A book review: : Drawing Hands & Feet – Form, proportions, gestures and Action

NAME OF BOOK: Drawing Hands & Feet – Form, proportions, gestures and Action AUTHOR: Giovanni Civardi ISBN: 9781844480715

I had a high expectations for this book. The pictures on the front cover are phenomenal. However, I must say, before I continue, I was disappointed. Whilst the author depicts out a couple of proportional concepts for hands and feet. I kind of felt like the instructional text, (albeit as minimal as it was) was space filler. The illustrations in the book are beautiful, they are highly details depictions of hands and feet from all different angles, doing different things. Which is great for a quick reference. I would have preferred that each page had instructions on how to achieve each pose throughout the book. But alas, we can’t have our cake and eat it too. The few references to proportions for both hands and feet have aided me to improve my personal skills of free- sketching hands and feet. Every bit of development helps when mastering your craft! So all in all, it is a good book, it has the potential to be amazing, Clearly the artist is talented and I just wish I could jump inside their brain a little more and download ALL their knowledge. Giovanni, You have left me wanting MORE! Personally, I like to use this book as a quick reference guide. I would imagine a heap of people out there just copying the pictures to add to their art, rather than learning how to master the craft.