The books on this page are the best books out on the market, the most thorough, and the most useful not just in the step by step processes, but in the philosophy of the craft and why we choose to make the visual decisions in our work. Some of these books are a little harder to find or out of print which will reflect in their prices.
Click To Buy – Drawing the Head and Hands
By Andrew Loomis
The Book in Three Sentences: Another great Loomis book, this is very thorough in the art of the portrait. He covers the drawing differences of both genders and of various ages from a young baby to elderly faces. There is a fairly thorough section on rendering techniques, and he does fair bit more explaining of his concepts and fleshing them out in this book than he does in some of his other books.
Click To Buy – How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal
The Book in Three Sentences: Nathan is a fantastic instructor and is wise with his words, and this book is a reflection of his fantastic teaching. Every page is filled with solid information and his demonstrations are paced well with information that helps you understand why he chose to do what he has done in them. Nathan uses charcoal like paint, thick and smooth, accurately placed marks with a buttery quality to their gradations and edges in his portraits and the reproductions in this book are crisp and clear where you almost feel like touching the page will smudge the drawing.
