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Drawing For Dummies

© A Simple Critique

Mural Artists need to be able to draw. It is as simple as that. Whenever an artist undertakes large major visual projects he or she needs to have an eye for whether the final composition 'sits right' with regard to perspective. Shading will always require some know-how, even if the artist has traced or projected the image. I have finally found an excellent resource for those who want to learn to draw quickly and efficiently. Good drawing resources are (in my opinion) simple and straight to the point.

Drawing For Dummies like all of the "Dummy" series of books is a very straightforward, instructional drawing book. It is designed for people who want to begin at the beginning and work their way through structured learning exercises.

Luckily I became curious about the author of the book and read the forward and the introduction. Brenda Hoddinott is an Artist and an Educator. She has also won awards for her Forensic Identikit Sketching from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Her skills are very fine-tuned, and she is a sensitive artist. Her descriptions of how to draw are clear, simple, 'step-by-step' and easy to understand.

Along the way she has created an enormous amount of resources, some of which, she makes available free of charge. Others can be downloaded for a fee, which can be paid through Pay Pal. One can also subscribe to her website and receive access to all resources and all the updates that become available.

Through the section called "About The Artist," I found out that she has a variety of websites and that she is a website author. I am going to make a list of resources offered free of charge on the "Dummies" website, in the hope that you will go and try the exercises she offers. I hope you will then come back and share the fruits of your artistic labours on our Swap Meet discussion boards.

The book Drawing For Dummies, will from now be one of the central text books (required reading) for the course Visual Literacy a Course In Drawing. The emphasis on perspective and tone, including light sources and vanishing points are just what I want my students to be reading. Brenda's generosity when she describes how to render and create textured surfaces is also inspiring.

Please surf over to the listed resources and have a look at her work. Don't forget to come back to show us what you have learned. We are always interested in seeing your work.

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