Why Copy Master Drawings? Da Vinci Book Review & 3 Reasons to Try It!

Want to improve your drawing skills and develop your artistic style? Copying master drawings—like those of Leonardo da Vinci—is a powerful way to train your eye and hand. In this video, I review a Da Vinci drawing book and share three key reasons why studying masterworks can help any artist (yes, even if you're into manga, anime, or graphic novels!).

I liked this line of Faber Castell pencils better than the Faber Castell 9000 pencils, which run much harder and the price on these can't be beat! These pencils are a great price so they are good for beginners or kids who want artist-grade pencils. Check out the full review!

These pencils are not the best quality, but still might be an acceptable quality for an elementary or middle school classroom. They, at least, are inexpensive.

I was super surprised with the results of this pencil trial! I used to use these back in art school but it had been some years since I'd purchased them. A lot of my students arrive to class with the Prismacolor Turquoise Graphite Pencils, so here is my review from 2018.

This is one of the best books I've found on drawing figures. Take a look inside with this video. I think it has so many practical tips, loads of information about anatomy, and so many drawings in it that you can practice from that it makes it a worthwhile investment. I think it is a more instructional book than the cult favorite, Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis.

I have a less expensive solution for smudging than using tortillons that you buy at the art supply store: cotton swabs! This brand is very compacted and dense, so you can really smudge detailed areas of your drawings. At only $6 for 490 of them, you really can't beat the price!

Here's another Carbon Pencil review! You might want to compare this review to my review of the Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black carbon pencils, because they are similar and yet so different. I'm still more of a fan of graphite over carbon, but I'm certainly happy to have carbon pencils in place of the way too crumbly charcoal pencils!

Here is my first review of carbon pencils (different than graphite pencils and also different than charcoal pencils!). I demonstrate the different look/qualities of them and link to purchase is below!

Here is a helpful pen and ink book, if you're looking for non-video resources for learning different mediums for drawing. Claudia Nice breaks pen and ink techniques down into manageable steps, helping you to develop a method of mark making so that you can communicate different textures and materials. Books like this are also great resources for learning when you're traveling and don't have an internet connection, as well as having paper images you can lay out in front of you while you're working. I like to have some on hand to loan to students. With the holidays around the corner, you might put this on your wish list.