Look Closer, Draw Better

In less than 65 pages, Kateri is able to teach how to create real life sketches by exploring different techniques such as graphite, charcoal, ink, and watercolor wash as well. The tutorials are easy to follow and well illustrated. Also, the author teach how improve the observation by focusing on the contour, the line, and the shadow of the subjects.

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The details in the illustrations are absolutely breathtaking! The mediums that are covered: graphite, charcoal, pen and ink, and watercolor. I wish I had this book back in college it would been a great supplement to drawing classes. The books includes tips and suggestions like keeping a daily sketchbook. While this book is great for beginners I think it would be helpful with intermediate skills.

If there's one thing I could snap my fingers and become, it's a person who can see like an artist. I've spent a lot of time trying to become better at drawing but my ability to slow down and really see isn't really all that great. I do everything fast and drawing is no exception.

If you have a ton of art books at home, like I do, this book doesn't really contain anything shockingly new. But there are two takeaways from my time with this lovely book.

1. Start practicing again. I used to draw daily but I gave it up. Getting better is about practice. She recommends having a 15-minutes a day practice. She recommends all the things I hate doing: blind contour, contour, etc but alas there's a reason those are recommended again and again. It's about training your hands, training your eyes. It's about getting out of your head (where I live so much of the time and it doesn't really serve me when drawing.) so 15 minutes a day it is. Who doesn't have 15 minutes?

2. Slow down. Go in layers, start with the light and build up. Slow down. Look. I feel the need to say it again: slow down.

Much of this book is graphite and charcoal and ink. I wanted to see the watercolor projects and they didn't disappoint. I found the steps more broken down than usual in most of the books I have on hand and I really appreciated that.

If you want some inspiration to take you back to the basics and remind you the core elements of how to create solid drawings, this is the book for you.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I received a digital advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley.

I was immediately taken in by this book with how Ewing urges the reader to slow down and see differently. Another title I would recommend to a beginner as well as someone more experienced in the arts for some refreshing exercises.

The examples were astonishingly lovely. It's a little book, but it packs a punch. I hope to get this into the hands of my patrons soon!

Kateri Ewing brings us excellent advice on slowing down and really seeing what we are seeing. She can help us old folks change bad habits and new art students choose the right track to bring to others what you see in your heart. This is a book I wish I had had 50 years ago, and one I will make sure my children have before times. Thank you!

I received a free electronic copy of this self-help book from Netgalley, Kateri Ewing, and Quarto Publishing Group - Rockport Publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I find the Look Closer, Draw Better book to be very intriguing. It has several detailed projects that are great for the beginner to the advanced artist. It broaches several different aspects of natural objects and I believe this to be a reference source that I will use for many years to come. I would definitely recommend Look Closer, Draw Better to both new and old artist.

At only 64 pages, this book is a relatively quick read that is chock full of practical advice and detailed step by step projects with tips that can be applied to any project the reader pursues.

Usually I don't find step by step walk throughs helpful, but the way Ewing handles them helped me to see how the principles taught could be applied in other projects. So I didn't feel like I was learning to draw a pear, but instead I was learning to draw anything by drawing a pear.

Perhaps the most valuable for me was the sketchbook exercises. It really encouraged me to do some more exercises to build eye-hand coordination.

This book has been very useful to me as I am new to drawing. The book clearly describes the tools needed and how to use them. I’ve used graphite and charcoal to this point but am intrigued now to try watercolor. Practice and attention to detail is everything in developing this skill and I can already see my progress.

This is great instruction book for working on the basics, and developing good solid and regular practise sessions. The projects are carefully selected and encourage you to look carefully at the subject and what you are doing. I loved the variety of illustrations especially the birds and was fascinated by the texture and level of details. Overall a good in depth instruction book, great for beginners or as a refresher. Thank You

This short book provides accessible guidance on learning to draw in various media, including graphite, charcoal, ink, and watercolor. It is copiously illustrated with exquisite, intricately detailed drawings by the author, who finds inspiration in the natural world. Ms. Ewing is an encouraging instructor, and when she breaks down her process into steps it makes the reader want to try it out (as if there were any hope of producing work as beautiful as the author's just from following a series of simple-sounding steps). I wish there had been more than one example of working each medium, perhaps with exercises for the reader on basic steps like breaking down natural forms into component shapes. Things get complicated really quickly with all the mixing of media as the book progresses. I bought pencils this morning and will start slowly with the instructions for drawing in graphite.

Look Closer, Draw Better is a technique and exercise book for visual artists and learners by Kateri Ewing. Released 5th March 2019 by Quarto on their Rockport imprint, it's 128 pages and available in paperback format. I love drawing and calligraphy. I am at what I refer to as the 'keen amateur' level. This book has inspired me to try to be more diligent in my practice and journaling.

This is a well written book. The author has a concise and encouraging voice in her writing. The book is laid out logically and progresses from graphite and pencils, through charcoal, pen and ink, and watercolor. There are exercises scattered throughout along with highlighted sidebar tips. There's a tutorial project chapter with the same still life subject in two different media treatments (graphite and pen & ink), a showcase gallery, and a short resource list.

The really valuable takeaway for me was the author's guidance for training our ability to see what we are representing and separating it from what our brain is interpreting and presenting to us as reality.

This is a worthy addition to the artist's library and both beginners and more advanced students will find useful material here.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

What a fabulous book this is, not large but packed with information about drawing with various media. Firstly there are exercises in drawing, seeing and practice. Then we have sections on drawing with graphite pencil, charcoal sticks, pen and ink and lastly watercolour, all include projects that are very stimulating and informative. At the end of the book there is a galley of artwork.
I really found this book well explained, well written and very helpful. If you want to improve your drawing this is certainly a good book