Book Review: How to Draw, by Scott Robertson

Until now, I had to rack my brain to think of what instructional book to recommend for a student who wants to learn perspective.

No longer. Scott Robertson's new book, "How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination" lays out all the principles and practices of drawing objects in perspective from your imagination.

The emphasis is on how to draw things in perspective with traditional tools, but the principles apply to digital artists, too. The book begins with basic drawing materials and techniques, and then defines underlying concepts like cone of vision, viewing position, horizon line, and vanishing points, concepts that are often skipped over in other books. The book then goes on to explain exactly how to draw a form with compound curves—such as a car or an airplane—either from observation or imagination.

The book, by Robertson's own publishing company Design Studio Press, is large (9x11 inches), thick (208 pages), and printed on good paper. The book also has innovative video content of the book that can be sourced by a URL inside and on an Android app that is still waiting on iOS approval.

Scott is both a master teacher and a concept artist who has designed vehicles for many feature films. He has been working on this book for most of his professional career, and it benefits greatly from his experience as artist, teacher, and publisher.
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How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination
Other book recommendations in my "Survival Guide for Art Students"