Lessons In Classical Drawing, Juliette Aristides – Book Review

So, as I said yesterday, I’m not painting today but instead putting up this book review. It’s for Lessons In Classical Drawing by Juliette Aristides, a reassuringly expensive feeling 208 page hardback. As others have pointed out, it’s only about ten inches tall. Not a problem but it’s a surprise. Looking at the cover, many people expect it to be 12+ inches tall and I got that feeling too. It also includes a 75 minute long DVD.

The book is divided in a very logical way into six similarly sized chapters. Let’s go through them.

• The first chapter is all about the first lines to go down on the paper. About observing the subject, thinking, then kicking off with a gesture line before adding more lines to give a scaffold to hang everything else off
• The next chapter builds off of that. We’re now coming up with first stabs at all the contours. So there’s lots here about measuring distances and angles, and locating landmarks.
• Then we have a chapter on finalising those contour lines. How to make their paths more interesting and varied (rather than just tracing over those from the previous chapter) and where and when to vary line weight. Also a bit on negative shapes and observing detail.
• In chapter 4, we’re on to dividing 3D shapes into cuboids, cylinders, spheres and cones and how understanding how to draw these simple solids can help us draw more complicated shapes. There are some interesting examples given here of how to draw heads, torsos and pelvises. And some very brief coverage of one point perspective (two or three point not covered).
• Chapter 5 is on tonal composition: this book is so well organised. This chapter only considers the drawing as a two dimensional object. It talks about value scales, observing light and shadow areas in the subject, deciding whether to draw it in a high/middle/low key, building a value plan and identifying and highlighting the centre of interest.
• And finally we have chapter 6 on light and shadow. This is where we go back to three dimensions. I do like how Juliette separated these last two chapters into two and three dimensionally motivated advice. This chapter covers the difference the light angle makes to subjects, the usual light/shadow theory (cast shadow, reflected light, terminator, etc) and, most importantly, form drawing. Form drawing is moving from the two-tone, two-dimensional notanized drawing from the last chapter into something three dimensional by bringing in mid-tones and smoothing out all the transitions between tones. Probably the highlight of the book.
• Did I say finally? What about the DVD? Is it worth watching? Yes. There’s some stuff on materials that wasn’t that interesting. And some motivational quotes from artists and students that was just padding. Whoever edited the DVD should really have cut out that bit where someone said that the only way to become, and stay as, a good artist is to spend 14 hours a day drawing! In the middle of lots of motivational stuff about how we should all give it a go and enjoy it, this guy stood out as a mood hoover. Anyway, what about the good stuff? There were some really useful partial demos by Juliette. She showed us how she started drawings of a pair of boots and of a vase with her initial lines. Chapter one of the book made much more sense after seeing these. She then did a Chapter 5 on the vase, turning it into a two value notanized drawing and made a start on form drawing it in Chapter 6 style. And she drew a sphere, taking us through the while Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 process. The DVD did exactly what it needed to do, showing the ideas in practice from the trickiest three chapters. I don’t think I need to watch the DVD again: the book now makes much more sense.

One thing I didn’t mention was that each chapter closes with a demo. They all follow the same four or five step process and I guess there’s a vague emphasis in each one on the content in that chapter but I think they’d have been better grouped together at the end of the book, showing us how to use all the advice in the book and to follow processes from start to finish. A minor complaint.

Materials-wise, I expected this book to be pencil focused but with ideas that could be applicable to other media, most notably charcoal. But it turned out to be focused on charcoal as well as pencil, especially on the DVD, so that was a bonus. And, even then, it’s not inconceivable that some of these ideas will work their way into my other media.

I said at the start that I expected this book to be at least 12 inches tall. That’s not all I was expecting. Based on the cover image, the book’s subtitle (with a foreign word in it, atelier) and the author’s posh sounding name, I was feeling a bit of imposter syndrome before turning the cover. I expected Juliette’s writing to be very serious and stern and that she would be demanding that I do loads of work, leaving me feeling inferior and lazy. All very irrational, I know. But my fears were completely unfounded. I liked Juliette’s writing style, especially her analogies. Likening scanning for tiny value changes in the detail of a source photo to watching a rapid photographic progression from galaxy to planet to city to back garden was brilliant; this got the point across perfectly.

Final verdict? Oh, it’s a winner. It’s not the first book I’d buy on drawing: I’d go for Betty Edwards or Bert Dodson. But this feels like the next step after that, one that adds to those books rather than going over the same ground. And I think it’s pretty essential for anyone wanting to draw portraits or figures in charcoal. Whether I learned anything new from it is a moot question. I don’t think I learned a huge amount but there’s lots of stuff I half knew or didn’t know that I knew that is now carved deep inside me and that I’ll be using going forward. If that’s not a sign of a great author, then I don’t know what is. Palette-wise, I don’t think this one’s quite in the galactico class so I’m going with four.

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You can find this book and more reviews of it at Amazon UK, here. As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases but this costs absolutely nothing extra to you.