A book whose sales have not diminished but rather increased dramatically since its publication 45 years ago, this bestselling classic is the ultimate manual of drawing taught by the late Robert Beverly Hale, who’s famed lectures and classes at New York City’s Art Student League captivated artists and art educators from around the world.
Faithfully producing and methodically analyzing 100 master drawings—including works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rodin, Goya, and Rembrandt among others—Hale shows how these artists tackled basic problems such as line, light and planes, mass, position and thrust, and anatomy. With detailed analytical captions and diagrams, every lesson is clearly delineated and illustrated. Throughout, also, is commentary that sheds light on the creative process of drawing and offers deep insight into the unsurpassed achievements of the masters.
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568 reviews for Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters
4.6out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
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★★★★★
john brodt –
From someone who has had very limited drawing instruction, this is a wonderful book. The illustrations could be clearer, but the text and explanation of what the artists were doing and why is clear as day. If you want to know why and not just how, get the book….a classic for drawing.
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★★★★★
Parka –
The media could not be loaded.
Drawing Lessons From the Great Masters is an art book that teaches by looking at the art fundamentals used by great art masters themselves — Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rodin, Goya, Rembrandt, among others.
There are 100 master drawings analysed by Robert Beverly Hale on the fundamentals such as line, light and planes, mass, position and thrust, and anatomy. These are all figure drawings. Each illustration is printed full on one page with a certain section selected for analyzing on the next. The commentary is simple and concise, providing great insight to what these artists were thinking. Many of these pieces are really sketches but when you realised the thought put behind every stroke and what the artist was trying to show, you’ll instantly be enlightened.
At the end of this book, even if you can’t draw yet, you’ll be able to identify the difference between a good and bad drawing. And when you draw, you’ll remember the principles.
This is a really useful and inspirational reference book, great for beginner to advanced artists.
Robert Beverly Hale has also authored Anatomy Lessons From The Great Masters, which uses the same teaching style here but focusing on anatomy drawings.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
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★★★★★
makma –
Znakomita i kultowa juz pozycja w światowej literaturze przedmiotu. Świetna analiza techniki rysunkowej mistrzów Renesansu i Baroku.
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★★★★★
Amazon Customer –
The author is very thorough explaing what goes into making great art. A lot of knowledge of anatomy as well as form, perspective and composition are needed. He goes into great detail explaing how great masters of the past created their works of art.This book is not a just look and draw type of book. It is a look, think ,observe and plan before you draw kind of book.
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★★★★★
Randy –
A fun book for reading bronze age history
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★★★★★
C. Coleen –
This book is in no way “lessons” … just images of the great masters with some sort of explanation which cannot be compared to a lesson. The explanations are repetitive, showing planes and some construction lines, but it is not helpful for artists looking to a better understanding of anatomy. I rate it 1 star because it did not even meet 10% of my expectations. Unfortunately I cannot send it back because I ruined some pages while reading it
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★★★★★
Willie jimenez –
Before anything it should be said I was living in italy when I got this book. I was traveling alot and visiting all the like major museums in Europe.
and I’m also a sketch artist, and I was transitioning from do cartoons and comics. and moving on to realism. this book brought it all together it kinda feel on my lap at the right time in my life. I think I found it on one of those top ten book all artist should read or something.
I don’t think its for everyone. sorta depends what your into. alot of artist aren’t looking at the classics stuff cause they think it’s boring or just not their thing. I was kinda of the same way. but living in italy changed that. this book look at the sketches of the masters, it’s not only like a master study if you choose really sit and copy some of the drawings and study the sketches.
but these are the underpainting, the sketch studies, and the random sketches of some of the best painters and sculptors. it like seeing their thinking, there planing. you see how they got it wrong some times and keep at it. these are loose and no one was meant to really see them at the time they were created. this is like an artist today printing a book of sketches and picking and choosing his/her best work. if that what you looking for you’d be disappointed. cause it’s more like someone publishing your diary.
mostly pictures you can find alot of these on the net. but if your gonna study these really. it’s best to have in print instead of a screen. and it all in one place and you don’t have to worry about resolution.
I really liked it but thats me. not for everyone though. like everything else it kinda depends on you and open you are and what you are look for.
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★★★★★
Monstruo Comegalletas –
Si bien contiene 100 reproducciones de bocetos de grandes maestros, el valor del libro no radica en ver qué bonito dibujaban los Rembrants o los Leonardos, sino en el texto que usa esos dibujos para señalar lo que hay que saber para ser un buen dibujante. Si se pretende que este libro enseñe temas de dibujo, aquí hay bastante información (formas, luz y sombra, línea, anatomía, etc.). Los textos suelen ser breves pero muy puntuales y completos, y es claro que el autor sabe de lo que habla y es muy buen maestro. Por otro lado, si la idea es conseguirlo para ver las imágenes sin leerlo, acabarían obteniendo una consulta de Google empastada. Pero detenerse a asimilar todo lo que señala el autor usando estas imágenes como ejemplos, y extrapolar lo aprendido a otros bocetos –dentro o fuera del libro–, a dibujos propios, o a otras obras de arte… ahí sí vale mucho la pena tener este libro.
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★★★★★
Amazon Customer –
Robert Beverly Hale’s drawing books are some of the first one I go to on my shelf when looking for drawing advice. Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters is terrific book to get a handle on the mental aspects of drawing.
This book is a little more generic than his others, focusing more on a general approach to drawing and a very basic overview of anatomy.
The primary truth Hale mentions that many students fail to realize and some other drawing books skip over is that drawings aren’t supposed to be a copy of real life. They’re just symbolic depictions of life.
If a limb needs to be moved to make a better drawing, or if the entire lighting plan needs to be redone in your head, do it. The model is just the initial suggestion on which to base a drawing.
Where Hale’s books shine is that he uses old master drawings for his examples. Basic art concepts such as conceiving body forms as basic geometric shapes to help control and simplify details are much easier to understand when you can see it in a Rubens or DaVinci drawing.
I will admit that some of his advice (like buying bones to study anatomy) may sound a tad odd. But you should remember that this book is 20 years old and draws on teaching experience for 30+ years before that. However, other than that the lessons in this book are just as important and relevant now and when they were first written.
I have a ton of drawing books, (almost literally) but this and Robert Beverly Hale’s other books are some of my favorites.
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★★★★★
User –
Ótimo!
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Bireswar Das –
It is a great book. Clear, authoritative and witty! One need not be an artist to enjoy this book.
john brodt –
From someone who has had very limited drawing instruction, this is a wonderful book. The illustrations could be clearer, but the text and explanation of what the artists were doing and why is clear as day. If you want to know why and not just how, get the book….a classic for drawing.
Parka –
The media could not be loaded.
Drawing Lessons From the Great Masters is an art book that teaches by looking at the art fundamentals used by great art masters themselves — Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rodin, Goya, Rembrandt, among others.
There are 100 master drawings analysed by Robert Beverly Hale on the fundamentals such as line, light and planes, mass, position and thrust, and anatomy. These are all figure drawings. Each illustration is printed full on one page with a certain section selected for analyzing on the next. The commentary is simple and concise, providing great insight to what these artists were thinking. Many of these pieces are really sketches but when you realised the thought put behind every stroke and what the artist was trying to show, you’ll instantly be enlightened.
At the end of this book, even if you can’t draw yet, you’ll be able to identify the difference between a good and bad drawing. And when you draw, you’ll remember the principles.
This is a really useful and inspirational reference book, great for beginner to advanced artists.
Robert Beverly Hale has also authored Anatomy Lessons From The Great Masters, which uses the same teaching style here but focusing on anatomy drawings.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
makma –
Znakomita i kultowa juz pozycja w światowej literaturze przedmiotu. Świetna analiza techniki rysunkowej mistrzów Renesansu i Baroku.
Amazon Customer –
The author is very thorough explaing what goes into making great art. A lot of knowledge of anatomy as well as form, perspective and composition are needed. He goes into great detail explaing how great masters of the past created their works of art.This book is not a just look and draw type of book. It is a look, think ,observe and plan before you draw kind of book.
Randy –
A fun book for reading bronze age history
C. Coleen –
This book is in no way “lessons” … just images of the great masters with some sort of explanation which cannot be compared to a lesson. The explanations are repetitive, showing planes and some construction lines, but it is not helpful for artists looking to a better understanding of anatomy.
I rate it 1 star because it did not even meet 10% of my expectations.
Unfortunately I cannot send it back because I ruined some pages while reading it
Willie jimenez –
Before anything it should be said I was living in italy when I got this book. I was traveling alot and visiting all the like major museums in Europe.
and I’m also a sketch artist, and I was transitioning from do cartoons and comics. and moving on to realism. this book brought it all together it kinda feel on my lap at the right time in my life. I think I found it on one of those top ten book all artist should read or something.
I don’t think its for everyone. sorta depends what your into. alot of artist aren’t looking at the classics stuff cause they think it’s boring or just not their thing. I was kinda of the same way. but living in italy changed that. this book look at the sketches of the masters, it’s not only like a master study if you choose really sit and copy some of the drawings and study the sketches.
but these are the underpainting, the sketch studies, and the random sketches of some of the best painters and sculptors. it like seeing their thinking, there planing. you see how they got it wrong some times and keep at it. these are loose and no one was meant to really see them at the time they were created. this is like an artist today printing a book of sketches and picking and choosing his/her best work. if that what you looking for you’d be disappointed. cause it’s more like someone publishing your diary.
mostly pictures you can find alot of these on the net. but if your gonna study these really. it’s best to have in print instead of a screen. and it all in one place and you don’t have to worry about resolution.
I really liked it but thats me. not for everyone though. like everything else it kinda depends on you and open you are and what you are look for.
Monstruo Comegalletas –
Si bien contiene 100 reproducciones de bocetos de grandes maestros, el valor del libro no radica en ver qué bonito dibujaban los Rembrants o los Leonardos, sino en el texto que usa esos dibujos para señalar lo que hay que saber para ser un buen dibujante. Si se pretende que este libro enseñe temas de dibujo, aquí hay bastante información (formas, luz y sombra, línea, anatomía, etc.). Los textos suelen ser breves pero muy puntuales y completos, y es claro que el autor sabe de lo que habla y es muy buen maestro. Por otro lado, si la idea es conseguirlo para ver las imágenes sin leerlo, acabarían obteniendo una consulta de Google empastada. Pero detenerse a asimilar todo lo que señala el autor usando estas imágenes como ejemplos, y extrapolar lo aprendido a otros bocetos –dentro o fuera del libro–, a dibujos propios, o a otras obras de arte… ahí sí vale mucho la pena tener este libro.
Amazon Customer –
Robert Beverly Hale’s drawing books are some of the first one I go to on my shelf when looking for drawing advice. Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters is terrific book to get a handle on the mental aspects of drawing.
This book is a little more generic than his others, focusing more on a general approach to drawing and a very basic overview of anatomy.
The primary truth Hale mentions that many students fail to realize and some other drawing books skip over is that drawings aren’t supposed to be a copy of real life. They’re just symbolic depictions of life.
If a limb needs to be moved to make a better drawing, or if the entire lighting plan needs to be redone in your head, do it. The model is just the initial suggestion on which to base a drawing.
Where Hale’s books shine is that he uses old master drawings for his examples. Basic art concepts such as conceiving body forms as basic geometric shapes to help control and simplify details are much easier to understand when you can see it in a Rubens or DaVinci drawing.
I will admit that some of his advice (like buying bones to study anatomy) may sound a tad odd. But you should remember that this book is 20 years old and draws on teaching experience for 30+ years before that. However, other than that the lessons in this book are just as important and relevant now and when they were first written.
I have a ton of drawing books, (almost literally) but this and Robert Beverly Hale’s other books are some of my favorites.
User –
Ótimo!
Bireswar Das –
It is a great book. Clear, authoritative and witty! One need not be an artist to enjoy this book.