How to Draw Pretty Girls

How to Draw Pretty Girls

In 1952 D. W. Gregg published this book about drawing pretty girls. He used the conventions of the time to draw his figures

D. W. Gregg published his own book in 1952. In the 1950s photo offset printing became economical and enabled a number of authors to self-publish how-to-books. This was one of them. It was originally published in two booklets, one had the illustrations and the second had the text. I have combined the two for this e-book.

From the text...

HOW TO DRAW PRETTY GIRLS

THERE IS REALLY NOTHING quite like taking a pencil in your fingers, making a few simple movements, and watching the lines you draw take the form of a shapely, beautiful girl. With a little serious practice you will discover that it is easy to draw pretty girls, and that no special, inborn skill is necessary.

FIRST, IT IS ESSENTIAL that you accept the fact that you will not learn to draw well if you do not practice, for without practice you can not expect your girls to have a Miss America face or figure. But, on the other hand, once you begin to follow the simple instructions which follow, you will find that drawing pretty girls is fun and so fascinating and enjoyable that you will actually look forward to your practice periods.

IF YOU HAVE made a study of figure construction and anatomy, you will notice that in many instances my instructions will tend to vary from the accepted teachings of the high school and college art teachers who cling to the belief that it is necessary to learn anatomy construction before you attempt to draw the complete human figure.

IT IS A WELL KNOWN fact that the body consists of a complicated system of muscles, tendons, and bones, which give the body its form. However, unless you plan to go into commercial figure drawing, I contend that it is unnecessary for you to master complicated anatomy construction before you learn to draw the complete human figure.

IF IT WERE POSSIBLE to remove the "skin" from most of the girls that I have drawn, you would probably be greatly surprised at the weird assortment of skeletons that you would find holding my girls together.

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