Do you remember when you got out your crayons and drew pictures as a child? Now maybe you are proudly displaying your children's artwork on the refrigerator door. You love their pictures because you can see their unique expression in the art, even if it looks more like a Picasso than a Rembrandt. You were just as proud of your own artwork at one time but somewhere along the road of life, you began to doubt your artistic abilities. Our belief is that everyone is an artist, and that includes you! The skills necessary for drawing are not limited just to pencil and paper but can be used in other art forms. When you draw, you are interpreting what you observe from your own perspective. With the principles in this book, you will develop your observational skills, learn the proper tools to use, apply different techniques to your drawing and make use of some of the tricks professionals use every day. You will learn more if you get out your drawing materials and become an active participant rather than if you just passively read through this book. The material is written to be used again and again. By doing the exercises more than once you will be able to witness the improvement of your artwork. We hope you will regain that childlike passion for doing art and learning without critiquing yourself harshly. We won't make you hang it on the fridge, but we do suggest you save your artwork because it will show your progress and increase your confidence as you go.

Contents
Pencils
Paper and Drawing Board
Erasers
Additional Drawing Tools
CHAPTER _ 1
Sketch and Drawing
Holding the Pencil
Structural Sketches
Value Sketches
Black and White Sketches
Contour Sketches
Combining Approaches
CHAPTER _ 2
Principles of Good Drawing
Using Basic Shape
Gauging Proportion
Measuring Angles
Working From Reference Materials
Understanding Linear Perspective
One-Point Perspective
Two-Point Perspective
Three-Point Perspective
Hidden Horizons and Vanishing Points
Locating Vanishing Points,
Atmospheric Perspective
Ellipses
Arches and Roofs
Reflections
CHAPTER _ 3
Value
Contrast
Creating Values
Light Effects
Plotting Shadows
CHAPTER _ 4
Practice the Techniques
Clouds and Grass
Leafy Trees
Evergreen Trees
Brick, Stone and Wood
Rocks
Plane
Train
Automobile
Boat
Cat Face
Side View of a Cat
Dog
Cow
Swan
Human Figures
Faces
Chapter 5
Composition
arranging the Elements
88 Number of Elements
89 Cropping and Formatting
90 Lines, Tangents and Shape
Chapter 6
Let's Draw
Still Life
Textured Metal
Scene in Perspective
Natural Textures
Using Contrast
Expressive Portrait
Telling a Story Through a Drawing
Landscape
Seascape Composition
Glossary
Index