Sketching my way through a new book...

I've recently purchased a new drawing book entitled, Giovanni Civardi's Complete Guide to Drawing. My friend, Diane Wright had a copy and was impressed by the quality of the drawings. It was initially available on Amazon but they discontinued it after I attempted to purchase a copy. Nevertheless, I tracked down an excellent used copy from a bookstore in Washington and have been working my way through it over the last few days.

The sketches below were done based on the excellent drawings in the book and really helped me understand the structure and masses around the eyes, especially with regards to the fatty pads above the outside of the eye.

Civardi's approach is a bit different for me in that he starts with a loose sketch and then creates a faceted version (like you see in the lower-middle sketch below). I have always enjoyed this type of structural study but have approached it as a first step rather than a second, which after trying it does, in fact, work better. I'm looking forward to applying this technique to future drawings.

I'll be posting some of my other sketches from my sketchbook as I work my way through this book. I am impressed with the content so far. The book is made up of Civanni's six standalone books including:

• Drawing Techniques
• Drawing Portraits (the section I'm working through now)
• Drawing the Clothed Figure
• Drawing Hands and Feet
• Drawing Scenery, and
• Drawing Light and Shade

I can't make an official recommendation on whether to buy the book right now but I'll offer my critique of the book along with my evaluation once I'm able to complete it.