Home » Top 5 Art Drawing Books You Need

Top 5 Art Drawing Books You Need

SketchMonster
8 min read

These are a Must Buy

These are 5 Art books that I personally recommend to everyone learning to draw. Consider them art tools. They are “must haves”. Whether you draw in a comic, anime art, or illustrations fine art style. these are perfect. I think if you have these 5 art books, it covers almost every aspect of art that you need to learn. I understand that no book is a substitute for a good teacher or even video, but these make a big difference in your artistic drawing journey. really great if you are trying to figure out how to make digital art.

All of these can drastically cut down on your learning time by several years. I use these books as not just teaching tools for myself, but as a reference that I look back on all the time when I’m stuck on a dilemma. I know some people don’t know if they need to go to art school or not, these are the supplements to that. These books are the base of my drawing library and I hope they will help you in the same way they have helped me.

So let’s jump right into the recommendations. And i also added a link to the bottom of each book, in case you want to pick it up on amazon. The best of the art tools is the Arm-adillo Pencil Case.

1) How to Draw by Scott Robertson

This is one of the core drawing books that I used to learn to draw at the very beginning. It’s a concept art book describing the insights of sketching objects and environments. What this book did for me more than any other, was teach me to think in 3d.

That special awareness is important and has changed literally every drawing from then forward. It’s particularly good for drawing things from your imagination. The method I used is drawing incredibly simple forms in perspective and gradually making those forms more complex. The book can come off a bit dry and overly technical, so be prepared. This is a must get in my opinion.

Pros:

– More Info Than You Think

– Amazing Instruction

– Clean Drawings

Cons:

– Might be too technical for some

2) Figure Drawing

To me, this is the definitive guide to learning to draw the human body. It breaks down every fragment of the body in different forms to learn. The human body is the first thing everyone wants to learn when they start to draw. This breaks down every single part of the body and color codes each part. I can’t recommend this book enough. This is primarily a teaching book.

There is some writing, but I look at it as an anatomy reference book when I get stuck. The simple color coding of parts makes this much easier to follow and less technically dry than most anatomy books.

Pros:

– Incredibly Informational

– Easy To Understand

– Great Anatomy Examples

Cons:

– Not much color in layout

3) Skillful Huntsman by Scott Robertson

This book is not so much a book of lessons, than it is a concept artist portfolio. This book follows a design project by three students from Art Center School of Design. In this book you will find original characters, props and vehicles designed by budding concept artists. It’s a mixture of sketches and full colored rendered images. The Skillful Huntsman is a classic book that was commonly recommended in nearly every design art class that l’ve ever taken.

I’ve heard about this book since I started learning to draw and with good reason. If you have any interest in becoming a concept artist or have a project with characters, backgrounds, and props, this book lays out the entire process of developing the art side of a video game.

The project shows so many steps and is a perfect walkthrough of the things needed to make large scaled complex media projects.

Pros:

– Gives View into Entire Portfolio

– Variety of Drawing Stages

– Easy to understand

Cons:

– Physical Book too large

4) Animals: Real and Imagined by Terryl Wittlatch

Out of every book on my list, I probably look back at this book more than any other. This is one of the greatest sources of animal anatomy that l’ve ever held in my hand. There is such a great wealth of information in poses that hardly any other artist draws. There are so many created animal poses in motion. The best part is, she usually draws the exact same poses with skin and without the skin for anatomy reference. The book is 99 percent images to learn from. The book isn’t a “how to” book. It’s a collection of Terryl’s art process in one large book. It’s a fictional anatomy book that she has worked on in the movie industry for decades and the book is amazing. She has a series of books that are very similair, but this was my favorite.

Pros:

– Lots of Amazing Art

– Shows Anatomy of a Drawing

– Amazing Reference Source

Cons:

– Wish it could have “How to”

5) Graphic L.A. by Robb Ruppel

Graphic LA is a physically tiny book, but it has so much great content. This book shows some of the simplest most beautiful ways to compose a scenery that I’ve seen. Most books on painting or drawing backgrounds tend to be overly complicated and dense. I constantly had epiphanies while looking at this book. The digital paintings are so simple, yet complex. I consider this an incredibly easy way to create your own backgrounds. This artist looks at a photo reference of a background and then creates a simple, yet beautiful digital painting from that I’ve seen in any book. It’s a collection of work and not a lesson book. I consider this a must have.

Pros:

– Filled with Amazing Art

– Small and Portable

– Amazing reference for Backgrounds

Con:

– No instruction

(Bonus Book) Mastery by George Leonard

Mastery is an audio book that goes over the levels of learning any skill. It’s one of the coolest books I’ve read on the different levels to the learning process. Though the book doesn’t directly refer to drawing, you can literally apply any lesson in this to the drawing practice.

The 5 essential keys to mastery taught in the book skyrocketed my art learning. So these are the books that have helped me when I’ve been confused at what l’m doing. When I feel like I cannot grab a drawing concept, then I turn to one of these books. I hope these help you as much as they have helped me. Also, feel free to recommend some books to me.

Pros:

– Comes in Audio

– Applicable to More than Just Art

– Good for Self Improvement

Cons:

– Bit Technical for Some