The Complete Guide to Drawing & Painting

"This is by far the most comprehensive guide to drawing and painting I have ever read. I came across it on a sales rack and I'm glad this is the one I chose. Every medium is gone over and properly pictured. Instead of the usual two pages with pencils, paper, and other supplies laid out artfully in a photograph across two pages showing you what you will need for some drawing you practice in the book, every single type of tool is laid next to others of the same type and it goes on for pages and pages. Every example from known artists is in represented in colors the same as the original. The large pages do justice to each. Every technique with its medium is broken down and explained. It shows different techniques for pencil, for example, and how every line from a 2B to a 2H looks on paper while also explaining a pencil's result on different papers. It tells you what works best or is most satisfying on which paper while it also encourages you to break the rules, providing examples of paintings and drawings that did. It introduces you to theories (strangly enough, toward the end of the drawing section) about learning to paint first or learning to draw first and providing background on the arguments. It explains sketchbooks and how they are used to make finished works or to study a subject to draw or paint later. It breaks down types of works (still life, landscape, etc) for painting and for drawing. "