Book Review: Top 25 Artist Mistakes: and how to avoid them

I was provided the ebook version by the author Nolan Clark for this review.

Top 25 Artist Mistakes is quite an useful book for beginners, and perhaps for advanced artists as well.

The book lists 25 of the most common mistakes that art practitioners make, then provides solutions and techniques to overcome them.

If you've ever wonder why your drawing doesn't look right even though it's completed, there might be something in this book to give you the answers. In addition to covering the basic art fundamentals, it also looks at details that will make your artworks more interesting, stronger in the composition and narrative.

Having read through the book, I've also picked up a few mistakes that I make at times. This is a book that I'll definitely read again in the future for reference. It's a helpful resource.

Here's the list of mistakes covered in the book

  1. Initial drawing wrong
  2. Not using artists license
  3. Not using lost and found lines
  4. Not using shadows correctly
  5. Not knowing colour mixing rules
  6. Background competes with focal point
  7. Combing photos incorrectly
  8. Not adding looking room
  9. Not completing the roundings
  10. Forgetting the sun direction
  11. Not applying the looking in effect
  12. Outlining everything
  13. Background lines match foreground lines
  14. Not getting the balance right
  15. Not using reflected light
  16. Not using atmospheric perspective
  17. No living objects
  18. Looking, but not seeing
  19. Incorrect perspective
  20. Wrong focal point placement
  21. Not matching colours correctly
  22. Not overlapping objects
  23. Not using contrasts correctly
  24. No focal point
  25. Not mastering the medium

Check out the free sample or the PDF version of the book at the author's website at https://www.artbynolan.com/top-25-artist-mistakes-book/

The paperback version is available on Amazon via the direct links below.

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