Sketching for the Absolute Beginner

This is one of the very best books on sketching I have seen. Starting from the basics, Peter introduces techniques, styles, subjects and media and the whole thing is as close to a complete course as you're likely to get. There's a very good chance you'll finish it and feel you don't need any further guides and are ready to strike out on your own. 

after a brief survey of materials and equipment and some thoughts on what to look for and how to see, you're straight into some reassuringly simple guidance that opens with How to Hold a Pencil and some simple scribbles. This quickly develops into line work and exercises in simple outlines based on real landscapes rather than asbtract shapes - in fact, if you fear pages of circles, rectangles and cones, you won't find them here, and hooray for that. 

As you progress, you'll be exploring pencil, ink, charcoal, watercolour and a refreshing amount of line & wash. You'll find subjects that include landscapes, buildings, trees, animals, boats and water, as well as different seasons and weather conditions. Techniques includes line work, shading and hatching, giving you an impressive armoury to work with. 

Everything is accompanied by examples, exercises and demonstrations and the book is every bit as practical as you could hope. The illustrations are clear and excellently reproduced and the while thing has an open and welcoming feel to it. 

-- Henry Malt * Paint SAA Magazine *

Part of Search Press's best-selling Absolute Beginners series, Peter Cronin's Sketching for the Absolute Beginner  shows you how to develop your sketching skills, from very first steps to accomplished drawings. Aimed at the complete beginner, Peter uses simple step-by-step exercises and larger projects in a range of media.

* Leisure Painter *

Peter Cronin tells us that he found drawing in “special” classes at school, having been diagnosed as dyslexic. For him, it was a release from the tyranny of the worded page and an introduction to a world that was all his. All of which is a roundabout way of saying that this book is, as much as anything else, a paean to the joy and freedom that Peter finds in working with drawing materials.

Yes, it’s a book of instruction and, yes, it covers all the basic principles, but Peter also manages to convey throughout the joy he feels when working, and he’ll share it with you the reader. So, yes again, it’s a course, but it’s also a journey of discovery.

Peter’s drawings are subtle and sensitive, and he works mostly with pencil but also pen & wash. With plenty of examples and short exercises, he introduces line, composition, perspective, form and hatching as well as ways to control the weight of the mark to create values, tone, and shading.

There’s a huge amount to get to grips with here and this is a book that you can easily work through or just dip into for advice and inspiration.

-- Henry Malt * Artbookreview.net *

Although Peter Cronin starts from basics and includes plenty of demonstrations and explanations, this is one of the most complete surveys of drawing materials and practice I have seen. In many ways, it is the sheer clarity of the approach that makes the book so attractive. Within a deceptively simple exterior, there lies a wealth of practical, technical and creative information. 

Materials include pencil, charcoal, and ink as well as pen and wash and a dip into mixed media. Subjects range from landscapes and buildings to people, animals, boats and harbours. Peter also takes in rain, mist and sunshine as well as composition, hatching, recession and perspective in concise, simple sections that are easy to absorb. This is very much an overview, but all the better for that, as it never dwells too long on any area and carries the reader along, allowing them to work at a sensible pace.

-- Henry Malt * The Arti