history of the disease, to the tale of its discovery and its place in history.


My Review:
The Atlas of Disease explores major diseases and epidemics. The author looked at diphtheria, influenza, leprosy, measles, scarlet fever, SARS, smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, plague, typhus, yellow fever, Zika, polio, Ebola, AIDS, and syphilis. She talked about the history of the disease, including quotes from historical people talking about what the disease was like during normal, local appearances or during epidemics or in perhaps the first recorded mentions of a disease. She talked about what may have caused a disease to turn into an epidemic (like war, trade, etc.) and also where the disease is currently still a problem.

While adequate, I had expected more maps and more detailed maps in an atlas. There was usually one or two maps per disease, showing things like the spread of the disease during a certain outbreak. They were usually either color-coded chunks on a map or color-coded arrows indicating the general spread of the disease. While the author did talk about how maps were used to identify the source of the cholera during an epidemic, maps were not the focus of the text but illustrations of what was stated in the text. I found the information about how the diseases were treated and viewed in the past and the present to be interesting.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

What Would Mrs. Astor Do? by Cecelia Tichi

What Would Mrs. Astor Do? by Cecelia Tichi ISBN-13: 9781479826858 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: NYU Press Released: Nov. 6, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Mark Twain called it the Gilded Age. Between 1870 and 1900, the United States’ population doubled, accompanied by an unparalleled industrial expansion, and an explosion of wealth unlike any the world had ever seen. America was the foremost nation of the world, and New York City was its beating heart. There, the richest and most influential became icons, whose comings and goings were breathlessly reported in the papers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

As the Old Money titans found themselves besieged by a vanguard of New Money interlopers, Mrs. Astor, an Old Money heiress, dictated proper behavior and demeanor, men’s and women’s codes of dress, acceptable patterns of speech and movements of the body, and what and when to eat and drink. An invitation to her annual ball was a golden ticket into the ranks of New York’s upper crust.

This work serves as a guide to manners as well as everything from the perfect table setting to the array of outfits the elite wore at the time. Cecelia Tichi paints a portrait of New York’s social elite, from the schools to which they sent their children, to their lavish mansions and even their reactions to the political and personal scandals of the day.


My Review:
What Would Mrs. Astor Do? talked about upper class society in New York during the 1870 to 1900 period. The author provided brief biographies of the people who set the trends (like Mrs. Astor), quoted people who lived during that period talking about what it was like, quoted etiquette manuals as to proper behavior (for dining, funerals, etc.), and quoted magazine or newspaper articles talking about what the fashionable set wore or did. She also talked about how people reacted to new inventions, like electricity and telephones, or new trends, like eating lobsters or department stores.

Some of the topics covered were: fashionable house furnishing, lady's department stores, where men got their clothing, gentlemen's clubs, lady's clubs, dining out, hat styles, walking canes, cars, horseback riding, sports, bicycles, fashionable color combinations for clothing, what to wear for many different occasions, street etiquette, letter writing, calling cards, what the fashionable ate and drank, theaters, restaurants, Central Park, Newport, the Bowery, sailing, train travel, ocean liners, Wall Street, schools, views on divorce, and funerals.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Magnificent Fantasy Creatures and How to Draw Them by Kev Walker

Magnificent Fantasy Creatures and How to Draw Them by Kev Walker ISBN-13: 9781440354601 Paperback: 160 pages Publisher: Impact Released: Oct. 9, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Discover how to draw 30 fantastical beasts from folklore, literature and the farthest reaches of your imagination in this how-to-draw guide. As you explore each magnificent creature you'll not only discover a detailed finished illustration along with exciting ideas, hints and practical lessons for how to recreate it. Blank practice pages built into the book ensure you have plenty of space for practicing techniques like adding movement and texture to your beasts of lore.


My Review:
Magnificent Fantasy Creatures is about finding inspiration for and the process of deciding what your fantasy creatures will look like. It's not a step-by-step to drawing his fantasy creatures. The intent of the book is to help you come up with your own fantasy creature designs.

He talked about real animals that inspired him, hints about posing the creature, and various ways you might draw the claws, teeth, etc., and what impression these variations might give (like longer claws make them look more dangerous). Each page had a matching "now you practice it" or "now draw your water dragon" blank page, so half the book was blank practice pages. He made up lore about and gave suggestions for 29 fantasy creatures that live in the night, sea, desert, swamp, forest, and snow.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.