I have purchased this book enthusiastically reading all the excellent reviews, and it is with mixed feelings that I write this review, since I was fooled by the good reviews which all lacked a neutral point of view. One thing that is crucial is do I want my drawing to be artistic, similar to painting, or do I want it to be illustrative, as in comic books? It is the difference between art and illustration. This is a book for illustrators, there is no doubt about it, and the author is an illustrator. This does not mean that the book is bad, but the book is a bad choice if you try to be an artist in the classical sense--it lacks information of the drawing's decomposition, upon making correct lines on the first try, detailed analysis on the changing of angles and on drawing the change, and it lacks the detailed discussion of the scope of the drawing tools, as would be needed for academic drawing. On the other hand, the author does not try to hide that this is a book on illustrating, and moreover that is a book mainly for beginners, so in a way my criticism is a bit unfair, since the ones to blame for the ill purchase I made of this book is not the author, but the reviewers.

Anyone who draws for some time know not only how to draw with an HB and a 4B pencil, but also how to draw with a songle pencil on any surface, but this could be a better subject than simple perspectives.

Or better to say, a book dealing with the analysis of the traces made by Escher or Kokoschka, i.e. what pencils did they use and how on which drawing would be more in the line of what I was looking for, and what the title suggested-- keys to drawing in my mind means tips on drawing, not drawing for beginners.

This book offers none of that. In my opinion, a better title would be ''Illustration for beginners'' or something similar, and in that case I would give it five stars, but the title is too badly misleading,and most of the reviews do nothing to correct the wrong impression one could have, so my final verdict is three stars: one star down for the misleading title and one star down for taking in account only the illustration part of drawing

This book, is probably the best drawing book i've ever read. Not only does he cover so much, but Bert Dodson also goes into detail with out boring the reader to sleep (unlike drawing on the right side of the brain)
If you used amazon.com's online reader and see some drawings that look childish inside, don't let those discourage you. I was discouraged by those and immediately saw a new light when I actually READ the book. Many books that have fanciful pictures haven't covered NEARLY as much as Bert Dodson's book. I am ordering his other book, Keys to Drawing with Imagination: Strategies and Exercises for Gaining Confidence and Enhancing Your Creativity

Keys To drawing covers things like drawing what you See NOT WHAT YOU KNOW. Drawing from your mind or knowledge tends to be the problem with most people, it is not that they necessarily know that they are doing this because that is how the human mind is. It is by that, that we as humans think we can't draw. Because our minds dont take in as much information and detail about the subject as we think it does.
It also covers things like restating, self critiquing, analyzing, the power of squinting to flatten objects around you, mapping, light sources, shadows, negative space, merging shapes, proportion and so on (all of which I thought weren't going to help me the least bit, but were actually the mistakes i made in drawing.

Has anyone ever read those get rich quick books that always promise you that they know ways to make YOU rich, but always disappoint you anyway? Those people sell those books to you so that they could make more money, they don't have any wealth of information stored in them. Well, keys to drawing is definitely the opposite. He breaks the stuff down clearly and doesn't encourage you to draw one specific way or clone someone else's style of drawing. Some artists or authors have a hard time explaining themselves but him, oh he definitely knows what he's talking about.
I'm only thirteen so please excuse the lame review and just hold my word to it. I drew little people who were far from realistic, but with this book, along with Carrie Stuart Parks books (Secrets to Realistic Drawing, Secrets To Drawing Realistic Children, Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces) I can already see drastic differences. I would also recommend Lifelike Drawing with Lee Hammond. But lifelike drawings with lee hammond probably doesn't break it down as easy and have as much detail as Bert Dodson because she tried to squeeze so much things into the book without putting much detail for each subject.

All in all i wish i could rate the book higher. I can not begin to describe how pleased i am with this book.
P.S the book is about the size of a textbook with less pages. (REALLY BIG) and I got my own (new book btw) for a really low price because I don't buy from amazon, i buy from the sellers within the amazon website.

I love this book so much, that I recommend it to my friend and bought one for my grandkid who loves art.

Very good book. I appreciate the method, creative and original at the same time. It makes everything seem easy and attractive and unlike other books can help you develop your own vision instead of becoming an imitator. Raluca

I love this book, the illustrations, the exercises, everything! What more can I say, except, buy it:)