Introduction 6
Materials 8
The eye, the hand and the heart 18
Making a start 22
Farm in Sunlight – step-by-step 28
Seeing the world 30
Harbour Scene – step-by-step 46
S.E.T. in action 48
Churchyard Scene – step-by-step 56
Types of sketch 60
Beyond the pencil 64
Composition 84
Fixing the Farm – step-by-step 92
Handling complex subject matter 98
Boat Sheds – step-by-step 138
Afterword 142
Index 144
Peter Cronin loves the natural world. The pull of the outdoors and
the fall of sunlight across the landscape inspires his work, and he
can be found exploring the world around him in all seasons and
weathers. Through his teaching, workshops and demonstrations he
seeks to encourage, equip and help all who love art.
A Member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA), the Royal
Watercolour Society of Wales and the Pure Watercolour Society,
Peter has been a professional artist for more than 15 years.
Completely self-taught, he has gained an enviable reputation for
his watercolour and oils; both of which rely on Peter's clarity of
sight and the economy of line in his underlying drawings. In 2022,
Peter brought his expertize to Channel 5's popular TV series,
Watercolour Challenge, appearing as a guest judge.
Peter lives in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK. To learn more
about Peter and his work visit his website www.petercronin.org
This is one of the very best books on sketching I have seen.
Starting from the basics, Peter introduces techniques, styles,
subjects and media and the whole thing is as close to a complete
course as you're likely to get. There's a very good chance you'll
finish it and feel you don't need any further guides and are ready
to strike out on your own. after a brief survey of materials
and equipment and some thoughts on what to look for and how to see,
you're straight into some reassuringly simple guidance that opens
with How to Hold a Pencil and some simple scribbles. This
quickly develops into line work and exercises in simple outlines
based on real landscapes rather than asbtract shapes - in fact, if
you fear pages of circles, rectangles and cones, you won't find
them here, and hooray for that. As you progress, you'll be
exploring pencil, ink, charcoal, watercolour and a refreshing
amount of line & wash. You'll find subjects that include
landscapes, buildings, trees, animals, boats and water, as well as
different seasons and weather conditions. Techniques includes line
work, shading and hatching, giving you an impressive armoury to
work with. Everything is accompanied by examples, exercises
and demonstrations and the book is every bit as practical as you
could hope. The illustrations are clear and excellently reproduced
and the while thing has an open and welcoming feel to it.
*Paint SAA Magazine*
Part of Search Press's best-selling Absolute
Beginners series, Peter Cronin's Sketching for the
Absolute Beginner shows you how to develop your sketching
skills, from very first steps to accomplished drawings. Aimed at
the complete beginner, Peter uses simple step-by-step exercises and
larger projects in a range of media.
*Leisure Painter*
Peter Cronin tells us that he found drawing in “special” classes at
school, having been diagnosed as dyslexic. For him, it was a
release from the tyranny of the worded page and an introduction to
a world that was all his. All of which is a roundabout way of
saying that this book is, as much as anything else, a paean to the
joy and freedom that Peter finds in working with drawing materials.
Yes, it’s a book of instruction and, yes, it covers all the basic
principles, but Peter also manages to convey throughout the joy he
feels when working, and he’ll share it with you the reader. So, yes
again, it’s a course, but it’s also a journey of discovery. Peter’s
drawings are subtle and sensitive, and he works mostly with pencil
but also pen & wash. With plenty of examples and short exercises,
he introduces line, composition, perspective, form and hatching as
well as ways to control the weight of the mark to create values,
tone, and shading. There’s a huge amount to get to grips with here
and this is a book that you can easily work through or just dip
into for advice and inspiration.
*Artbookreview.net*
Although Peter Cronin starts from basics and includes plenty of
demonstrations and explanations, this is one of the most complete
surveys of drawing materials and practice I have seen. In many
ways, it is the sheer clarity of the approach that makes the book
so attractive. Within a deceptively simple exterior, there lies a
wealth of practical, technical and creative information.
Materials include pencil, charcoal, and ink as well as pen and wash
and a dip into mixed media. Subjects range from landscapes and
buildings to people, animals, boats and harbours. Peter also takes
in rain, mist and sunshine as well as composition, hatching,
recession and perspective in concise, simple sections that are easy
to absorb. This is very much an overview, but all the better for
that, as it never dwells too long on any area and carries the
reader along, allowing them to work at a sensible pace.
*The Artist*
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