Book Review: Nicolaides, The Natural Way to Draw
Tuesday July 15, 2008
Kimon Nicolaides' 'The Natural Way to Draw' was unpublished at the time of the author's death in 1938. With the help of students who provided examples of his exercises, the book was edited and printed, and has since been highly acclaimed.
Comments
Nicolaides is wordy, and there are a number of good books, like “Keys to Drawing,” available that are not so wordy. Nicolaides was a sort of pioneer.
But what needs to be emphasized is that when we want to learn to draw well, really well, that doesn’t come with a weekend of drawing here and there. It takes commitment that includes drawing a lot. A lot of mileage, so to speak, with pencil or pen on paper. That’s the way, and the only way, to get good, really good. And this Nicolaides knew well.
Thanks, Bill. You’re very right - drawing well does take a lot of commitment, and I notice a marked drop-off in my own skills when I don’t spend enough time with a pencil in my hand.
I’m glad you commented on this - it’s an old review that I re-posted, and I think I should probably revisit the book and give it a fresh look. I find there are times when I’m ’spread too thin’ with various activities and find dense texts overwhelming, and other times, when I’m really involved in a subject, when I enjoy the depth that a book like this offers.
Kimon Nicolaides book is strongly recommended by The Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York to all students who sign up for their Drawing class’s. Many students of A.R.F. will tell you that they were happy with the book and that it is the only book that has helped them improve their drawings. Myself included!
Absolutely. You don’t and cannot learn to draw in a weekend. well maybe you can get an idea. but Kimon is talking about mastering the art of ‘learning’ to draw. Persoanally the exercises in Kimon’s book worked wonders for me. it made me loosen up, become confident, and really start drawing. particularly the carefully made drawings of most books intimidate the beginner, and you soon loose track of whether you should ‘copy’ a particular style, or ‘construct’ . whether focus on the line or the form etc.
Kimon gives you all that is needed, without you realizing them. and I simply loved it. we simply must undergo this exercises set, maybe even a selected subset, maybe for shorter duration. Even that I would think will d a world of good.
I simply loved the weight drawing, gesture, modelled drawing. I never found such concepts in typical learn to draw books, but were so crucial to learning to draw, particularly from imagination.
Hi Helen;
Thanks, as usual, for your passion about drawing. I remember studying with a guy in the late 1990s and we used this book; he was trying to teach me the concept behind gestural drawing, which obviously, is one of Nicolaides’ main points. I sort of understood it, and did my version, but really, I didn’t get the concept all that well (nor, I might add, was I completely convinced that there was a ‘concept’ to get.). A year ago, I began studies with an animator out here in L.A., who bases his entire method of drawing on the beginning gesture (those animators reading this are now going, “Duh..”). His wasn’t Nicolaides’ gesture, but after a while I completely got what Nicolaides was going for, and how important it is, here some 10 years later. Great book for all its shortcomings.
Best;
Chris