
I picked up this book hoping for a structured guide to improve my shaky drawing skills. The price tag ($2.00!) and Barber's reputation hooked me, but reality was... uneven.
The good? It covers diverse subjects—landscapes, animals, portraits—and breaks drawings into shapes-first approach. I doodled a surprisingly decent owl by following the 'start with circles' method! But the instruction often stops at 2-3 steps, leaving me staring at my half-finished sketch thinking '...now what?'
Week 1's 'draw straight lines' felt patronizing, yet by Week 3 it suddenly expected me to render detailed tree bark textures with zero technique breakdown. The whiplash made me grab my old Walter Foster books for rescue.
That said, forcing myself through the weekly themes (flowers → still life → etc.) DID push me out of my comfort zone. My sketchbook has more variety now—just don't expect polished results without supplementing other resources.
Verdict: For $2, it's a decent idea generator, but serious beginners should invest in Barber's 'Fundamentals of Drawing' instead. This feels like scattered notebook pages rather than a true course.
