From an award-winning English artist and teacher whose work was exhibited at the esteemed Paris Salon and Londons Royal Academy comes a beautifully designed guide to drawing the face and figure. The author of such artistic references as "The Technique of Pencil Drawing" and "The Art of the Pencil;" Borough Johnson also illustrated many famous poems and novels; including Longfellows "Evangeline" and Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles."Art cannot be taught. Drawing; like science; can." With those opening words; Borough Johnson takes a creative step forward; demonstrating how to draw the human figure with shading and texture; using pencil; chalk; and charcoal. In easy-to-follow terms; he explores the most important aspects of drawing the human form: anatomy; proportion; composition; motion; drawing from memory; and capturing emotion with an economy of line. He also offers eighty-two of his own compositions in black-and-whitemdash;subjects that include a ballerina; fencer; gypsies; violinist; children playing; and moremdash;to illustrate his lessons. Eight color plates (red chalk drawings) are also included. Perfect for intermediate and advanced students who want to improve their skills; Figure Drawing and Portraiture is a valuable guide for every artists reference shelf.
#2390656 in eBooks 2012-03-08 2012-03-08File Name: B00A73ADPC
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Balderdash or Not?By AussiescribblerThis is a kind of movie book equivalent to the Mythbusters television series. Richard Germain examines the science behind 101 seemingly unlikely events in movies and rates the ease with which they can be swallowed - 1 to 5 chilli peppers.Overall the range of films covered is admirable - from 1915s Our Daredevil Chief to 2010s Buried; with films from the United States; Great Britain and Australia. Only one non-English language film though - The Seven Samurai. And it is notable that ten of the 101 films (10%) are James Bond films. I suppose this makes sense as James Bond films do tend to be full of people doing unlikely things.Some of the questions explored are more mysterious than others. The question arising from Shutter Island (2010) is; essentially; are lobotomies a real thing? Cultural references to lobotomies are pretty common so most of us probably already know the answer. But this does give Germain a chance to talk about the bizarre (not to mention horrific) history of this practice. And this seems to be his approach generally. His choice of mysteries to examine seems to be based on whether the subject holds the potential for an educational and amusing little essay. Hence his piece on James Bond being attacked by ninjas in License to Kill (1989). If asked to guess whether there was such a thing as ninjas we would probably guess "yes" as they appear in movies all the time; but the question of what a ninja really is is a fascinating one. Others are far harder to guess; such as whether bullets explode when thrown into a fire as happened in The Man Who Would Be King (1975).Some of the information you can learn from this book may be quite useful. Now I know that Tyler Durden was telling a porky in Fight Club (1999) when he said that napalm could be made from gasoline and orange juice. And I know why it is a very bad idea to drink lighter fluid as Withnail did in Withnail and I (1986).I have to warn you that Germains puns are pretty painful; but Im hardly in a position to be critical in that department. Still it all adds to the fun.