Series Review: Learning to See by Peter Jenny

I was asked to review this series quite a while ago. Since I am interested in learning how to illustrate my own children's books, I felt this would be an excellent way for me to get started.

The Artist's Eye is filled with pictures, artwork, inspiration--big and small, and exercises that will help you see things in new ways and find art in everyday objects.

From cloud pictures to coffee stains, from rubbing to outlining, and from doodling to shadows, this book will help you to see everything through the eyes of an artist.

Drawing Techniques is for artists what craft books are for writers. This book includes 22 exercises to increase your skills and self-confidence. The book opens with a short essay. Then it quickly moves into the techniques. I love how the author spoke of gesticulating and also the Touch exercise. The pictures and illustrations from this book are just as diverse as the ones found in The Artist's Eye. What I feel this book helps do is free up your mind to different ways you can approach your work.

The third and final book in the series, Figure Drawing, was, for me, the most challenging. I remember attempting to draw a human face in sixth grade. It was torture. Even my son, who is wonderful at drawing objects, struggled with drawing people.

The essay that opens this book is truly inspiring. It serves as a great source of encouragement for budding artists.

Inside you'll find everything from stick figures to doodles to figures made with letters or out of spirals. You learn how to create the skeleton and then build an exterior shell around it. There are silhouettes and fragments.

This final book is fascinating. It's definitely the one I will use the most.

I highly recommend the Learning to See series by Peter Jenny.


Book 1
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; Tra edition (April 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616890568
ISBN-13: 978-1616890568
SRP: $12.00

Book 2

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; Tra edition (April 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616890541
ISBN-13: 978-1616890544
SRP: $12.00

Book 3
Paperback: 188 pages
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; Tra edition (April 4, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616890495
ISBN-13: 978-1616890490
SRP: $12.00


I received free copies of these books from the publisher. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have received no compensation of any kind.

These are the 42nd - 44th books I've read for the following challenge: