I have bought a number of how to draw books over the years, and previously when talking to a friend who is studying animation, I wondered: Are "how to draw books" any good? Personally I look through the book and MIGHT use it for about 2 days, but then I move away and hardly ever look in them again. All the people I have asked have given me more or less the same response: "I look at them for a few days, and that was it".

I am just trying to ask others if they have had the same experience, and if not the maybe offering advice or recommending some "How-to-draw" books they found useful.

Ehhh... I wasnt sure which category to put this under, so I guessed.

I use them for the same reason I'll open up a fashion magazine: inspiration. There's no reason to do something their way if it's always going to be "draw the ovals first, then outline". I mean, they're great if your just starting to draw or a child(hell, I loved How to Draw books when I was still a kid), but otherwise it's just not interesting.

actually the internet is probably more useful than the how to books

As far as cartooning goes I do believe that any bit of rendering and image manipulation tip or trick can now be found on the internet, for free, in the form of tutorials - with the sole exception being noir cartooning techniques. If there are any noir tips floating around on the internet, I have yet to find them.

Still, the same sticky problem is shared between How To books and free internet tutorials, which is whether the artist buys, borrows, or accesses them for free he or she still has to summon up the self-discipline to study what's available and then apply that learned knowledge to his storehouse of techniques.

It's not enough to skim read the information or just 'study' the illustrations and captions, you have to approach this stuff the same way you were supposed to approach your homework in high school or college; and that means a combination of rote memorization and actual application of those new techniques and theories in regular and consistent sessions until the new knowledge is now your own.

Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I generally don't want to work that hard at my art studies -- and believe me that this shows in my artwork, this lack of dedication and discipline -- and so most How To books and internet tutorials are wasted on me. I still like to collect the How To books and look at the internet tutorials, however. I just don't use them as they are meant to be used and, I doubt that very many DrunkDuckers do either.

CharleyHorse
It's not enough to skim read the information or just 'study' the illustrations and captions, you have to approach this stuff the same way you were supposed to approach your homework in high school or college; and that means a combination of rote memorization and actual application of those new techniques and theories in regular and consistent sessions until the new knowledge is now your own.

Yearh that does sound like a lot of work, and might explain why I never apply myself to the books :S

I do agree with Mechanical_Lullaby they are best for inspiration in my opinion.

How to draw books are exactly what they are - reference. They show a variety of techniques and ideas of how to solve a particular rendering problem as done by other artists that you will probably never have the opportunity to watch draw. They also serve as a useful source of ideas, techniques, knowledge, and techniques.

I own well over 90 "how to draw books" of various flavors. From anatomy atlases, to perspective books, to costume encyclopedias, to action drawing, to cartooning, to how to draw manga to oil painting. I reference them extensively when I'm working in areas I'm weak in ( i just got a couple actually, one on perspective and the other on drawing robots and technology, because I suck and this one had some really good reference pictures as well as how to render metallic textures and I figured it would help me draw better cybernetics...). When I'm doing character designs I often have a stack of up to ten of these books (although not all are traditional how to draw books, some are just artbooks full of car concept drawings or human pose reference..) to give me ideas of what's been done or what sort of things you can do to make unique and memorable characters. Every time I have a visual problem I'm struggling with, I grab one and flip through it and check out how someone else solved the problem to figure out how to solve mine. Hmmm.. that foreshortening doesn't look right. Why? *grab book, flip through it.* "Ohhhhh, that's what's wrong."

People, large and by, have a kind of crappy memory when it comes to details. If you haven't drawn something in a while, you will forget how to draw it exactly. Having how to draw books is like having an extended memory. You can always go back and read on how you are supposed to do something like use tones properly or do a particular style of inking. Also, drawing without reference, photo or professional, is a little like flying blind. Its a lot harder to find and correct your mistakes without something to compare it to. I've also found that it generally takes more than just one or two 'flip throughs' to commit a technique to memory and truly make it your own. I constantly reference my battle books when I'm drawing fight scenes, as well as my costume and cloth books, anatomy, perspective, and lighting.

However, that being said, there are a lot of CRAPPY how to draw books out there, and its very important that you get books that are relevant to your way of learning and referencing. There are a lot of how to draw books that lack critical steps in process (some of the digital coloring ones frustrate me to no end and don't even get me started on the sheer volume of crappy "how to draw manga" books there are out there.) I have several books that might not be considered how to draw books, but I treat them the same way as I do how to draw books. I generally call them collectively 'art books', but some are also about writing, specifically comics. Some online tutorials are useful, but I find for me, for example, most are too elementary or don't cover sufficient breadth to be useful aside from a very specific problem or question. I also tend to do a lot of drawing away from a computer and have traditionally learned drawing from books, which makes more comfortable with it. I've also found there are techniques that work better digitally than on paper, or on paper than digitally for example.

But then, I'm a freak who's constantly pushing to improve my weaknesses and build on my strengths. You can't do that alone, you have to reference the work of others or real life, and you have to do it a lot.

I think it all depends on the person and the book. I think "how to draw books" depending on what you're looking for, are wonderful. Especially for beginners. But if you're already an experienced artist and/or have your own style already, adjusting to what an 'how to draw' art book asks may be a bit of a challenge. I would scope out my options before really settling with one. See what your art is like, what you specifically want to improve on and take your time seeing if this book will work for YOU. Also remember that just because you use if for reference that it doesn't mean it can't look different or that your own style can't be mashed together with it. Also remember don't feel bad if you don't use your 'how to draw' books 100% of the time or even a lot. They're there to be used when you need them.
But again, I think it depends on the book, what you're looking for and you in general. Some to better ( as far as reference materials ) to look at their own collection of comics/manga, as a friend to pose for them, or even just look whatever you need up online. Just do what works best for you and stick to it. :)

I don't refer "how to draw" books as the ultimate guide in learning how to draw. I refer these books only to obtain tips and techniques that can be applied into my comics.

What I do is read them

I find I learn better by trial and error. The reading tends to confuse me more. They seem, IMO, to over complicate the techniques.

I picked up "How to draw superheros the marvel way" by stan lee. It was interesting, but the level of art was a bit beyond me. The best bit of advice came as "Feel free to just draw a mess of lines until it looks right"

And thats how I do it. None of these "Oh, anatomy, lines, realism" BS for me. My sketches use so much graphite, I can roll them up and use them as a pencil for the next master piece!