Sketching for the Absolute Beginner (ABSOLUTE BEGINNER ART)

This is an excellent book for beginners

Peter Cronin’s book is a straightforward, clear and informative guide to sketching. Becoming good at sketching is up to each individual, but this is an excellent book that will help you to get there. His book removes any mystery from learning to sketch.

This is a fine book however, it is backwards in my opinion. In the front of the book he discusses pancils, paper and shading techniques and then jumps into various landscapes.However, the back of the book has all the technical aspects of how to draw people, animals, trees, boats and hills, buildings and other aspects of a sketch. Seems to me, the back should be in the front so that you can use the finer techniques in the landscapes.

الكتاب جميل جدا ورق فخم جدا جدا وطباعه عاليه نسخه اصليه و كالعاده حاجات مميزه من المكتبه الاكاديميه الواحد مش بيندم علي اي مبلغ يندفع في حاجه قيمه بالشكل دا شكرا ليكم ونتطلع لمزيد من العروض والكتب الرائعه دي

Although not a beginner myself to sketching, this book is excellent, both for a complete beginner and to give inspiration to other artists.
My first books on sketching I purchased some years ago and they were by Adrian Hill, a professional artist who appeared on television and wrote some excellent books on painting and sketching. I absolutely love his pencil sketches and since they were published during the 1950s and 1960s I have been looking for similar books by a modern artist. This book I feel is the first one to be every bit as good as Adrian Hills. For the absolute beginner there is a section on materials and exercises with step by step instructions to help. The importance of shapes, edges and tones are explained, types of sketches and using other media such as pen and wash, charcoal, etc. Then there are chapters on composition, portraying different weather conditions, people, animals in the landscape, trees, boats, etc. The book has numerous excellent examples of Peter’s sketches superbly illustrated and interspersed with lighthearted and sometimes humorous text about his experiences sketching outdoors.
All in all I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone, beginner or more experienced artist and it is the perfect accompanying book to his excellent first book, “Pure Watercolour Painting”.

For some time now I’ve been looking for a simple, straightforward, and above all effective book on learning to sketch. This is it! Thank you, Peter Cronin.

This is a fantastic book to read and look through. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to put down. There is some gray wisdom sprinkled in the book too. I just don’t think it’s anywhere near the level for beginners. There’s a lot of art wisdom in here and tips but the how to part is not simplified enough to actually become a proficient artist. He tends to write in a way that’s a bit over your head. I just thought it was a little misleading. But honestly, I can look through this book forever. The art is beautiful. He really is a great sketch artist. But not quite educational, practical enough for my needs. I wish he would explain in more detail how he drew some pieces in language that is more accessible. Explaining your art is tough to do. He does a good job of it but not enough for a reader to say, oh now I get it.