By Armand Cabrera
I have written about Andrew Loomis before on this blog, you can find those articles in the sidebar under Andrew Loomis. Now Titan Books has reprinted five of the six books written by Loomis while he was still alive. The seventh Eye of the Painter was published posthumously after his death and is more of a philosophical book than a how to book and has not yet been reprinted.
The books are beautifully reproduced and are quite a bargain at fewer than 30 dollars each. Even though I own a complete set of the original books I bought the reprints to use as working copies and they are exact large format hard cover books and reproduced down to the typos.
If you do not own copies of these books I suggest picking them up, they are Fun with a Pencil, FigureDrawing for All its Worth, Creative Illustration, Drawing the head and Hands,and Successful Drawing.
The last one, Successful Drawing was revised during Loomis’ lifetime and re-released as Three Dimensional Drawing with an additional 20 pages of information not included in the first book. I had hoped Titan would combine the volumes and release them but they didn’t. Still, Successful Drawingis worth the price for any serious artist.
If you are just starting out these books are invaluable for getting you on the right track. Support the publisher and family by buying these books. While some of the information is dated stylistically, the fundamental ideas are all sound and still relevant to this day.
Thanks Armand! I've read some of Loomis's things on another blog a long time ago. It was about the tonal arrangement of one's composition. It was very interesting! I'll look into the creative illustration book, I think!
Armand, I have a pdf copy of Creative Illustration that a friend gave me a long time go. I must say that book has everything an artist/illustrator could use. Loomis knew so much knowledge Im dumbfounded at the depth. Just on compostion and perspective..he gives a wide gamut of inventions it would take lots of time to cultivate. I also love the little piece on Pyle. Loomis says he aquired it from a source which seems to be one of Pyles students. Great Gem there on Pyles thought system. Anyhow, you cant go wrong having some of Loomis books. Ebay sometimes has the orginals for $$$.. but the reprints would be the way to go.
Thanks, for post.
I liked the gallery section at the end of "Successful Drawing." However the 20 pages of material that replaced it in "3 Dimensional Drawing" are a gold mine of practical perspective and composition info. Several items I've never seen anywhere else. I've revisited that addendum many times during my career.
Thanks for letting us know about this. I have Figure Drawing For All It's Worth (bought for $$$ on Ebay) and the new Drawing The Head and Hands, but was unaware the others were available. Going off to order them now.
Is the material on perspective and composition that was added to "3 Dimensional Drawing" available online anywhere?