Susie Hodge has written over 100 books on art, art history and artistic techniques. In addition, she hosts lectures, talks and practical workshops, and regularly appears on television and radio, as well as in documentaries. She has twice been named the No. 1 art writer by The Independent.
For more information about Susie, visit her website www.susiehodge.com.
Aug 13 I always said I wasn’t going to review this series because
it has no words, so you’re really left with not a lot to talk
about. However, I caved in when it got to Insects because, if a
series gets that esoteric, it pretty much has to be popular. I
mean, not only was it the only book on that subject (exclusively)
I’ve seen, but it’s not exactly first-choice, is it? So here we
have people. They must have done that one before, surely? Or was is
a morning-after editorial meeting? “ No, we’ve got to do the
insects first.” “Have you been watching Dr Who again?” “Yes,
MALCOLM TUCKER!!!”* (Sorry, but I really am excited about this).
For those of you who don’t know, the stock-in-trade of this series
is a single page which starts off with the simplest outlines, then
builds up a basic shape and works it, in six steps, into a finished
drawing. For a subject as complex as the human figure, that does
mean there’s an awful lot left out and some pretty giant leaps of
the imagination, but it does work surprisingly well. If your main
problem is getting started, then this is definitely the book for
you and Susie does a fantastic job of choosing exactly which stages
to illustrate so that you do get a genuine feeling of progression
rather than giant steps. The only fly in the ointment is that I
wish each demonstration had stopped at the fifth stage, the
finished drawing, because these are in every case beautiful and
sensitive works in pencil that need no further embellishment. The
series, however, demands a colour finale and this is done by adding
(what I think is) a completely unnecessary wash that covers the
pencil lines and makes the whole thing, in almost all cases, look
heavy and clumsy. I don’t think it’s a problem with Susie’s work
with a wash, I just think it doesn’t work with what’s gone before.
A couple of examples. There’s a woman sitting knitting. Perfectly
fine in the drawing, but the colour wash leaves a chair she’ll fall
off if she moves and which doesn’t look strong enough to support
its own weight, let alone hers. And the man with the stick. I’m
sorry, but that thing is two inches in diameter, it’s nearly as
thick as his arm! This is a quibble, but I do think it’s best to
ignore stage six and just stop at five. Treat this as what it
claims to be, a book about drawing and put your paint box away. You
get a fantastic variety of figures and poses, both static and in
motion and a stripped-down approach that simply dissolves so much
of the mystique that always surrounds figure drawing. * Peter
Capaldi, Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It, was announced as the
new Dr Who yesterday.
*Artbookreview.net*
Dec 13 Susie Hodge shows us how to draw people in this new addition
to the How to Draw series. These books really do break it down to
the absolute basics. Text features on just one of the 32 pages.
Apart from this introduction, the drawings do all the talking. Six
stages per page take you from a simple stick outline to the
finished coloured drawing, featuring children, men and women of all
ages in various poses – walking, dancing, sitting, playing sport,
skipping and knitting. It may be simple instruction, but complete
beginners can get great results.
*Leisure Painter, The*
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