What is the Best Drawing Book? 11 Top Books on How to Draw for 2023

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Last Updated on June 11, 2023 by Dee

Are you looking for a great drawing book so you can grow beyond drawing stick figures? Check out my list of the 11 best drawing books for artists in 2023.

These books offer hours of learning and inspiration from beginner to advanced levels. Whether you’re a pencil artist, charcoal artist, or like to use other mediums, it’s a great idea to have an art book with lessons, examples, and instructions on how to draw. Read my list below – there’s something here for you! So get your pencils ready and let’s start sketching 🙂

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drawing book with mannequin

11 Best Drawing Books of 2023

Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner

This fantastic book will show you how to draw in a realistic style while also making it easier than you may believe and more enjoyable than you ever dreamed!

This book’s centerpiece is a collection of engaging, hands-on exercises that will help you practice and perfect your strokes—a total of 24 mini-demos lead to 9 full step-by-step demonstrations. As you progress through the book, each exercise builds on the one before it, building your skills, boosting your confidence, and making you smile along the way.

This book is ideal for creative folk of all ages who want to learn how to draw. No matter your age, you can find bliss through art and drawing 🙂

Light for Visual Artists

In order to draw realistically, one must understand the effects of light on your subject matter. The value of a given subject is inherently determined by how Light works.

Light for visual artists is an excellent introduction to new techniques used to create light and shadow in sketching. Richard Yot explains how different materials reflect light as well as their effects in certain scenes.

This is the first book to highlight how light can be employed to create realistic and fantastic effects in a wide range of visual media, as well as provide an overview of the use of light for students and artists.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

People throughout the world consider Betty Edwards’ “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” an excellent instructional drawing resource.

There are many exercises to learn perspective, positive and negative sketching, exploring values and so much more.

Whether you’re a professional artist, an artist in training, or just interested in art for fun, this book will increase your self-esteem and enhance your artistic perception as well as help you to develop a new artistic respect for the world around you.

Keys to Drawing

This book, written by Bert Dodson, shows you all his various drawing techniques, including the fifty-five “keys” that may be used to produce any subject with confidence, no matter your skill level.

This book will develop your skills through the use of many types of drawings and teaching materials. This will be an invaluable guide if you want to learn how to draw people, animals, cars, etc.

In no time, you’ll be sketching like an artist thanks to the 55 keys, as well as hundreds of practice exercises.

This is a great read for helping you to restore lost focus, mapping out your art by sketching out the basic shapes and then filling them in, learning to intensify the effects of contrast, and using light and shadow to create the illusions of depth and texture.

Vilppu Drawing Manual

Vilppu’s Drawing Manual is an invaluable resource for life drawing and figures. Vilppu has taught art for many years and is well known.

The spiral-bound guide covers many topics from basic forms to measuring and building things accurately. It has been covered previously in an article that explains how realists and constructionists draw.

Vilppu collaborates with animators, as his concepts are fantastic. In fact, it is a great instructional book for learning how to draw.

Perspective Made Easy

This easy-to-follow book – entirely clarifying the laws of perspective – is a must-have for any aspiring artist! The author of this book, Ernest Norling explains the basics of drawing objects in perspective drawing and drawing shapes.

Perspective made easy” shows how drawing can be done easily by observing certain principles such as perspectives which are laws that govern how we see things. If we just apply these laws, we can draw objects well, even if we do not have any drawing skills.

The book is written in an easy way so it will be helpful for anyone who wants a solid drawing lesson.

Drawing for the Absolute Beginner

Another great title to get anyone started on drawing is “Drawing for the absolute beginner”. The writer of this book includes step-by-steps for absolute beginners on drawing objects in perspective drawing and drawing different shapes.

At the heart of this book, a series of fun exercises will help you become more confident with each exercise increase as you draw simple objects such as coffee mugs, clouds, and trees which will improve your ability to take on progressively more challenging subject matter like animals still lifes landscapes or portraits which is what any beginner dreams drawing.

This book contains step-by-steps on drawing objects in perspective drawing and drawing different shapes which can help beginners develop their drawing skills.

It is never too early or too late to learn drawing as this drawing book will increase one’s confidence as they practice with fun exercises.

Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth

And of course, what would drawing book recommendations be without a book by Loomis! His books are amazing I recommend them all. This one in particular focuses on the human figure and is an invaluable resource for beginners.

Trying to draw figures can be a daunting task and often it’s difficult to understand where you are going wrong. The Loomis book explains a simple but effective way to sketch figures in a realistic setting.

Andrew Loomis (1892-1959), a renowned figure artist admired by comics legend Alex Ross, is known for his excellence in figure drawing and clean, realist technique.

Titan’s new facsimile edition of his revolutionary series of art instruction manuals is the first in decades, and “Figure Drawing” is the first in a planned series of editions.

The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study

Kimon Nicolaides founded a method for teaching people how to draw that may be used by anyone. It was based on his teaching at the Art Students’ League in New York.

His approach to drawing is centered on learning the fundamental ideas of contour, gesture, weight, and structure. Exemplary works from both student and master artists are included.

This is one of the best drawing books for anyone wanting to learn how to bring their art to life. It focuses on gesture and action, feeling and expression, providing an in-depth look at the elements that make up a drawing.

This is a meticulous guide for anybody interested in learning how to make their artwork come alive.

Art Starts with a Line: A creative and interactive guide to the art of line drawing

This book, “Art Starts with a Line”, provides everything you need to know about line drawing creation. It’s all here whether you want to create a unique logo for a customer or simply decorate your planner.

Following a brief introduction to tools and materials, as well as some simple warm-up activities and methods for getting acclimated to basic drawing instruments, you’ll learn about a wide range of themes.

You’ll create plants and flowers, buildings and cityscapes, animals, and everything in between and will find inspiration from everyday life. These projects don’t have to be limited to black and white! You may even utilize digital tools to add color.

How to Draw Comics the “Marvel” Way

Professional advice and guidance for budding comics artists are provided by Marvel’s Stan Lee and John Buscema, the legendary Silver Surfer artist.

This lavishly illustrated, step-by-step guide to all elements of the process teaches you how to draw the Marvel way. Use this to create your own graphic novel with your own drawings!

drawing mannequin and pencil

Frequently Asked Questions about Drawing Books

What is a drawing book called?

A drawing book is generally called an instructional drawing book or an art drawing book. An instructional drawing book generally contains drawings that are drawn by the author to explain to the reader how they should be drawn, this type of drawing book can also include tips and hints on drawing as well as a recommended tools list.

An art drawing book tends to focus on various different types of media used for drawing such as graphite pencils, charcoal, ink, etc. These types of drawing books also will contain inspirational artwork from artists who have been practicing their craft for years or even decades so that the artist can learn from those people before they attempt their own drawing ideas.

How do you sketch a drawing book?

For drawing books such as instructional drawing books, artists will generally sketch the drawing on paper and then scan it into digital form so that they can edit it within drawing software before uploading them to their social media accounts.

For art drawing books such as abstract drawing books or landscape drawing books, artists will sketch directly onto the page of a drawing book using graphite pencils and charcoal. This is because these kinds of drawing materials are more suited for drawing directly onto the pages of a book.

What are the 3 types of drawing?

The three types of drawing are contour line drawing, realistic shaded drawing, and negative drawing.

Which book is used for drawing?

Any one of the books in the list above will be a great resource for drawing!

What is the best art sketchbook?

The best art sketchbook is either the Arteza Sketchbook or the Strathmore range.

What is the best book for learning how do you draw?

Keys to Drawing by Bob Dodson This is an excellent book for beginners looking into the art of drawing.

The book is a simple guide to drawing for anyone who needs some guidance. This book contains over 40 key steps for drawing a good drawing.

Do drawing books actually help?

Absolutely! A good drawing book is an invaluable reference tool for budding artists to improve their drawing.

How do adults start drawing? 

Adults can start drawing by picking up a drawing book and learning from the artist that created it. They can then practice drawing what they see in front of them or drawing what they imagine in their heads.

What is an artist sketchbook?

In simple words, sketchbooks are blank notebooks and papers used by artists for their artwork. Often artists opt for digital versions of the sketchbook over paper. Regardless, the sketchbooks serve as blank canvases.

Which sketchbook is best for drawing?

The best drawing sketchbook for drawing is one that is hardbound, easy to handle, and has a good paper quality. The book needs to be able to stand up to a great deal of abuse as drawing materials will tend to slip off the pages of a book, therefore it is important that the book has some kind of texture or girth on its spine so that any drawing materials do not slide out from the pages too easily.

sketching

Check out my article’s on sketchbooks:

Best Watercolor Sketchbook

Best Mixed Media Sketchbook

Best Travel Sketchbook

Does Walmart have how do you draw books?

Yes, Walmart has drawing books and drawing magazines! It is not a well-known fact that Walmart actually does sell drawing books and it also sells drawing materials such as graphite pencils, charcoal, etc.

Conclusion

I hope you have found the best drawing book for you in the list above. Any one of these 11 options will help you find the perfect book to take your artistic skills to the next level!

Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced artist, there’s something for everyone on this list. Sketch away and let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below!

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