Drawing Made Easy

From the introductory chapter. THE accuracy of drawing is a matter of mathematics - ratio and proportion. The ability to draw accurately can be cultivated to a surprising degree by the average student, young or old. It is easy to understand that two drawings made by two different students may be practically equal as to accuracy while one may have beauty and the other may not. So the process of accurate drawing is not art; a drawing may or may not possess art expression. Drawing...
More Description

From the introductory chapter.
THE accuracy of drawing is a matter of mathematics - ratio and proportion. The ability to draw accurately can be cultivated to a surprising degree by the average student, young or old. It is easy to understand that two drawings made by two different students may be practically equal as to accuracy while one may have beauty and the other may not. So the process of accurate drawing is not art; a drawing may or may not possess art expression. Drawing may be likened to a tool which the artist should possess, just as an efficient carpenter should possess a hammer, in order to facilitate his efforts. Further, it can be understood that many an excellent draughtsman is not an artist at all, in the exact sense, and many an artist is not a good draughtsman, and, thus lacking a very necessary tool, is forever handicapped in his efforts to express his conception upon paper or upon canvas.
(a) In order that his drawings may be accurate, the draughtsman must understand the simple rules of perspective and must know how to measure the relative proportions of whatever objects may confront him.
(b) In order that his drawings may be treated with an effect of beauty, the draughtsman must further understand something of "treatment" and the basic principles of design (which includes "composition"). An understanding of the simple rules of perspective and of the principles of design is by no means difficult for the average mind. An understanding of "treatment," however, is not always so easy to acquire.
Now as to perspective: The reader will find the following paragraphs perfectly simple if he will refer to the diagrams and drawings on pages 14, 17, 19, 24, 25, and 26.
There is nothing alarming about "simple perspective" except the name.