Title: Debt-Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing: The Affordable Way to Learn Professional Skills
Author: Marco Bucci
Release date: November 12, 2024
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
RRP: $26.99 (USD)
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis:
“An essential guide for a new generation of artists to learn professional-level art skills—no student loan required!
Now a successful artist, illustrator, and YouTube star, Marco Bucci once thought you had to be born with art talent and go to an expensive art school to have a career in art. Unfortunately, he couldn’t draw and didn’t get into art school, but he heard that drawing was something you could learn anyway, so he set off on a self-guided journey of becoming an artist. In Debt-Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing, Marco shares what he learned to help you become a successful artist without experiencing the same false starts and setbacks he did.”
Book Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book.
“…learning to draw is largely a matter of learning to see. Or, the way I think of it now, reprogramming how you see.”
Marco Bucci
Are you looking for a book with clear and straight-forward instructions on how to thoughtfully improve your art practice?
Marco Bucci’s Debt-Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing. The Affordable way to Learn Professional Skills is filled with step-by-step examples and common-sense advice on topics such as:
- designing shapes
- gesture drawing
- perspective
- color theory
- light and shadow
The writing style is clear and easy to understand. Each topic is explained in a way that enables new artists to learn foundational skills, and more experienced artists to fill in gaps in their existing knowledge.
Every chapter is well laid out, with clear examples, great explanations of each topic, and how to incorporate that knowledge into your work.
QR codes are sprinkled throughout each chapter with links to video demos of the topics discussed. The videos were very helpful as I worked my way through the book. It is always beneficial seeing an artist demonstrate how they construct a drawing after reading about the theory and methods!
At the end of each chapter the reader will find assignments that build on the topic discussed. Each mini assignment includes a helpful tip or two to get you started and encourages you to explore the subject in greater detail.
The emphasis is on producing finished studies, rather than finished artworks. The reader is expected to learn and absorb the information slowly, returning to the book over time. In re-visiting and re-absorbing more of the information presented, they will see how they can further extend their knowledge and level up their skills.
I particularly enjoyed the chapters on perspective and colour theory. These are both topics that I have found challenging. The examples and diagrams explain very clearly how to apply what you are learning to your own art. The accompanying assignments at the end of these chapters were also very helpful for me!
Applying what I learned in the chapter on perspective to my own drawing:
‘Moving through the greys’ – studying temperature shifts in colour from one of my Zealandia photos:
I have been constantly applying the lessons I learned from Debt-Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing to my own art practice since finishing the book. I will purchase this book for myself and refer back to it again and again in the future as I keep learning and improving in my daily art practice.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting a straight-forward instructional guide on the fundamentals of art, with sensible advice on how to study the fundamentals separately, and then apply them to your art. Once you are comfortable with the fundamentals, you put them all together and your brain becomes a “hotel for art”!