How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal

A very beautiful and informative book on portraiture. It's teaching of light/dark/chiaroscuro is especially gorgeous.

A wonderful instructional book. “ For me this approach turns drawing from being and endless frustration into a great joy”.

Magnificent artwork for inspiration and very clear and useful instructions to achieve beautiful portraits yourself. Great for intermediate to advanced artists, in my opinion (The more mastery you have in drawing the face and features the more mileage you will get from the techniques detailed in this book). I will continue to get a lot of value from this book over the years... a very good investment for me and I highly recommend this book over all the books I recently purchased.

This book is great but recommended for more intermediate level students. The book goes along really well with a video class on schoolism.com done by the author. Amazing stuff!

Nathan Fowkes is one of those artists you just can’t easily classify. Amazingly talented and skilled in every medium especially digital he has produced probably the best book available on charcoal portraiture. Starting with supplies and moving on to step by step techniques and then inspiring examples he give enough support for those with basic skills but I think experienced artists looking to improve will find a lot here. Very down to earth writer and sympathetic to the beginner he points out beginner mistakes to avoid and is even humble enough to include some of his own. I only wish I was talented enough to make some of his beginner mistakes! This is a great value if you really want to move up in your use of charcoal. Get this book and practice every day.

Fantastic instruction for minimalist charcoal portraits. What this book has done for me is improved my efficiency of stroke while still producing realistic drawings. It's reducing my line work and replaced it with tonal strokes earlier in the drawing. I've always used a 2-step process to drawing; line drawing, then shading to absorb/eliminate the lines for a realistic look. This book has helped me to combine these steps into one. I've always admired artists that don't need line drawings.

The art work in this book is absolutely beautiful! This book would be an excellent addition to an artist’s library of instructional and inspirational work. The majority of the contents is focused on completed art work however; there are sone concepts, tips, approaches to help complete professional work. Recommended for intermediate and advanced artists.

This is okay. It gives some instruction but relies heavily upon the reader's observation of progression in some pieces, or looking at finished pieces. You know, with charcoal, you just have to get started. Charcoal is inexpensive and it doesn't matter if you mess things up. Just keep on. Several pieces in, you will start to get a hang for it and realize that it is a wonderful medium for learning how to shade. Use erasers of different sizes to remove some of the charcoal to create highlights or something interesting in a piece you find boring otherwise. Spray with a fixative (I used hair spray when in art school) and keep on making more art. Just look at it as a trial piece if you don't like it. Keep your older ones to see look back and see how you're changing. Add an occasional spot of color with another soft art medium like pastel

El libro es un muy buen manual para aprender paso a paso la técnica del retrato a carboncillo. Su autor es un artista con una gran carrera a sus espaldas, actualmente también profesor. Enseña desde los fundamentos básicos hasta pequeñas técnicas estilísticas. Un básico. El único inconveniente ha sido el envío. Ja llegado el buen estado, pero el paquete en sí llegó abierto. Amazon tendrá que cuidar un poco más los envíos.

Ho trovato veramente Strepitoso questo libro, per vari motivi, tra i quali; in esso si impara sia a fare i ritratti estremamente somiglianti, avvalendosi del metodo di Frank Reilly, ma non si limita a questo. Oltre a ciò difatti si riesce a capire come rendere tali ritratti come delle vere Opere d'Arte con la A maiuscola. Se si vanno ad osservare infatti i Capolavori di Nathan Fowkes; essi sono curati sia per quanto riguarda l'abbellimento dello sfondo, cioè è una cosa perfino difficile da descrivere. Cura i suoi lavori con una sorta di abbellimento estremamente bello e personalizzato ok, ma ti da nel contempo l'idea su come pure tu devi curare l'esecuzione del ritratto, fatto a carboncino, come una vera Opera d'Arte al pari di un Dipinto ad olio stesso, e non solo come credevo prima; che le opere a carboncino fossero solo degli esercizi per migliorare il chiaro scuro per poi fare i dipinti ad olio. Tutt'altro che questo. Un consiglio; guardate i suoi Capolavori.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

使用されるツールの説明から、用具の使用法 著者は、輪郭を描いてからチャコールの腹で明暗 光と影で全体像を捉えている。練ゴム、擦筆、チャコール （アイボリー）等。 顔の解剖学的な要素から始まり、最終的に肖像画にして行く プロセスで掲載している。 肖像画のコンポジション・パース、肖像画を描いても背景も計算された バランス感覚で全体像を捉えている。 切れ味鋭い素早いストロークで、多分 短い時間で描きあげていると思う。 生徒達と思われる前で、肖像画を描いているパフォ―マンスも掲載。 全部で１８０ページだが、掲載図版は405点（デティ―ル）も含めて。 肖像画に、興味があるなら勉強になる。

Esse é o único livro do tipo que existe. Ele não ensina a desenhar rostos, inclusive é recomendável ter uma base antes de começar a estudá-lo, mas sim a renderizar retratos utilizando carvão. Você pode aplicar o método do livro com qualquer tipo de carvão: lápis, bastão (carvão comprimido), carvão natural, e até mesmo com pastéis deve funcionar. O próprio autor dá exemplo de como utilizar todos esses materiais. Carvão é um material difícil de dominar, mas maravilhoso. Você pode tanto usá-lo como um fim em si mesmo quanto como uma preparação para a pintura, já que tem tantas coisas em comum nas formas de trabalhar com carvão e com tinta. As dicas excelentes oferecidas nesse livro facilitam muito o processo de aprender a manejar o carvão, e com pouco tempo de prática você já começa a ter bons resultados.

This book is not for beginners but must for who is planning to do portrait in charcoal. I can say it’s change my life. It’s amazing and by following this book my sketches start to become more quicker & mature.