Product Review: 21 Draw: The Answer to Every Artist's Questions

This past May, 21 Draw launched an ambitious Indiegogo campaign: a full-sized, full color book on the art of drawing, contributed to by 100 working artists.

21 Draw contacted Amazing Stories for some coverage and publicity, which we were happy to provide.

The Indiegogo campaign was a success and a couple of weeks ago we were informed that a copy of the book would be coming our way. That’s always appreciated (though not necessary).

However, we had no real idea of what we’d be getting in the mail.

“Holy Canvas, Batman!”

21 Draw is a KILLER of a book. And you can take that to mean just about anything you can imagine.

21 Draw CAN be used as an instrument of murder. We recommend head bashing, but you could possibly use it to smother your victim. Coming in at 10″ x 8.5″, with 254 glossy, GLOSSY pages, you could use it to start quite the fire. No doubt other uses will come to mind.

But where this book really kills is in the eye candy department. Virtually every page features multiple full color drawings (except for those illustrating sketches and work-ups) of character types, literally from A to Z. The illustrations begin with Adam & Eve and end (naturally) with Zombies. (The last illustration is a bonus: crafted by Gerardo Sandoval, it charts the transformation of a bitten human character into a green-skinned horror.)

21 Draw began with a survey of 200 working artists (many names will be familiar) asking the question “If I was a magic genie, and could make a book that would solve all of your art problems, what would that book be?”

As the feedback was received, 21 Draw began to take shape and ultimately settled on addressing the issues artists have with “character design, movement, facial expressions & drawing hands.”

I’m not an artist (can’t even draw a cube without a T-Square and a ruler) but even I was tempted to try my hand at some of the tutorials.

Tutorials? Yes Interleaved throughout this glossy, glossy, richly illustrated and extremely colorful pages of this tome are lessons for the artist by some of the best working in the comic, gaming, and animation fields, including many who have worked for DC, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Disney and Rockstar Games. Tutorials cover the ground from preliminary sketches to final coloring and, as near as we can tell, every arcane magic trick in the artists’s grimoire.

Got a glass coffee table? Even if you aren’t an artist looking for tips, 21 Draw makes for fantastic idle reading. Every page turn reveals even more wonder. (Just don’t drop it on the glass, you might break something!)

The book is now on sale in hardcover, softcover and Kindle versions. You can expect to pay a hefty price for the print versions – this is, after all a 254 page, full color book – and it is worth every penny. You’ll get your dollar’s with just flipping pages.

21 Draw has 100 Artist Contributors: No doubt you will recognize some of the names: