Wizard: How To Draw (Book Series)

[Arith]

Hi guys, im sure this has been discussed before but i did a search and did not find anything. I love to draw and im ok at it but i want to get better, are the Wizard series of How To Draw books worth it? Are these decent books? What do they cover? Thanks guys!

Dave

[LewMoxinsghost]

I bought that series and haven't regretted doing so... although the subjects are not quite as easy to reference as I had hoped. I mean, some of the articles are really great, but there seems to be a lot of filler too. I especially liked Advanced Techniques and Storytelling, but they are all good. I just felt like some of it is professionals showing off instead of actual lessons in proportion, perspective, etc... but few of the pro's featured have a terrific teaching approach- so I find myself unable to shelve them, going back again and again for stuff. Good for distraction and good eye candy, but the educational value is really about the same as the entertainment value- or at least it was for me. If you try to look one thing up, it seems like it is designed to distract you and you wind up reading stuff you had no intention of.

[Arith]

Thanks, i appreciate the advice. Any other books besides Wizards series that are recomended?

[LewMoxinsghost]

Well, it's all a matter of taste and what you want to do. I think the books Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Nicolaides' The Natural Way to Draw, as well as many of the books they are giving away in the CBR Runway are all great. I hear that video drawing series on figure drawing they always advertise on here is pretty good. But the books that go down easier are the more cartooning specific books like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, Making Comics...but they are more designy than illustrate-y (If you can only get one get the first one) he has a pretty good website here. (http://www.scottmccloud.com/) If you go to www.abebooks.com you can generally find stuff for cheap. Hope this helps.