Drawing Portraits: Faces and Figures (The Art of Drawing) by Giovanni Civardi

Product Description

The artist covers all the important techniques including anatomy, proportions of the face, creating realistic features, using tone, formal and informal portraits, and more. Step-by-step demonstrations accompany simple exercise and a gallery of original pictures.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #248481 in Books
Published on: 2002-03-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
64 pages
Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Giovanni Civardi is an Italian artist and teacher who for years has combined studies at the Faculty of Medicine, Milan, with the practice and teaching of sculpture.
Customer Reviews

Drawing Portraits
This is the second book of Mr. Civardi's that I have purchased. I am impressed with the way he imparts his knowledge and expertise to the pages of this book. I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in learning to draw portraits. The detailed steps from start to finish are easy to understand and follow.

Contains mostly drawings, little description
This book had a lot of examples of Civardi's work but not a lot of tips or instructions about drawing it. In the beginning, there is a full page of suggestions but that's about all there is to it. Lots of pictures of body parts, no step-by-step, no breakdown of lines or sections. Basically, the book shows you the finished products, not really the process of drawing. As another reviewer said, if you would like a book with a lot of examples of his work, this is it.

I would suggest Jack Hamm's "Drawing the Head and Figure" over this book. Lots of substance, and the instruction is done in a way that leaves lots of room to create a unique style.

Not Much Substance
Civardi is a talented artist, but there was little substance to the book. There was very little detail about the actual drawing process and skills that might be helpful. After actually seeing the book, I was very disappointed. I had the same problem with his drawing techniques book. Both were very brief, expensive and short on substance, more like pamphlets than instruction books. If all you want is a slender book with some examples of his work and you don't mind the price, you might like this, but someone looking to learn portraiture would be best served elsewhere.