Authors Mustard and Lea pen this inviting introduction to the art of drawing with a warm, encouraging tone, laying out the fundamentals of proportions, gridding, shading, and how to select and grip a pencil. They sprinkle spirited “aha!” moments throughout, moments of realization where a beginner might start to feel that they’re getting somewhere: why it’s important to copy while developing technique; why lighter lines while shading are easier to work with later than heavier ones. For all this book’s smartly planned exercises and heartening coaching—"Don’t pressure or judge yourself because you can’t perfect your drawing”—the authors make no promises of quick and easy triumphs. “If you want to be an artist you have to draw and draw and draw,” they write. “You have to carry a sketchbook everywhere and you have to look, look, look.”It’s to their credit that this guide, living up to its title, makes that work sound like joy. Framing one’s growth as an artist as a journey whose incidental steps are themselves a reward, The Joy of Drawing offers clear, easy-to-follow instructions, exercises, and inspirational advice. Its prompts are simple—some even meditative—and flexible, targeted to the development of skills and the awakening of creative possibilities while often encouraging looking freshly at the world around you, such as understanding the interplay of light and shadow.
The authors offer hands-on video instruction, too, accessible through QR codes, as well as a host of insightful quotes from artists throughout, samples from their own work and the work of the greats, and much practical advice for specific situations, from estimating proportions to the niceties of drawing a cone. Mustard and Lea’s approach is welcoming even as the authors make clear that art is a practice, a discipline, that demands time and development. What sets this guide apart is that The Joy of Drawing makes that time feel like its own reward, even before a burgeoning artist has captured an essence in graphite.
Takeaway: This inviting guide to drawing lays out foundational techniques for a lifetime in artmaking.
Great for fans of: Bert Dodson’s Keys to Drawing, Claire Watson Garcia’s Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
