FAVORITE ART BOOKS:

As someone who could never afford art school or online classes, I have gathered a lot of useful resources over the years to teach myself. I wanted to share all of them, but I am going to separate each into categories like programs, websites etc. Today we will start with the books! I will either mark them as free, or with a dollar sign (3 being the most expensive)

'Drawing the Head and Figure'  By Jack Hamm ($)

'Alla Prima' By Richard Schmid ($$$)

'Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes'  By Walt Stanchfield ($)

'Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist'  By James Gurney ($)

'Color and Light: A Guide for the Realistic Painter'  By James Gurney ($)

'Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers'  By  Marcos Mateu-Mestre ($)

'Figure Drawing for All It's Worth'  By Andrew Loomis ($)

'Drawing the Head and Hands'  By Andrew Loomis ($$)

I would only suggest Alla Prima to those that are serious about learning classical realism, because it is way too expensive otherwise. A lot of the advice Schmid gives sounds like it came from 'The Art Spirit'  By Robert Henri, which is also a very good book but without the pretty pictures. I am going to be honest and say that most of what Schmid teaches can be found elsewhere, but I still recommend it if you have that kind of cash to spare. 

If I could suggest two books to you, I would pick 'Drawing the Head and Figure' and 'Color and Light'. Jack Hamm's book has been on my desk for years and is a personal favorite, one that I keep coming back to year after year. Learning color is hard, and it is just as difficult to teach, but Gurney does a damn good job of it with 'Color and Light'. 

I am going to end this with a link to a free PDF on (surprise!) Sargent. 'Advice on Painting from John Singer Sargent' It is a booklet filled with advice he gave students, observations from the people that sat for his paintings and descriptions of his methods. All I have to say is...I would have hated to sit for him, even though the end result would have been worth it. I found this far more interesting than most people probably will, but if you love Sargent too then I think you might enjoy it.

I will keep updating this post whenever necessary!