Keys to Drawing with Imagination: Strategies and exercises for gaining confidence and enhancing your creativity

I receieved this book today, and I’ve just sat down with a cup of coffee for half and hour and browsed through it, and I just have to write a review. I have a load of books on art technique, and this is completely different from any art book I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t really deal with HOW to draw, more about WHAT to draw, and in ways that will create true art. It is inspirational, because it shows you how to inspire yourself. The whole of the first chapter is devoted to doodling – giving ideas as to how you could develop simple doodling into a work of art. I’ve never seen doodling in an art technique book before! The suggestions look great fun, and this sense of fun runs through the whole book. It inspires you to create your own individual style but gives you lots of ideas to stimulate that creation. If you want a ‘drawing techniques’ book, this isn’t it – but there are hundreds of books out there that deal with basic techniques. I think the concept of this book is a work of genius, it’s unique and exciting. Now, Mr.Dodson is a professional artist, and other artists are also featured in the book. They clearly have a lot of technical skill and if you try some of the more complex ideas suggested, your results may well not be quite as good as the examples shown. But, even so, I bet you’ll enjoy the process of doing them! For those seeking inspiration to draw, I cannot recommend this book enough.

This book is well laid out, thoughtfully explained, beautifully illustrated with many examples and I found it to be very inspirational.
Mr. Dodson gives enough information in each chapter to unleash the imagination in various ways using varied techniques. I use the ideas presented in the book in my ESL classes and they are powerful magic for opening students eyes to a new way of seeing and producing art. This book has exceeded my expectations and has become a kind of bible for me.

Dommage pour les non anglophones que ce livre n’existe pas en français. Le précédent, “les clés du dessin” existe en français et est tout aussi formidable. Il est plus accessible aux débutants.
Celui-ci est destiné me semble t’il pour les pratiquants déjà un peu aguerris ou super motivés. Il donne des pistes pour trouver l’inspiration et ce, de façon très professionnelle. Il y a de nombreux exercices proposés vraiment motivants et inspirants. Il y a aussi beaucoup d’exemples de travaux menés par des élèves ayant effectué les exercices avec brio. Ce livre est tout en couleurs, d’une belle qualité de papier et aux illustrations très belles. Le format est lui aussi très agréable car grand.. J’ai beaucoup progressé grace à ce livre et le précédent cité plus haut. Ce sont tous deux des livres de grande valeur.

This book is truly awesome! The online “search inside this book” feature sold me on it because I could see how different it was from other instructional art books. After just receiving it yesterday, I can’t put it down! (And of course Amazon delivered it in less than 24 hours as usual – how the heck do they do it??) I have been aspiring to start drawing for some time now – I’ve even previously purchased a whole shelf-worth of basic drawing books that just left me uninspired. The problem is so many “learn how to draw” books are just so dry and boring. Nothing to really get you over the rocky early stages of learning and inspire you to keep going. I’m the type of person that I want to see exciting improvement right away or I don’t have fun. Drawing stupid cones and spheres over and over again is not my idea of a good time. And I always had trouble really sticking to it creatively because I could never really think of WHAT to draw. This book has already given me so much inspiration and creative potential in less than 48 hours I feel like I have completely re-discovered why I wanted to learn to draw in the first place! If there is anyone in your life aspiring to be an artist but who is experiencing roadblocks, I HIGHLY recommend this book. I wish someone had given it to me when I was teenager. Who knows what I might have accomplished by now. It really helps you start thinking in much more creative ways, and to have fun with what you draw. I feel like it is exactly what I have been looking for all these years. I could kiss you, Bert Dodson!

I purchased this author’s book “Keys for Drawing” and found it to be a great, reference and good instructional drawing book. It is clear and has many exercises that walk anyone through the art of drawing. When I saw this book at the library, (Drawing with Imagination) I checked it out and really liked it. It is fun and has some great fun drawing exercises. I had to have a copy for my library. It really helps with confidence building with regards to drawing skills and provides some fun exercises that are really good and also very relaxing. So if you dread learning to draw but want to do it in a fun, easy going fashion–try this book and see how relaxing and yet practical it is. The information is very well presented.