Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes

I love drawing no matter what and love knew methods and styles that’s help improve my skills especially learning the different varieties of trees & etc etc.

Jack Hamm's three books "Drawing the Head and Figure," "How to Draw Animals," and this volume together form what I consider a complete course in commercial illustration but for color theory, which you can find in many other art books. Drawing well is the basis for every other art form especially in illustration.This is the most difficult of those three volumes. Prepare to spend some time reading and studying it. I felt like I was back in college, and progressed through it one page at a time doing sketches on index cards with a soft pencil to test the ideas and theories he put forward -- and unlike many other art books I've read or classes I've taken, concepts like composition, balance, light and perspective made sense to me after studying this book. It's not a light read but it's so rich.Jack Hamm's style is engaging but it's very content-dense. His books are the peak of the example-heavy content-rich concise style of art instruction. Step by step projects and long personal essays on technique and feeling aren't what Jack Hamm is about, although his style is engaging he doesn't seem to have the ego that many art instruction writers do. He doesn't claim his methods or compositions or styles are the best. He describes as many different ways to do things as they are and constantly encourages imagination, originality and personal style.He distinguishes realism from artistic exaggeration and explains effectively why you can't just rely on a photo or even on what you see to create a good believable picture. I'm a writer who has spent a lifetime trying to learn self-illustration and his explanations have successfully broken some mental barriers like overdetailing, lack of focus, bad composition, inconsistent lighting. He encourages boldness and daring.He has specific examples and details of everything I'd need to use in a scene, from clouds and waves to rocks and trees and houses. Most of all he shows how to create drama within a scene, no matter what the subject is it can be rendered a little bolder than life, it can convey emotion and tell a story.I'd recommend this without reservation, order all three of them if you don't have them. All of these books have one quality in common. Even after they're read, they are great permanent references with examples of trees, waves, houses, styles of clouds -- the cloud chart pages are great -- so if I'm doing a drawing I can flip to the right section and get ideas for how to handle the sky or what I can do to make the gnarled tree look like endurance.These books are the kind that will wear out from constant use and need replacing if you're at all fond of drawing, because there's always something new and interesting to find for any future artwork. This is why these classics are still in print. Check out the other two and consider his cartooning book as well if you have any interest in cartooning.

This is an amazing book that teaches how to draw scenary.When we look at Landscape as a subject it becomes essential to look at composition of the picture. This is an extremely important aspect of creating a drawing, whether landscape or not. more so when its a landscape, since there are bound to be multiple subjects present in the picture.The book deals in great detail on the various approaches to composing a picture. Learning to look at the whole, creating space within the boundaries, separating /arranging the subjects, creating a path for the eye to flow. these are difficult topics, but essential for a successful picture. Numerous details, and tips are presented on this topic which will enrich ones ability in composition.These can all be employed while drawing figures/still life or any picture.There is a lesson titled "Putting subject matter out of the mind" where the author introduces an interesting experiment of trying to compose pictures, with the basic elements such as the line, tone, etc.. but without any specific explicit subject. Its a wonderful exercise that opens up our ability to compose pictures. This is probably similar to the Gesture drawing that Kimon Nicholaides prescribes for capturing action.There are tons of such useful exercises on composition alone that will make the book worth possesing.Of course the book deals is awesome detail on the specific subject of scenary.classified into following sectionsTrees and FoliageRocks and MountainsClouds and SkiesWater : Ocean, Lakes, RiversBuildingEach one of these contain simple examples, several variations, approaches to capture the particular element.This pretty much takes care of all that one needs in creating a place for the story a picture tells.Whether one wants to explore pure landscape as a subject, for painting, or for story Ilustration/ graphic story telling, where one needs to create the space for the characters to live, this is undoubtedly a great book to learn from.

Fine

As a beginner I’ve struggled a lot with drawing just about anything, so one day I bought maybe 2 dozen books for learning to draw landscapes and nature. This one was the single most useful of all of them. The key to how this book did more for me than others is that the examples shown in the book are simple and direct. You can replicate them just by looking at them and imitating what you see, and in doing so learning new approaches to drawing. The author provides you with dozens of examples of how to approach everything from clouds to mountains to rocks and trees. There are also sections that provide step by step methods for drawing things like rocks and mountains.The author shows examples that are nothing fancy, and you can see how it was done just by looking at it. I’ve improved more than ever in a short time thanks to this book.

Ótimo livro, edição fraquinha. Papel bem frágil, mas bom de se ter mesmo assim.

Si je ne devais garder qu’un seul de tous mes livres sur le dessin de paysage, ce serait celui ci. C’est une incroyable mine d’informations, abondamment illustré, clair, concis, grande pédagogie. Il s'adresse aussi bien aux presque débutants qu'aux dessinateurs avancés tant il est simplement expliqué et remplis d'astuces indispensables. Des exemples pratiques, des centaines de dessins, schémas, croquis. Je me demande encore comment l’auteur a réussi à faire tenir autant de contenu en seulement 120 pages. Tout l’opposé des livres actuels, remplis de vide.Il date de 1972 mais rien ne le laisse penser. Le style de l’auteur est intemporel et efficace.Les points faibles :- en anglais (merci google trad)- c’est une copie imprimée par Amazon : le texte et les parties dessinées à l’encre sont ok mais les dessins au crayon manquent de finesse et de contraste, dommage ; néanmoins, c’est un vrai trésor, et au lieu de râler après l’impression médiocre, je me réjouis plutôt qu’il soit disponibleJ’ai trois autres livres de cet auteur (anatomie, cartoon, animaux), tous sont aussi bien faits. J’espère réussir à trouver les premières leçons de dessin, et celui sur les natures mortes. Je ne comprends pas que ce genre de livres ne soient plus réédités, ni même traduits. Ce sont de véritables bibles.

Excelente material, fue por este medio que me permitió encontrar fácilmente este ejemplar.

Obwohl das Buch in englischer Sprache geschrieben ist, ist es ausgesprochen hilfreich. Die schrittweisen Illustrationen allein sind schon sehr nützlich, wenn man ein paar Brocken Englisch versteht, erschließt sich einem noch einiges mehr. Von vorn bis hinten sind hier alle Schritte zum Zeichnen von Landschaften enthalten, wie man einzelne Elemente zeichnet (es gibt eine Doppelseite mit verschiedenen Baumarten und weitere Seiten, wie man beginnt einen Baum zu zeichnen) bis hin dazu, wie man das Bild zu Beginn aufbaut und Tiefe erzeugt. Alles ist mit einer Fülle von Beispielen versehen. Sogar verschiedene Wolkentypen sind einmal beispielhaft aufgezeigt. Für totale Einsteiger in Sachen Landschaft fehlen allerdings ein paar grundlegende Techniken, aber die könnte man sich mit Geduld auch selbst erarbeiten. Wer schon ein bisschen gezeichnet hat, der sollte keine Probleme haben. Hervorragendes Buch, ich kann es nur weiterempfehlen.

The information in this book is fantastic! I’m very glad to have bought the book. However, I’m quite disappointed in the quality of the printing, which looks like a photocopy of a photocopy. It’s not sharp and has a muddy background.Also as I’ve discovered later, there are two of page 8 and no page 9!