The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head Kindle Edition

This book made me understand exactly what I had to do to draw heads AND achieve a likeness.I'll make it simple for you to decide if this book is right for you :-If you -1) Have tried to draw heads before and struggled with getting a likeness2) Struggled to make features look like they're a part of the face instead of just 'stuck-on' the face.3) Struggled to shade a head convincingly but never quite got the shadows correct4) Are not a complete beginner at drawing and but want to improve your head drawingsIf at least 3 or these apply to you, you should buy this book.I had drawn portraits before I bought this book and they were not bad at all but they took me DAYS to finish and finalize. Now I can make a head of the same quality in less than half an hour because I have a streamlined process, instead of just 'winging' it. Having a process is everything because you are not guessing what to improve next, you have a plan, a checklist and you are focusing on exactly what matters.The things you learn in this book will help you draw figures, animals, anything at all you can imagine because they are SOLID principles. Take it easy on yourself. Buy the book and enjoy drawing heads!

there is no wrong way when it comes to art.the writer seems condescending when talking about how to do things in this book.and then,this book is boring and very basic.there is not much info on face anatomy and planes.the writer does not even cover how to draw expressions. neither do i know if he knows how to draw expressions? at most he does is smile in his portraits. (?)it is mostly about shading and to be honest, if you draw faces even for a week, you'd easily understand shading part.so I suggest you skip this book and find something more informative that deals with the actual structure of your face and all the features.not bridgman since he is much more advanced with his techniques. so Loomis is good middle ground.

Great book but less specific

Coming from a master of the subject, William Maugham writes exactly what one should pay attention to and what one should focus on to be a good artist. One of the few books that really deal with drawing from a learning perspective. I love it ! 5 stars !!

A MUST BUY BOOK

Very good!

Very useful. Worth it.

Awesome purchase...loved it

The author's advice on creating images through form rather than line is sound, but limited, and he repeats it again and again and AGAIN, becoming very tedious. Unfortunately, his authority is undermined by his own drawings, which are extremely bland and slick--all the faces looks much alike. He discusses only drawing with sanguine and white pencils, one fewer than the classic style (which includes black), and gives no reason for this restriction. There are no reproductions by any other artists, not even the classic practitioners of this technique. One chapter is strangely irrelevant, to say the least--the author combines in one face the features of deformed people and animals. One quick look was enough for me to find this nauseating and terrifying, and made me not want to have anything to do with someone who could be not only slick but sick.

The author provides solid advice on drawing as a whole, let alone portrait drawing. Some reviews criticise his use of the same materials (type of pencil, toned paper) throughout his book, but these really are weak criticisms, as his approach to portrait drawing is very helpful indeed and drawing overall. For example, his writing style is very clear, and really helped me to understand the use of reflected light in drawing, often I have been slightly confused on its use even from other very good drawing books, but this author explains it in a very understandable way. He criticises faults in drawings, showing examples of the misuse of reflected light, using hard edges when using soft edges. The book is very detailed , using plain words and corresponding images to aid comprehension. The author is a graduate from Pasadena’s Art Center, a sure sign that his knowledge and advice is very good. His portrait drawings are simply, outstanding. They are treasure to the eye and will certainly provide inspiration to draw the head. All in all, a great instruction book, and due to the beauty of his own drawings, the book is essentially a lovely art book to look at.

I purchased this – like many of the instructional books I buy – as an aid to teaching; I found it to be one of the better books of this type.Well-illustrated throughout (though the chap does love his sanguine pastel pencil and grey paper to excess) the author takes the reader through his process in a fairly understandable step-by-step manner; he tackles things like foreshortening, perspective and proportion etc., both visually and in his text with reasonable clarity, though I would suggest that this is still a book for those who have at least reached a basic level of competence in drawing.Although the approach taken is from traditional fine art practice, Maughan includes an additional short chapter dealing with fantasy drawing – which is a bit of fun, but also a useful creative pointer for the more open-minded student.There is also a final chapter considering colour as a natural progression into painting.A fairly decent guide that I`m sure many will find helpful (I did so myself as there are always tips and pointers to be gleaned regardless of one`s skills and experience) and perhaps handy to have in support if attending drawing classes.Do use the "Look inside" option above for an idea of the content.

Sendo desenhista eu sigo alguns mestres, como Giovanni Civardi, Andrew Loomis e Mozart Couto. A maioria do que aprendi foi com eles, e por enquanto bastava, por isso fiquei relutante em comprar este livro do Maughan, afinal, não parecia fornecer muito mais do que eu já tinha. Ledo engano. Finalmente um livro que entende não apenas a dificuldade do artista com chiaroscuro, mas que aborde com profundidade (piada intencional) os problemas enfrentados ao desenhar a estrutura da cabeça humana em diferentes perspectivas, não apenas trivia de senso comum (o comprimento da orelha ser igual à distância entre a sobrancelha/margem inferior do arco superciliar e a base do nariz, a regrinha dos 1/3 etc etc), mas como diferentes ângulos podem dar uma impressão dismórfica, mostrando desenhos no vale da estranheza, explicando o porquê de estarem assim e sua versão 'corrigida' ao lado. A mesclagem referencial de faces humanas com feras certamente é um ponto alto e não deveria ser entendido como uma mera piada do autor: eles dão uma bela noção de como pode ser mantida uma harmonia no desconhecido, regra no caos. Excelente leitura.

I have quite a collection of art books and videos, but for portrait drawing this is easily the best. The chiaroscuro technique Maughan demonstrates is a well regarded classical technique that yields beautiful results. Although the book is all about portraits, the principles are relevant whatever you are drawing, and since tonal value is the one thing that must be right for realist paintings, it is a good basis for painting, too.The final part of the book is about colour, and using pastels, and here it is more a matter of taste - and certainly not mine, I'm not into green faces etc. There are better books (and websites) on colour theory than this. However, it is only a fairly short final chapter, and easily forgiven for the excellence of the rest.One issue was getting the materials in the UK. I have now had the book for two years, but never been able to follow him exactly. He uses a carefully chosen tone of paper that is halfway between the dark sanguine pencil and the white pencil that he uses, which is Strathmore 500 charcoal paper in Velvet gray. Unfortunately, this isn't available in this country - or wasn't until now. I have just discovered that Castle Hill crafts in Stroud have started importing it, so have put in an order for some (I'm not associated with them, just delighted that we can finally get all the materials).