The Urban Sketching Handbook Understanding Perspective: Easy Techniques for Mastering Perspective Drawing on Location (Volume 4)

After reading dozens of books, taking classes, making all sorts of efforts to understand perspective drawing (and failing!), Stephanie's simple, clear instruction and tips has given me many "aha" moments. Really, why isn't perspective always explained so clearly? Everyone always talks about the vanishing point, but never really explained how to find it. Stephanie does. And it's SO easy once you understand. Everyone talks about foreshortening and converging. Stephanie clearly shows how it works and when to use it. The book is filled with a wealth of sketches from urban sketchers all over the world - my only small complaint is that some of the drawings are almost too small to see very well. But, the sketches show many different styles and her accompanying analysis of the sketches is SO helpful.....she identifies the horizon or eye-level line and vanishing point in them and draws your attention to all the reasons the perspective works. The book is small, yet mighty. It's full of pretty pictures, yet educational. It's written simply, yet clearly. It'll be in my sketching bag for quick reference from now on (I've already marked certain passages & folded down pages to return to)! If you've ever struggled with perspective drawing, this is the handbook for you. If you've ever thought "I wish I could draw a building or landscape and have it look more realistic", this is the book for you. Because I'm here to tell you, Stephanie makes it easy to understand.

Practical, good examples, nice illustrarions. I also have the urban Sketcher art pack and the documentary writing ones from the series. So far I like this one the most. It has a basic walkthrough in which the author breaks down how to look at and replicate perspectives in sketching step by step, and offers a basic, yet comprehensive set of steps to accomplish more believable perspective in one's sketch work. I knew a number of these things cognitively, but struggle implementing them believably or as accurately as I would like to, and I'm quite slow. I can refer to this guide repeatedly without needing to cover pages and pages of info each time to learn the techniques I'll need to improve my drawing skills. I bought a used copy, and it was in great shape. These are sturdy little books with an elastic closure and are much like a moleskine sketchbook in terms of their binding style and durability, I'd say more flexible though. So if you are buying a copy that says poor to fair condition, I'd expect it would really be trashed considering the book is designed to take a beating.

Love this book! I have 3 in this series and I'll probably end up with them all, but this was the most foundational for me. I'll mostly use simple one and two-point perspective, but I can even grasp the more complicated applications. I'm also taking Stephanie Bower's Craftsy perspective class which is a very worthwhile companion to this book. As far as the things people don't like about the book- the light gray text and small font-I'd agree its not very easy on the eyes, but doesn't really put me off. I think the Urban Sketcher Handbooks have very attractive layouts, wonderful pictures and excellent content, especially this one. Another really good, concise book is Liz Steel's 5 Minute Sketching: Architecture.

This is a good book for those who have some idea of perspective drawing or those who need an approachable introduction to it. Like many/most 'urban sketching' books it is replete with wonderful sketches to inspire the reader, but unlike many other books it has useful, detailed instructions as well as the ideas behind what you are doing. Knowing the why is certainly important, but knowing the how is essential to being able to implement the ideas presented, and this book does a good job of both. It is a small book (5 inches by 8 inches) and some may have a little difficulty with the small drawings, but the essential aspects should be easy to discern. The ideas behind the process are well presented and should be easy to understand for most readers. I have had both art and architecture training over the years and compared to many other instructional books in those fields this is quite good at presenting the information in a way that is easy to grasp. The diagrams are illustrated with colored lines that help differentiate the ideas of things like eye level and vanishing points and this helps convey the ideas in a clear way. If you are interested in adding depth (no pun intended) to your drawings this would be a good place to start, and if you have some idea already this should serve as a solid refresher and/or reference book.

The author is a natural teacher. Her explanation flows smoothly and clearly and each topic is discussed in the depth necessary for a beginner like myself to understand at once and fell like it is worth a shot doing some sketches on our own.

The right book at the right time. Perhaps a cumulative effect of all the books I’ve read and lines I’ve drawn, but Stephanie Bower explained it so that I GOT it. Thank you Stephanie!

I have given a lot of thought to how to review this book. The content is excellent and the author deserves five stars, The publisher, however, made a terrible decision regarding the font, the font size, and using weak pale ink on white paper. I have to use a magnifying glass to read it which is ridiculous. The author puts together a very helpful book, then the publisher makes a stupid decision about the font and the ink so it is difficult to read. I have noticed this same thing in some other new books. I hope it is not the trend. I know the business schools now teach making money takes precedence over serving the customer. In this case, the publisher has done a disservice to both the author and to those who are buying her book.

This is the second book I’ve read by Stephanie Bower, and my fourth or fifth in the Urban Sketching series, and as with all the others, this was packed full of practical information and wonderful image examples that both teach and inspire. Stephanie is so good at explaining essential drawing techniques in a way that’s easy to understand, she makes you want to pick up your pen and try them for yourself right away! I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about perspective, but I definitely gained some new ideas and methods from this great little concise manual!

Livro meio pequeno mas muito bom conteúdo!

Perfect book for urban sketching. It is very clear and there are a lot of useful tips.

Not much to say except best book/guide to grasp importance of getting perspectives right.

just a good book about perspective covering all basics

me gustaron mucho los dibujos y consejos, creo que es un buen basico para entender la perspectiva si no conoces nada de ese tema, sin embargo, es tan básico que no indaga más sobre la perspectiva. Sirve muy bien para poder dibujar sin tanto conocimiento sobre perspectiva.