This book answered my need to breath more life into backgrounds and layouts when developing animated films. I so enjoy the humble, simple voice of the author - who spends NO TIME talking about his own career successes, or name dropping who he knows in the 'biz'. He is a craftsman, a 'master' of the art, and he speaks to the reader as if they were his 'old world' apprentice. The reader imbibes confidence from the simplicity of the 'steps', even though the sample illustrations are beautifully daunting! What this guy can do with just a PENCIL is nothing short of amazing. It's a reminder of the beauty people are able to generate right from their hands with patience and practice - without the intervention of quick, cold, technology.

The book is jammed with as much visual and verbal illustration as you can possibly fit into 120 pages - no word, no drawing is superfluous. The graphic design is what allured me to flip through - it's laid out like a 1960's architectural textbook. It's deliciously authoritative, unspoiled by dramatic personal sentiment. However, the author is still able to communicate the beauty and awesomeness reveled in nature, and inspire the reader to engage in their own world from a different perspective.

I recommend it for those who often find themselves in creative 'roadblocks' when designing layouts for media. You've put your heart and soul in developing an engaging character, make sure the world in which he exists is just as engaging.

This is an amazing book that teaches how to draw scenary.

When we look at Landscape as a subject it becomes essential to look at composition of the picture. This is an extremely important aspect of creating a drawing, whether landscape or not. more so when its a landscape, since there are bound to be multiple subjects present in the picture.

The book deals in great detail on the various approaches to composing a picture. Learning to look at the whole, creating space within the boundaries, separating /arranging the subjects, creating a path for the eye to flow. these are difficult topics, but essential for a successful picture. Numerous details, and tips are presented on this topic which will enrich ones ability in composition.

These can all be employed while drawing figures/still life or any picture.

There is a lesson titled "Putting subject matter out of the mind" where the author introduces an interesting experiment of trying to compose pictures, with the basic elements such as the line, tone, etc.. but without any specific explicit subject. Its a wonderful exercise that opens up our ability to compose pictures. This is probably similar to the Gesture drawing that Kimon Nicholaides prescribes for capturing action.

There are tons of such useful exercises on composition alone that will make the book worth possesing.

Of course the book deals is awesome detail on the specific subject of scenary.

classified into following sections

Trees and Foliage
Rocks and Mountains
Clouds and Skies
Water : Ocean, Lakes, Rivers
Building

Each one of these contain simple examples, several variations, approaches to capture the particular element.

This pretty much takes care of all that one needs in creating a place for the story a picture tells.

Whether one wants to explore pure landscape as a subject, for painting, or for story Ilustration/ graphic story telling, where one needs to create the space for the characters to live, this is undoubtedly a great book to learn from.

This book is a detailed 'course of study' and is a Keeper reference book. There is no fluff. An extremely detailed and layout is clearly well planned and is a succinctly written study-guide for anyone age 12 and beyond. Every page is full of intellectually guided instruction from 'basic drawing' in the beginning and progressing to 'professional level'. It concentrates on using a minimal variety, but more than adequate number, of graphite (lead) pencil materials, papers and 'boards'. The reader will be able to apply the drawing principles to art works in pencil, ink, and paintings. This meticulous 'describer' and author, Jack Hamm, has produced a text-book that I wish I had read years ago.

I'v been using this book for about 30 years. I needed to get a new one to use in my art classes. This is an excellent book for painting and drawing with all different media.

What can I say - I would love to have the talent of Jack Hamm. I really enjoy this type of art toward character. I'm sure there are many others who I would admire too, but for now I at least know about Jack Hamm... So I went ahead and collected as many books about his style as I could.