Instructive and Productive

The Beginner's Guide The Female Nude
by Ian Sidaway

'The Beginner's Guide' is an excellent book for artists and those wanting to improve their technique. The female nude is a beautiful subject for developing line and texture, and Sidaway explains how to achieve a level of expertise in easy to follow steps. As a beginner myself, I found the advice invaluable.
As well as being a book focusing on technique, the author lightens the text with anecdotes. On pages 34-41, he recounts an incident involving me and two of my artist friends:

'Frank Leemydear had been having private lessons in my studio and was beginning to blossom as a real painter. So I gave him my book and told him to study it at home. From what he told me later, he showed it to Sylvester Stallone and Woody Allen one night in his apartment, just before Goldie Hawn was to arrive. Woody was ecstatic and urged Frank to ask Goldie if they could paint her nude. Apparently Stallone emitted some sort of bovine bellow, rubbed his perspiring hands together and fetched a pencil from the phone stand. Not long after, Goldie arrived, beautiful as always, and after some small talk and tall cocktails, Frank gathered enough gumption to stammer, "Goldie, can Sly and Woody and I paint you in the nude?"

Without hesitating, Goldie replied, "Sure, guys, but leave your socks on. I just adore argyles."

So the three shed everything, including their inhibitions, and all went well till Goldie said that Sly's pencil was blunt through overuse and that Woody's name was a gross overstatement of his reaction. Fearing a similar assessment, Frank quickly covered himself with a postage stamp.'

Ian Sidaway's book is a practical, easily read manual.