The Modern Art of Figure Drawing - And Pinups: Merging Digital and Traditional Techinques Together in Sketching, Drawing & Painting the Figure

I really like these drawings. I feel like I was 14 again. But, even so, the tips are valuable to combine conventional drawing with computer technologies like a tablet and drawing program. About time that an author wrote about that modern approach to drawing. I am grateful that he didn't erase the base lines. You can figure out technique more from those early lines than just admiring the final. And I appreciate the tips on his approach instead of the usual "go get a live model." The days when you could afford many hours of a person's time to sit for you are largely gone. Even Rockwell learned that. So, you need more efficient, cheaper techniques and this artist will help.

What I liked about this book was its focus on computer art. Above, you will find a drawing I did of Gloria Swanson on my iPad Pro. What I wanted was a way to make these pictures much better, perhaps by the addition of color. The pictures in the book (Kendal edition) were outstanding. The pictures do show some of the steps taken to achieve the finished product, but they omit the first steps, which are critical to understanding what was done. For example: the pictures show the contour lines that the author used in drawing the figure; however, he does not show when or how they were created.The text is interesting and informative, what there is of it. And, unfortunately, a lot of it tells us his background and experience as an artist. That's OK, but I did not want to buy a biography. It hurts that the book is so short and contains so little text, thus, the explanation of the author's background seems to be filler.The greatest problem is the "why" of doing certain things. He says he uses the contour lines, but he does not say why he uses them. The author shows some of the process of adding skin tones to the picture, but he does not say why these tones were chosen, or why they were applied in the order he displays, and so forth. Hair can be pretty daunting, but he doesn't mention how to pick out the tones or what makes a good highlight. I guess I'm supposed to know all of that, and maybe I do, but without his individual explanation I do not know why he decided on his particular course of action. Knowing why an artist is doing something really helps in advancing the reader's knowledge.On line, a digital edition is nearly twenty bucks, which is too expensive in my opinion. I have a lot of trouble justifying the prices charged for digital editions of a book. The method avoids tremendous overhead costs in publishing, but that seems to be skimmed off, ALL OF IT, for the publisher. My own digital book, The Super Summary of History, Revised, is Ten dollars and it is 400 pages filled with B&W pictures of all kinds. Out of that Ten dollars I get about one dollar, so I suspect this author is getting about Ten dollars or more per sale. For the information provided that is too much money. Humm… I think I will go back and knock off a star for that.If you really like pictures of beautiful women and are willing to pay through the nose too see them, this is your book. If you want to expand your ability to draw figures on a computer you might look elsewhere. One of the best books I have found is LIFE ART ON THE iPad by Julian Vilarrubi, Fifteen dollars for the digital edition here on Amazon.AD2

I have to say right away that I'm blown away by the sheer talent of Derek and what he can accomplish digitally! It's very obvious his talent started way before the digital age! Which makes him more than qualified to provide guidance in this current transition that many are making to the digital age of art. I could only dream of one day reaching this level of skill!I love how many times I had tell myself these are digital pictures as the artist clearly gives explanations about different styles and how they still have relenvence when working digitally.While this is not a book to instruct one on how to actually draw a pinup the artist is more than generous in showing several stages of progression throughout the images. Including keeping many of the starting lines even in the final images. I'm not sure if that's for the assistance of the reader or just the artists style but regardless it's amazing!The book itself, while thin, is not loaded with pages of text but rather examples on every single page so I was more than satasifed with the content for the cost!I look forward to more from this artist and would love to see other styles from him!

As an illustrator, this is a book I wish was much larger, simply because I didn't want it to end. While I would like to have seen a little more on anatomy, the author's illustrations alone are so impeccable, well done, and detailed, they are quiet educational as to how things fit together, and almost a master class in just the right amount of detail. Incredibly sexy, clean, gorgeous. The author is a humble, yet extremely good artist. Even the sketches are worthy of a gallery showing.

its an awesome book that really displays derek's line work and his love for figure and pin up drawing. As for me Ill be using it as a source of reference and inspiration for my own gestures and sketches. the pin ups are tasteful and sexy while still being instructional.As for the material of the books itself, the outside is nice and glossy while the pages have a half gloss finish maybe, its a thin book but chalk full of inspirational goodies. from an aspiring artist I definitely recommend this book.

Artist is good, has a firm grasp on subject matter, when I finished looking at the book, I found myself wanting more. More info and more drawings! All in all a excellent book.

So far it looks very productive, I ordered the whole book (paperback) and downloaded it too, I hope to learn something different

I ordered this after seeing some sample art from it on Imgur. The book offers some beautiful art and many helpful tips for digital artists. I can't wait to see more from this artist. 5/7--would buy again.

I actually really love this book. It is definitely a lot of modern pin up style bodies and process shots rather than classic approach to figure drawing though that is briefly touched on. A fair bit is geared towards the digital art approach but I am using it for traditional art approach so although certain things wont apply e.g colouring approach and layers etc, I still adore this book and am using it to improve my anatomy as it is a style I like. I am gutted the author doesn’t have anymore books (yet) or I definitely would purchase them based from looking at this one alone.

Nothing particularly helpful

Silly trivial book.very little on digital techniques

Ho messo una stella per attirare l'attenzione di possibili acquirenti, in modo da fermarvi prima dell'acquisto di questo libro e di chiedervi: a cosa vi serve?Se la risposta è: una collezione di nudi e pinup (davvero BELLI ma davvero davvero BELLI, devo dire, e non sono sarcastico) allora procedete con l'acquisto del libro.Se invece volete un libro che "mostri il processo creativo dell'artista", "come disegnare il corpo umano", "che spieghi tecniche di mixing tra arte tradizionale e digitale", allora evitate. Il libro è incredibilmente sottile e contiene quasi solo immagini; cosa che andrebbe pure bene per un libro del genere... se non fosse che ci si aspetta delle spiegazioni a riguardo dei vari processi e tecniche, spiegazioni che non ci sono.Quei pochissimi disegni di cui vi verranno "mostrati gli step" presenteranno lo schizzo, la lineart finita, il colore base, un accenno di ombre, ombre fatte e disegno finito con tanto di vestiti sfondo etc. Utile. Come dire ad un pittore "Mi insegni a dipingere?" e quello ci fa vedere il disegno a matita, la prima stesura di colore ed il dipinto finito. E i pennelli? Il modo e la logica con cui sviluppi la lineart? Le tue motivazioni per le scelte artistiche dei vari disegni? Come mai fai una cosa prima di un'altra? L'utilizzo dei layer? I materiali per la parte d'arte tradizionale?Derek Matters è un bravissimo artista e con questo libro ha guadagnato un fan. Ma di certo non ha grande abilità nella composizione di un libro (capitano anche errori di battitura e distrazione, assurdi in un libro che contiene una quantità di testo quasi inesistente) e direi che si possono aver pochi dubbi riguardo al fatto che non abbia voluto rivelare i suoi metodi.In ogni caso continuo a sostenere che i disegni siano meravigliosi, ma di certo non posso spendere 20€ per un libro con un contenuto simile. Se lo trovate a 5€ o meno, vi consiglio di comprarlo.

A great book for poses, pin-ups and sketches. I will regularly check back into it for some inspiration :)