Drawing : The Heads and Hands

As Norman Rockwell said, "All of Andrew Loomis' books have been so simply and clearly written that their popularity is certainly deserved." Mr. Loomis has now applied his gifts to two fields that have lacked authoritative popular manuals-drawing heads and drawing hands. Accordingly, this book takes its place as the basic one on both these aspects of the artist's craft. It is addressed to "up-and-coming artists"- whether students, professionals, or amateurs-who want to develop or improve these all-important phases of their technique.
With his usual thoroughness, Mr. Loomis leads the student into the subject of drawing the head through the fundamentals of anatomical construction-as he emphasizes, "A head is not drawn until you can feel the unseen side." He then proceeds to the specifics of expression, gesture, light effects, angles, and so on. He applies the general principles of construction to drawing heads of both sexes and all ages-babies and small children, teen-agers, adults, and old people-and discusses the generic characteristics of each group, vis-a-vis the personal characteristics of the individuals within the group. In the section on hands, he urges the artist to "study your own hands," and also provides a wealth of sketches and diagrams of hands of all types.
Ninety-three plates, most of them with detailed captions, illustrate every stage of the text, making this an invaluable manual for either self-instruction or classroom study.