Giovanni Civardi's Complete Guide to Drawing

Nov 06

This is a bind-up of all of the Giovanni Civardi books previously published by Search Press. As such, it's a substantial guide to drawing mostly figures and anatomy, but with a chapter on scenery thrown in. 376 pages for GBP20 is not bad value at all, although you might find that, as a paperback, it takes a bit of a battering, because this is more of a book to dip into than one to follow right through as a course.

The author's style is perhaps a bit old-fashioned and you won't find anything startlingly new or avant-garde here, but, equally, you may not regard this is as a criticism, nor is it meant as such. Giovanni is nothing if not thorough and he explains things like perspective, shading, hatching, form and proportion with admirable clarity. Every page is filled with sensitive drawings, mostly in pencil, which you can copy or emulate.

This is not really a completely complete guide to drawing and, if you want a more structured course, you're probably best off looking elsewhere. However, if your interests are mainly figurative, then you could pick up a lot of ideas and techniques from it.

Jan 07

I have nearly every book you publish on art subjects written by Giovanni Civardi. He is the very best in each area of drawing. I would like to see him do a book on drawing people in street scenes. This is a subject many artists would like to see. There are so many artist who paint street scenes and would like to have people in them but don't because they fail to do it well enough so they are included in their paintings. I have discussed this issue with so many and have been told there are no good books on the subject. I could elaberate on the subject of the need for such a book but you get my point. Drawing Common people on the street is needed. It would be perfect if Giovanni Civardi did the book. He has a way of demonstration like few others. I would like to write to him but have been unable to find an address for him. Thank you for publishing some of the best books available in the market. You people really know what you are doing when I comes to fine books at correct prices.

Sincerely, Tom Martin