Drawing, A Complete Guide by Giovanni Civardi is a comprehensive exploration of hand drawing techniques and tools. While this book is focused on these techniques from a pure artistic point of view, the skills that are covered have real relevance and value for modern Graphic Designers.
Technology changes everything and Graphic Design is no different. It doesn't seem so long ago that Graphic Design was a much more hands on discipline, with ideas mocked up on layout pads and then worked up through various refining stages, until the final design, along with a specification sheet overlay, was supplied for typesetting with the final artwork being produced through cut and pasting.
Now it is possible for anyone with basic skills to produce understandable concepts using a PC and desktop printer, but there is real value for Graphic Designers to develop their drawing skills. Such skills can help Designers to quickly and clearly develop ideas wherever they are and can also allow them to produce hand drawn graphics for inclusion in finished designs.
Furthermore hand drawing techniques translate to producing work with software such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, particularly when combined with a tablet.
Overview of Drawing, A Complete Guide
The book is broken down into seven sections, the first concentrating on techniques and the different effects that can be achieved through a range of different media. From there the book leads into sections that focus on drawing specific types of subjects.
There is quite a weighting towards drawing the human form, no doubt driven by Giovanni Civardi's personal preference, however there are many disparate aspects of the human form and learning to observe and reproduce these complex shapes will produce transferable skills.
That said though, there are sections devoted to drawing landscapes and scenery and also to representing light to effectively convey inanimate objects and still lifes.
Teaching Through Inspiration
The book is richly illustrated from start to finish and Giovanni Civardi is obviously a great believer in the premise that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Page after page of illustrations clearly demonstrate different techniques and effects using a range of differing media.
The author, however, does understand the value of the written word and the images are accompanied by concise thoughts and explanations and the book is regularly interspersed with more in depth tracts of text that help the reader to fully understand what the drawings are illustrating.
Giovanni Civardi does talk through specific exercises and breaks down important techniques into more simple steps, however this is not a 'painting by numbers' type of book. The reader isn't invited to follow carefully proscribed steps to produce the same result as the author, but to see how the author has worked and follow that framework.
The impression is that the author is seeking to inspire his readers and talk them through methods for approaching problems that they may encounter when attempting specific techniques and exercises, but for them to ultimately find their own solutions.
Who Should Read Drawing, A Complete Guide?
Any Graphic Designer who is looking to take a step back from modern technology will benefit from a book that looks at the wide range of hand drawing techniques, though the skills of a draughtsman do also have relevance to working with a range of software applications.
Improved drawing skills can help a Graphic Designer to quickly develop ideas wherever they are and these techniques can be effective skills to help communicate ideas to a client so that they better understand a creative concept.
Whether Drawing, A Complete Guide by Giovanni Civardi is the right book for learning these techniques will largely be down to how a reader likes to learn new skills and techniques. Those who want to be led by the hand through each step maybe better off with a book that takes a reader through the process of producing specific end results.
For readers, however, who like to be inspired and learn through doing, this would make an excellent choice of book and Giovanni Civardi is an accomplished artist who is also able to convey his knowledge clearly making learning through this book a more personal experience than would be expected.
Title: Drawing, A Complete Guide
Author: Giovanni Civardi
Publisher: Search Press
ISBN: 9781844485086
Ian Pullen - Ian Pullen is a Graphic Designer with some 15 years of experience in the industry. His first foot on the ladder, after completing 2 years ...
