Keys to Drawing

I looked over and purchased KEYS TO DRAWING on the recommendation of one of the reviews here. I don't have the resources or time for an art class, but I like to sketch for a few spare minutes a day. The book is perfect for someone like me.

Dodson teaches the basics with an emphasis on relaxation and creativity. You really learn how to think about drawing. His exercises are designed to help you master skills (composition, proportion, shading) rather than the perfection of the end result. Oddly enough, the end result of all of these lessons are more perfect drawings!

Now that I'm finished with the book, I still go back mentally to each of Dobson's lessons to help me through the challenges of creating drawings, and I still work on the exercises. To me, this more than earns a 5 star review.

I loved to draw as a little girl until my grade 5 art teacher held one of my "creations" up in front of my sister's class (she was very talented) and said, "can you believe they're sisters?". I was crushed and other than in art class, I never picked up a pencil again.

Fast forward 20 years where I see Bert Dodson's book "Keys to Drawing". I remembered how I used to love to draw and bought it on impulse. I started at page 1 and progressed through the book. The day my sister (the artist) walked into my house and seeing the drawing I was working on said, "nice drawing of Louis Armstrong" was one of the best moments of my life. By the way that was a drawing of Satchmo I was working on.

What I learned from Bert Dodson was that drawing is mostly about technique which anyone can learn. Although my masterpieces will never hang in a museum, they do hang in my home and my husband is very proud to have them there.

If you've always wanted to draw but thought you had no talent - buy this book. You will surprise yourself.

I never drew before but always wanted to learn. The exercises you need to do are the best part of this book, for me. I have learned a lot from them and continue to learn. I took a beginners course in my town at the same time and I found what I learned in this book to be very valuable. Instructions are clear and concise.

A good book but he borrows heavily from Betty Edwards and nowhere gives credit.

I first heard of this book while taking a sketchbook drawing course, and it has been a constant reference source for all of my drawing and painting efforts. The medium is drawing, but the instructions are universal -- seeing vs knowing, organizing a piece, composition, balance, unity, variety, movement, tension - there is nothing here that I can't use in other media. Must have for anyone developing their compositional eye.