[audiobook] Fragonard: 170 Master Drawings by Blagoy Kiroff in Arts-Photography

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A great book for starting artists!By CustomerThis is an excellent book for artists who want to move from line drawings to understanding mass and tone. Very simplistic and no-nonsense; E.J. Gold is a wonderful teacher for making this critical step very easy and understandable.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Wellsprings of creativity awaiting explorationBy Garrett DaunI recently utilized just two of the exercises from this strange--but infinitely applicable--book at an international workshop I was putting on; and the results were delightful.Guys who were truly convinced they couldnt draw and were incapable of any artistic tendencies were suddenly finding themselves drawing for hours without any resistance or hesitation.But be warned; these arent drawing exercises like you might expect. Youve got to approach with patience; and some amount of trust that by following the exercises; your skills; talents; and latent creativity will start to unfold in ways you cant possibly expect.Thats the invitation offered by this book: you do the work; and then you harvest the multitude of results. You cant proceed with these exercises in earnest without them having a powerful and expansive effect on your creativity; and incidentally; many other areas of your life.Ill continue using the book to help myself advance at drawing and other pursuits--not the least of which include: heightened awareness; more focused attention; and a settling in of a deeper; more quiet patience with myself; my skills; my own unfolding talents; and hence; life itself.Well worth the exploration.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Havent Decided If This is Genius Or NonsenseBy Edward HI saw this at the bookstore amidst a depressing sea of "How To Draw Three-Headed Anime Dragon Warrior Gothic Robot Girls" type books. It called out to me as something different and interesting and I bought it.Theres very little to it. The text is almost entirely written by the authors students; and is culled from their class notes. There is very little text. The rest of the book is a bunch of examples of scribbles; both blank versions and versions filled in with shading in one way or another. Youre supposed to photocopy the blank ones and play with shading them.The advice given in the small amount of text is generally either vague ("art is a process; not a product") or arbitrary ("always establish a one and a half inch border;" "always use very sharp 9B pencils").The students reverent tone suggests that art class with Gold was a wonderful experience; but Im not sure that experience translates to book form very well. It seems as if the wonderful thing about class with Gold must not have been the stuff he taught directly; but something about his way with the students.My most cynical side suggests that there may be nothing particularly special about Gold at all; and that the whole thing is a matter of guru-worship; where the adored leader spouts banalities and trivialities which are seized on by the cultic followers and interpreted as nuggets of deep wisdom.My least cynical side thinks that there really was a special art-creating and art-learning thing happening in the class; and that it left traces of itself in the book; and there are some valuable things to be gotten from following those traces; so its worth my time to try and understand how the exercises are to be done and follow them.Possibly the most valuable thing the book has done is given me a chance to sit down and listen to both of those sides of myself; least and most cynical; and get to know them better.I awarded the book 3 stars out of 5 but it would have been more accurate if I could have put down 5 stars and 1 star at the same time; in quantum superposition.