Drawing: People with William F. Powell

Book excerpt: Learn to create detailed, realistic drawings of people in graphite pencil from basic shapes. Successfully drawing people is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, artistic experiences. Drawing: People shows you how to capture the unique characteristics of people in graphite pencil, with tips on choosing materials, building with basic shapes, placing proportionate features, and shading to develop form and realism. With more than 40 step-by-step projects to both re-create and admire, artist William F. Powell teaches artists how to develop a portrait drawing to its fullest. He explores basic drawing techniques as well as art concepts that apply to drawing people, including proportion, perspective, and composition. This book includes in-depth information on how to render facial features, heads from various angles, and the figure in action, step by step. With this helpful guide, you'll even discover specific tips and tricks for drawing individual body parts, such as eyes, ears, noses, lips, hands, and feet. And the wealth of beautiful, inspiring examples ensure that Drawing: People will be a welcome addition to any artist’s drawing reference library. Drawing people can be tricky, but with this step-by-step guide, you’ll be rendering realistic portraits in no time. Designed for beginners, the How to Draw & Paint series offers an easy-to-follow guide that introduces artists to basic tools and materials and includes simple step-by-step lessons for a variety of projects suitable for the aspiring artist. Drawing: People allows artists to develop their drawing skills, demonstrating how to start with basic shapes and use pencil and shading techniques to create varied textures, values, and details for a realistic, completed drawing.