ART BOOK REVIEW - How to Draw - From Line to Life - Mike Sibley - review by Jason Morgan.

Blown away !!!!!!!! Yes, I bought this book a number of years ago - a signed copy. I showed this book to my painting tutor who taught me to paint botanical flowers and plants and animal portraits, well she was blown away, Gillian is rated one of the top 100 artists in the world in her field but when she saw this book her face light up, so I've just ordered her a copy for Xmas. If you want to learn or improve your drawing and let's face it there's always room for improving one's drawings, buy it !!!!!...

I decided to resurrect old hobbies, and one of those was pencil drawing. I was a little lost as to which direction to take my pencil drawing and almost shelved the hobby again. My husband then bought 'Drawing from line to life' for me as a birthday present. I can honestly say it is excellent, very informative, clear, easy to understand and full of many useful illustrations and easy to follow instructions. It gave me guidance and a direction to take my drawing and has successfully rekindled my enthusiasm with the art form.

I especially like drawing animals and you have a wealth of useful tips for creating great images. I have produced several drawings based upon lessons learned from your book and have been very pleased with the results and I feel that I am improving with every piece I complete. Your book is always close by when I am drawing and I refer to it often thinking 'how does Mike do this' Thank you for such a great guide to this art form Mike.

Superb book by a master with graphite pencil. Well worth the money! This large book is packed to the brim with drawing demonstrations, tips, techniques and the nitty gritty details of which materials to try and why. I've learned a lot from Mike's sound advice which I now apply almost daily as a professional wildlife artist.....Mike raises the bar for all artists working with graphite pencil. If you only buy one art book on how to draw credibly, make it this one. You won't be disappointed!....

Mike Sibley, best known for his canine portraits, is a talented teacher with a gift for breaking up the drawing process into fundamentals. In this comprehensive reference he takes the mystery out of the drawing process. 'Drawing from Line to Life' is a hefty book, 288 pages in a generous 9 by 12 inch format and packed with illustrations. If you're looking to develop your drawing skills, especially in photo-realism, read Drawing from Line to Life.

The problem with a lot of drawing books is that the author is often more concerned about showing his art than showing how he did it. In Drawing From Line to Life I never get that impression. Everything in the book is explained in great detail and pretty much all pages have at least 2 or 3 illustrations. The book starts with a friendly introduction by the author, after which he continues to explain in almost 20 pages which tools he uses. I think that's a great way to start a book. I'm one of those people who really believes that it's important to start with the proper tools and to know how to use them. This is something that one should focus on from the beginning and not at a later stage. It creates the right foundation to transfer your ideas onto paper or like in Photoshop to create a digital representation of what you have in mind.

The book is a really good size with a fair amount of weight. The step-by-step close-ups and instructions give a very intimate and personal look into techniques, and the book is logically laid out and very readable.....I really strongly recommend this to any budding artist wanting to learn how to draw realistically; you'd be hard pressed to find any better instructional book in this genre on the market today....

Mike Sibley is a well-known British graphite artist. His book, Drawing from Line to Life, was published last year. To his many fans, this was a long-awaited event, and it created a lot of excitement. The book even has its own Yahoo group. For anyone interested in graphite drawing, especially in a realistic style, this book will provide a feast of information. There is bound to be something new to learn for everyone as Sibley is a very experienced artist who has developed many tricks over the years. I have to admit that I don't particularly like his art, but one cannot fail to admire his technique. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I recommend Mike Sibley's book 'Drawing from Line to Life' without reservation. If you are interested in realist drawing and serious about learning, this book has a wealth of information that you just won't find anywhere else. Beginners might need something a little lighter to complement it, such as 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' - but that is about seeing. This book shows you how to make the marks on paper.

I have to start with my absolute favourite 'Drawing from Line to Life'. This book is a complete guide to drawing realism in graphite. It covers materials, methods, techniques and three complete demonstrations, all by professional graphite artist Mike Sibley. It is divided into 24 chapters which start with, From Line to Life Explained and end with, Putting it all Together.

Are you a graphite artist caught up in a world of watercolor how-to books? If you are, then sit down. This book is an inspiring how-to book just for you. Mike Sibley is one of the world’s few professional graphite artists and he shares what he knows in this 287-page reference. In his book, Sibley discusses the following: the tools he uses, line drawing, tone drawing, erasing techniques, blending & layering, indenting, working with photos, negative drawing, perspective, light & shade, transfer methods, the preparation & planning of a drawing, drawing ellipses, drawing textures, drawing reflections, drawing foliage, and drawing hair. Sibley also leads readers through three demonstrations and dedicates two chapters to “fooling your brain.” One chapter is about fooling your brain during the drawing process and the second chapter is about using techniques to convey realism in your artwork that fools the brain of the viewer.