Reviewed by Liz Packer
To be truthful, when I initially looked at the book I was expecting a series of chapters on how to draw characters and shapes but The School of Art is not like any other art book I have come across. My motivation to look at this book is that I am not an artist by any chalk of the imagination and neither is my son who is now at senior school. I was looking for a book that would help me and help me help him and I am pleased to say this book hasn’t disappointed.
The book was appealing to pick up off the shelf as it had a quality feel with a hard cover and bright attractive cartoon like images that almost came to life when looking at them. The book takes the form that as a student they are taking you through a series of 40 lessons with ‘professors’ covering key aspects for art and design. The professors covered ‘ideas’, ‘form’, ‘senses’, ‘making’ and ‘planet’. The ‘professors’ put art into a simplistic concept and explain in easy to understand a number of lessons/concepts such as texture, use of colour, contrasts, perspectives and how to think visually to name just a few. This book encourages experimentation with various exercises in each lesson it encourages thinking beyond simply just copying an image from the book which I guess would be comparatively easy to do but still just copying, instead it gives the knowledge and skills to apply to your art in a step-by-step format. Art is individualistic – I now get that, it is about a holistic approach, ideas, interpretation and communication of ideas which when working through the book will give you confidence. The book gives a number of helpful hints and tips and explains the language used in art in an easy to understand context.
In summary, this book has certainly not disappointed and is well worth the £14.99 price. This book is informative and gives some helpful hints and tips as well as exercises to help gain confidence in art and design. It has and will continue to be very useful for both myself and my son as he travels through his art journey in school.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £14.99
Available to buy from Amazon here.
