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Lessons in Masterful Portrait Drawing: A Classical Approach to Drawing the Head
Draw the best portraits with form and spirit.
Drawing techniques from a master!
Mau-Kun Yim learned to draw as the Old Masters did and believes that to render the essence of life in portrait drawing, one must continue to pursue the old ways. This philosophy and methodology relies on a holistic approach to observation, analysis and critical-thinking honed through time and patience.
• Start with a solid foundation - Classical bust drawing is a must. These lessons aid in constructing volume in your drawing and introduce concepts of structure.
• Move on to sketching - The best way to train your observation skills. Anatomy, value and state of mind are the focus of these lessons.
• 12 step-by-step tutorials put it all together - Form and spirit combine along with more clearly defined details to bring life and dimension to your portraits.
• An extensive gallery of beautifully and classically executed portraits, figures, sketches and busts serves as inspiration.
Drawing techniques from a master!
Mau-Kun Yim learned to draw as the Old Masters did and believes that to render the essence of life in portrait drawing, one must continue to pursue the old ways. This philosophy and methodology relies on a holistic approach to observation, analysis and critical-thinking honed through time and patience.
• Start with a solid foundation - Classical bust drawing is a must. These lessons aid in constructing volume in your drawing and introduce concepts of structure.
• Move on to sketching - The best way to train your observation skills. Anatomy, value and state of mind are the focus of these lessons.
• 12 step-by-step tutorials put it all together - Form and spirit combine along with more clearly defined details to bring life and dimension to your portraits.
• An extensive gallery of beautifully and classically executed portraits, figures, sketches and busts serves as inspiration.
- GenresArtDrawingNonfiction
144 pages, Hardcover
Published March 27, 2017
78 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 17, 2018
Although the author is an amazing artist, it is a rather specific style and language that he has. That being said, his approach is classic and excellent. I appreciated his philosophy on drawings busts and constructing the face. A very good book.
January 15, 2018
I’m incredibly impressed by the contents of the book and expect my figure drawing will improve for having read it. I took off one star only for the lack of instruction around several key activities like where and how to engage with busy drawing and why the author seems to prefer drawing large scale. Also he is petulantly aggressive towards the photorealistic artists which seems silly. Different art goals can coexist.
April 8, 2021
“Lessons in Masterful Portrait Drawing” is an excellent book for those interested in pursuing the portraiture art form. The book is focused on pencil drawing, though the techniques could be somewhat adapted towards painting. It touches on several important topics, though none of them are deeply covered.
Although not a definitive book on the subject matter, there is a lot of different types of examples including people and statues. There are some “step by step” examples, but there are so few examples that the process can’t seriously be considered a tutorial, it’s more of a guide. This is a common occurrence with books of this type, as now with the advent of YouTube and DVD’s, visual, real time tutelage is more to be expected, as well as demanded.
The main problem with the book is that the author’s work is heavily stylized and may not be something that you find helpful for your studies or for that matter, to your liking.
Overall, this is a good book for the aspiring portrait artist and will keep them happy until they come upon a better one.
Although not a definitive book on the subject matter, there is a lot of different types of examples including people and statues. There are some “step by step” examples, but there are so few examples that the process can’t seriously be considered a tutorial, it’s more of a guide. This is a common occurrence with books of this type, as now with the advent of YouTube and DVD’s, visual, real time tutelage is more to be expected, as well as demanded.
The main problem with the book is that the author’s work is heavily stylized and may not be something that you find helpful for your studies or for that matter, to your liking.
Overall, this is a good book for the aspiring portrait artist and will keep them happy until they come upon a better one.
October 3, 2019
The "How to Draw and Owl" of portrait books. 2 stars only for the masterful drawings that if you stare at long enough you can glean some information from but the basics of the books are covered on youtube videos you can get for free and it doesnt do much beyond that.
The book shows a progression for how to draw a head but with very little in the way on how to get there. The progression from simple block-in to the later shading is so far apart that I can't see this book benefiting anyone who isn't already deeply familiar with how to do this.
But if you just want a book filled with masterful portraiture to learn from Sargent has his books as well.
The book shows a progression for how to draw a head but with very little in the way on how to get there. The progression from simple block-in to the later shading is so far apart that I can't see this book benefiting anyone who isn't already deeply familiar with how to do this.
But if you just want a book filled with masterful portraiture to learn from Sargent has his books as well.
January 25, 2023
Superb. Simple principles, not as sophisticated as other manual on portraiture but you can go very far with this method. The basis of the method is similar to those taught in Chinese and Russian classical art academies, mainly 1. Simplifying the shape with straight lines 2. Build the drawing with tone and two-value 3. Cast/bust study 4. Anatomy/plane study. Which is probably the reason why Russia and China continued to produce superb draftsman/figurative artists. The book also has many samples of beautiful drawing too which probably I will copy a lot in the coming months.
February 17, 2023
This book is very insightful as the author is very clear about his process and the different styles he uses. He repeats a lot, but this repetition drives his ideas home. I definitely recommend this for intermediate artists that want to level up their portrait drawing. It made a big difference in my portrait drawing.
December 28, 2021
Exceptional Read
Perfect for any budding artists. Very well written. Would highly recommend to anybody interested in this subject. I’ve been applying the techniques and have seen improvements in my own work.
Perfect for any budding artists. Very well written. Would highly recommend to anybody interested in this subject. I’ve been applying the techniques and have seen improvements in my own work.
June 11, 2023
Yes, Mau-Kun Yim is a masterful artist...
...but this book will not really help the budding artist. Most of the book is examples of his art. While they are very fine, he doesn't say much about how to get there. Instructions like "add details" don't tell us much.
...but this book will not really help the budding artist. Most of the book is examples of his art. While they are very fine, he doesn't say much about how to get there. Instructions like "add details" don't tell us much.
August 21, 2024
This book is great!
Easy to read and understand the basics of drawing and how to see everything with an artistic eye, if you follow and practice drawing heads with this technique you will be able to draw and paint anything.
Easy to read and understand the basics of drawing and how to see everything with an artistic eye, if you follow and practice drawing heads with this technique you will be able to draw and paint anything.
December 16, 2019
As with many of this kind of books, only few pages are actually usefull text. In this case its few usefull pages contain some of the most useful and original advices.
January 13, 2020
Good book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2020
Excellent book.
I would recommend it to all levels of artists. There are a large number of portraits at the end of the book that are ideal for practicing portraiture.
I would recommend it to all levels of artists. There are a large number of portraits at the end of the book that are ideal for practicing portraiture.
January 22, 2021
Beautiful Book and a great tool for beginner portrait artists.
December 16, 2021
There are many things to learn from this book, and there are things to ignore. I am personally going to ignore the focus on bust studies that author suggests, for better or worse.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews