The Natural Way to Draw

In the Introduction, Nicolaides states, “As the exercises are described, it is assumed that a nude model is available.”

This is not a casual “Learn to Draw” type of book, but is meant as an intensive, three-or-four-hours-a-day-for-a-year type of instruction. From what I gather, it is meant to be a reproduction of his in-person class. Almost every exercise starts with “The model is asked....”

You could definitely take some of the exercises and adapt them for use without a live model, and he even speaks to this: “You will find that, with a few exceptions, the exercises apply just as much to things as to people.”

There are some great nuggets in this book, and it is a classic for a reason. But perhaps a bit much for people who are not actively enrolled in art school.