Well, dang! This is a book that actually got me to draw! I'm a huge procrastinator, and so it's a major accomplishment to get me to actually commit and so motivated to follow along, lesson after lesson. I am not quite done yet, but for someone who also couldn't even draw a measly circle... I've witnessed major leaps and bounds of improvement already! I also absolutely love how it makes me laugh and feel like the author is right there next to me, coaching me along. There are so many things that just makes you go: that is so cool, I would've never thought of that! It makes perfect sense!

THIS IS THE BOOK TO GET STARTED ON DRAWING, FOLKS!

I loved this book! I went from being mediocre at drawing to being quite proficient. I love that you are challenged to practice everyday and there are bonus lessons to stretch the content further. My only criticism of this book is that there isn't an item list at the beginning of the book to inform you of what you need. I was fine until the last few lessons and I needed a clipboard and rubber bands and cardboard. If I knew I needed those items from the beginning I would have been able to get more out of the lessons where they were required. I just had to do my best without them, because I didn't have them. I 100% recommend this book. If you do buy it (and you should), flip through the whole book and write down everything you need so you don't get to the end lessons and find that you're missing tools.

I nearly overlooked this book because it didn't have a fancy artistic cover, unlike many other art instruction books. As an adult with no formal art training, no perceived drawing "talent" and looking for a first instruction book to help improve my infrequent doodling, I was also rather skeptical of the book's cheesy title claim of teaching someone to draw in 30 days. Then I noticed some before and after drawings by other reviewers, and after also considering titles like "Keys to Drawing", "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "How to Draw What You See", I decided to look beyond this book's cover and give it a go myself.

The book has 30 lessons, and while it's taken me over 30 days, I'm very glad that I started with this book. The step-by-step lessons are clear and easy to follow, there's no complicated theory about technique etc. that could easily put off an absolute beginner. Most importantly, you see immediate results very quickly... By the end of lesson 2, my stack of spheres was already getting compliments! Since then I've realised that the lessons provide a really good primer to some basic drawing concepts - shapes, shading, foreshortening, perspective... and the fact you can reproduce a drawing similar to the author's by following the steps is a big confidence booster. Personally I found that this newfound confidence was just the encouragement needed for me to progress...

This book will not teach you to draw realistically or become a master of portraits, but it does teach you how to draw basic pleasing images. I like the author's lighted-hearted happy style and it's been one enlightening lesson after another as I discovered I could draw things which I couldn't before. Since starting this book, I also got my hands on "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "Keys to Drawing", and remain satisfied that this book was the right one to start my drawing journey with. A great book for an absolute beginner.

I never thought I'd learn how to draw. But this book gives me hope. Unlike other books out there that claim to be for beginners, this books is the real deal. It takes a beginning sketcher through the most basic steps and each lesson builds upon the other. In the first lesson, we drew a circle then learned how to shade it and add shadow to give a three-dimensional appearance. Then we used those techniques to draw an apple. I was thrilled when my son recognized my drawing for what it was supposed to be! Mr. Kistler takes the reader through the steps, giving specific information about what needs to be done and why. If you can't draw and are not sure if you'll be able to learn, then this book is the one for you.

This book is great. You may not go to a master class drawer in 30 days, but you WILL learn basic principles that will last and overflow into other areas. for example, i have used these principles in a painting class to make my subjects look more realistic with shading- new at that too.

really, the best thing about this book is that Kistler gets a pencil in your hand and paper underneath it first thing. his lessons are SO EASY to follow, it wouldn't even scare off the worst of doodlers.

we purchased this book for our whole family to learn how to draw- my husband who considers himself to be artistically inept, a 4 year old, a 6 year old and myself. both of my boys, i would say are on the very young end of the "learning to draw" bell curve, but still made noticeable improvements. it was so approachable that my husband even tried- this was a big deal! i noticed huge improvements in my own drawing, but best of all, it was good quality time with my family and FUN.

we have started and stopped this book several times. if this might be the case for you, it is very easy to come back to and jump right back where you left off. absolutely lovely book.

definitely a keeper of a book.