The Practice and Science of Drawing (Dover Art Instruction)

This book is a must have for any serious representational artist. Speed's talent for breaking the artistic process down and putting it into words is unrivaled. His illustrations are perfectly matched to the lesson and his incredible talent as a teacher is apparent in his explanations. Where the book is most helpful to the artist are the sections on Line Drawing: Practical and Mass Drawing: Practical. In the chapter on line drawing, Speed sets out, in a succinct style, to explain practical methods of measuring, applying these systems to the figure, the mechanics of light, and foreshortening. He always supplements the technical knowledge he is imparting with a larger aesthetic insight. The chapter on Mass Drawing: Practical is essentially a primer for painting. He simplifies the process by reducing it to drawing with charcoal and using two colors: white and raw umber. By isolating the process in this way, he allows the student to focus on brushwork, drawing, and paint quality. The highlight of this chapter is the excellent portrait demonstration where Speed illustrates his methods of drawing in charcoal, massing in the tones, and refining until the portrait is achieved. The remainder of the book relates more to layout and composition with the exception of the extremely enlightening chapter on portrait drawing. In this chapter, Speed explains what it means to achieve a likeness versus a masterful portrait and details several different approaches in portraiture. My copy of this book is dog eared, underlined, and worn. I've read it again and again and will continue to read it as I progress as an artist. This book is such a bargain considering the depth of content and quality of instruction. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone who truly is seeking to grow as an artist. Buy this book, read it again and again as you draw and paint to benefit from one of the most gifted art teachers in print.

Before art instructors of the late 20th and early 21st century Betty Edwards or Mona Brookes shared their insights with us, Harold Speed wrote this profoundly analytical handbook explaining the psychological and technical foundations of drawing and observation, i.e. line drawing and mass drawing, and much, much more. Although his English is stiff, and perhaps colloquial to the locale where his style of English English was spoken (where he was raised or lived) and the 19th and 20th century periods in which he lived, it is still readable and understandable. I found his tightly dissected views of how the (young person's) mind starts to perceive objects and to draw them, and how early artists approached drawing to be very helpful. It contains clear explanations that methodically lay out the appoaches by which artists apply their talents. In doing so, he helps us to become more analytical and more understanding of art and the world around us. This work by Harold Speed helps us become better observers. It is the most penetrating book on drawing techniques I have found. This book is an excellent investment at about $10.00 on Amazon.con.

Good text, though I think that some of it is a bit overly romantic for my taste. Occasionally he'll ramble about something somewhat unrelated to the chapter, like in one part of a chapter about line drawing he goes on to describe the shifts in direction of eyebrow hairs. But I suppose his enthusiasm is shown through these passionate outbursts, even if they are sometimes out of context. The pictures are small and very bad, but the book is so cheap that it doesn't matter much. It isn't too hard to gather what Speed is trying to show through the images, and if you need to see a better image, most of them are easily available online. Entertaining enough. Overly dramatic at points. A somewhat limited definition of what art is (my take on what Speed defines art as is a sort of conveying of the emotional content of the artist to the viewer through beauty). But it is a classic for a reason. It does have some great info in it, and some people might find the text inspiring, although I found it a bit stifling at points.

I'm now a professional illustrator and exhibiting fine-artist. But for 17 years... from adolescence on, I was a hobbyist... someone who just loved to draw. It was this book, INGENIOUSLY simple and straightforward in both it's presentation and elucidation of "how to see," which brought me from hobbyist, to professional. It's amazing because the book is about 100 years old (and is STILL in print, which should tell you something); but when you take into account he's passing on information that is 500 years old, gleaned from renaissance artists (it's no coincidence Dürer's sketch is on the cover) I guess 100 years isn't much. You never know, as an artist, when you'll have an "Aha!" moment and finally understand something which previously eluded you... that said, I learned more from reading this book than from thumbing through any of the other 50+ art-technique books in my collection (this is a book to be read... primarily text, not primarily illustrations). The information is timeless. The instruction is solid. Get this book. If like me, you're self-taught... and you already know how to draw... and are looking to hit the next level, it's invaluable. Or at least it was for me.

The content is very dense but extremely practical. I’m moving through it very slowly and supplementing it with classical drawing exercises, the improvements I’m seeing with my drawing and observational accuracy have been increasing at a rate that’s rather unbelievable in a relatively short time. I love this book, but it requires very careful reading and understanding. Lovvvvveeeee it

Maybe it should have been called "The Theory and Philosophy of Visual Art"... TLDR; DON'T BUY. You can read it for free on-line. The content of the book isn't bad, but very theoretical, philosophical and not what I expected from a book with "Practice" and "Science" in the title. The design of the book is amateur at best. The photos are not as clear as they should be, the paragraphs are uncomfortably wide, there are weird font changes in the middle of words occasionally; the typesetting and layout are just really bad. My advice: If you think that you want to read this, then read it for free on-line. The publisher doesn't deserve payment, the book designer never should have been paid, and the author is deceased and won't benefit from your purchase. Realize that the good part of this book (the author's words) is free and the don't pay for the bad part (the physical book). If you really want it as a printed book, then DO NOT get the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 4, 2011) edition. I would give the book 4 stars if the typesetting and layout weren't as terrible as they are, and if the plates were more clearly reproduced. Maybe it's just the edition that I have, but there are too frequent instances of paragraphs finishing with the last half of the final sentence on the following page, and weird font changes in the middle of words; and the images are of just barely acceptable quality. It's also difficult to maintain your place as you read, as the small text spans the whole width of the very wide pages... and there are no page numbers. Honestly, there are just too many simple design errors that never should have been allowed to happen. As to the written content itself: The author expounds philosophically on the subject of art. There is nothing wrong with that but not what I was expecting from "The Practice and Science of Drawing". I assumed that this text would be somewhat more practical and so was taken aback. What I can say, however, is that I actually enjoyed the proffered philosophy, it is very good, well explained, and fitting to the subject of art. It's much more theoretical, and much less practical than what I wanted. And while the content isn't bad for what it is, it has not helped me in the production of good drawings in any tangible way.

I'm a hobbyist (for the sake of your perspective). The author does a great job of explaining what this "art" is all about. Hint: It's not about copying what you see, but more about copying what you feel, or wish to attribute--the "essence". Over the course of 300 pages, or so, he revisits this concept from various vantage points. To further illustrate how abstract/sophisticated the book is, the author simply explains, "Painting is just drawing with paint." If you are looking for an elementary book about "materials", this isn't the one. On the downside, some of the illustrations were missing or poorly copied. Also, there is no bibliography (which disappointed me). The older English writing style may be a negative to some, but I was already accustomed to it and I find it warm (gentle reader). I found the book refreshingly articulate and enjoyable reading because it contributed to my knowledge about art, in general. I hope you find this review helpful.

I found this book very helpful, but very wordy. I like instruction books to be to the point and have pictures along with it. It is a good book, just my personal opinion.

Resim ve çizim az. Hep yazı. Anlatıyor ancak benim için biraz basit. İlerlemeye yardımcı bulmadım. Daha fazla çizim olsa iyi olurdu.

Apesar de seções "práticas", o livro é mais focado em teoria e talvez seja decepcionante para os que buscam guias de "como desenhar _____". Dito isso, é um excelente livro para os que levam arte a sério. Ótimo custo benefício.

本書の電子書籍の三つ、「Dover Publications」、「Superior Formatting Publishing」、そして「Project Gutenberg」のものの比較。 まず、基にしている版が違います。「Dover」のeBookは、同社から出版されている紙媒体の本（第三版）の忠実な電子化です。「Project Gutenberg」のものは、テキストなどから判断すると、初版を基に電子化したものと考えられます。「Superior Formatting」のものは、このデータをそのまま流用していると思われます。（初版と第三版の相違は、第二版の改訂の際に生じたもので、かなりの数になりますが、訂正などが主なものであり、内容に大きな違いを及ぼすものではありません。） 「Project Gutenberg」のeBookには電子化する際に生じた誤りが幾つかあり（誤りは些細なものです、）「Superior Formatting 」のものは、この誤りをそのまま引き継いでいます。 電子書籍としての作りこみは、「Project Gutenberg」のもの（Kindle用）がよいと私には感じられます。 もちろん、お値段が違います。「Dover Publications」のものは紙媒体とあまり違わない価格設定です。 本書のテキストの相違の詳細は「shundrawing.blogspot.com」に掲載されています。

Although coming with just a few black & white reproductions and a lot of explanations, this book is decidely oriented towards theory and the principles behind a truly successful work of art. I think this is a must for the student who wants to learn how to master the practice of drawghtmanship in order to grow as a real artist.

Harold Speed's book lets us know that he got the full classical training artists need, only to proceed that he feels we don’t need it. He hints at proper tools of the trade, but replacing solid wood frames with flimsy cardboard that would bend in the wind. Essentially he has access to everything, but refuses to give us the same education he got. And his chapter on tools of the trade won’t introduce something as simple as a flexible ruler to you, even though these do exist and will come in handy when portraying realistic subjects in fine detail like in Hooke’s "Micrographia." He tries to write full sentences, but fails miserably at putting together a cohesive story, even in a single line of prose. He simply has no command of the English language in terms of writing long sentences. They don’t flow naturally and leave the reader questioning what it is exactly that he means. To make matters worse, his book really focuses on trying to provide a philosophical view of what art is, and tries to convince us that we don’t need all of the tools of the trade and should rely on some kind of innate feel alone. He supposedly doesn’t value the education he got the least. In practice, people like Harold Speed always feel that it isn’t fair that other people can do this, because they don’t see it. Then they get their education and instead of providing the education they got for free like the rest of us do, he’s now actually the one turning everything into a trade secret. Any treatise on the arts should be short, to the point, and clear. It should provide you with the basic techniques and considerations in single lines of prose. Instead Harold Speed only hints at everything, the only benefit being that he does reference the books that you should read, like perhaps Leonardo da Vinci’s “Treatise On Painting.” Leonardo da Vinci was not just an artist, but also a scientist, and this seems to be key in the art of instruction: the fact that you not only search for knowledge, but you do so to distribute it to others to make life and living easier and more enjoyable.