This is undoubtedly a valuable resource for beginning artists, and as an exemplar for those more experienced, but as I'm neither my five-star rating is based upon my love of Peake's art and the fact that in a manual on the craft of making marks on paper with a dirty twig, Mervyn cannot help but be a poet. ( )

I got this mainly for the illustrations - which are worth it - but the text strikes me as probably useful to beginners wishing to learn, if not exactly the bible of technique. On the other hand, I gave up sketching in my teens and I think I'll carry on taking photographs, instead... ( )