Anyone Read Don Gonzales's Floral Design eBook?

[GatoGordo]

I like floral design but have no talent in drawing the designs so I am looking for a resource with which to learn. I really like Don Gonzales's videos on YouTube and see that he has an eBook Introduction to Floral Design. I was thinking of getting it but before purchasing I wanted to see if anyone here has already read the book and has any thoughts either good or bad.

Also, are there any other resources you can suggest that would be helpful in learning how to do floral designs. I would think that a resource with progressive exercises would be ideal.

[YinTx]

Interested in this as well.  I saw someone had Cary Schwartz' Floral Design DVD's for sale in the classifieds section, and I've heard these are good, but have never seen any excerpts or anything that would make me want to shell out the bucks.

YinTx

[JLSleather]

Talking  about that $20 thing on his web site?  $20 doesn't seem like a life-altering investment.  I did watch parts of a couple of his videos.  Seems like a decent fella, but the videos were a bit long-winded.  In fairness, that could be just an honest desire to make his point clear to his viewers.  Again, only way to really know would be to spend the $20 -- since it's instant download, fella would know soon enough.

https://dgsaddlery.com/product/introduction-leather-floral-design/

 

[ABHandmade]

I bought it a few weeks ago. Impressions are twofold. On the one hand, there is useful and interesting information, besides, in addition to the book, he gives several mini-lessons by e-mail. On the other hand, a somewhat peculiar presentation of material ... Although the latter can be my subjective opinion. In any case, I believe that its $ 20 it is probably worth it. At least I did not feel disappointed.

PS. This is really introduction. Do not expect a full course of study.

Edited September 6, 2018 by ABHandmade

[Mattsbagger]

1 hour ago, ABHandmade said:

I bought it a few weeks ago. Impressions are twofold. On the one hand, there is useful and interesting information, besides, in addition to the book, he gives several mini-lessons by e-mail. On the other hand, a somewhat peculiar presentation of material ... Although the latter can be my subjective opinion. In any case, I believe that its $ 20 it is probably worth it. At least I did not feel disappointed.

PS. This is really introduction. Do not expect a full course of study.

What do you mean by peculiar presentation of material?

[ABHandmade]

48 minutes ago, Mattsbagger said:

What do you mean by peculiar presentation of material?

Unaccustomed for me. So I wrote that this is my subjective opinion. 

Perhaps, "peculiar" has some negative meaning, but I do not know the nuances of the English language so well. If so, then I want to clarify that I did not mean "bad."

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by ABHandmade

[YinTx]

2 hours ago, JLSleather said:

Talking  about that $20 thing on his web site?  $20 doesn't seem like a life-altering investment.

For me, I was referring the the cost of Cary's DVD's, I think around $115 new.  Agree, $20 seems ok if you get some decent content.  It is frustrating to get nickel and dimed to death with inadequate content floating about the world, so I am always a bit reticent to spend.  I've bought my share of not so great stuff and not been so happy - low price and high price.  And I won't sell any of it on to someone else and make them feel the same way, so it sits on the shelf or goes in the bin.  I can understand why the OP is asking for some good references regardless of cost.  Unless it's that feller that sells em patterns on that there web place for holsters for that unreasonable price of a click.  Even that came with some decent recommendations, tho.

YinTx

[JLSleather]

20 minutes ago, YinTx said:

nickel and dimed to death with inadequate content

Agreed.. lots of poo out there with a pretty story attached to it   As for holster patterns, anybody not satisfied with the cost + shipping on those free designs is entitled to a full refund, plus 5% for your trouble. 

[battlemunky]

I have one of Don's freebie floral patterns and it is pretty good at illustrating flow. If his book is even close it'd be worth the $20 methinks. I'm a bit of a fanboy though, I really appreciate Don's YT channel and the way he teaches. I can see background because of that guy. That is a gift I picked up for free from watching his videos.

I'm similarly gun shy about paying for instruction online. There are few names I trust and I still like to try and glean what I can from their free stuff. It usually takes a good bit of interest on my part to pry the electrons from my paypal account.

[GatoGordo]

I may be cheap, but twenty dollars wasted does not make me happy. Since ABHandmade says it is worth the money, even it if is peculiar, I guess I will go ahead and give it a try. 

[Stetson912]

I thought it was pretty good and worth the $20.  The mininlessons are spread out over 4 or 5 days. But it gives a good overview of how to design tooling patterns.

[YinTx]

30 minutes ago, Stetson912 said:

I thought it was pretty good and worth the $20.  The mininlessons are spread out over 4 or 5 days. But it gives a good overview of how to design tooling patterns.

I am quite tempted now.  Do you have to complete the lessons in the 4 days, or can you set them aside and do them when you have time?  I suspect after this thread, he'll get quite a few sales 

YinTx

[Stetson912]

They are emailed one a day for however many days it was (4 I think)  So just save the email. It's just a little more info on what's in his ebook. Just with a little more detail. They aren't extensive bY any means, or tasks exactly to complete. Just supplemental info. I liked.how he structured the process and explained things and I liked the demonstrations/examples he gave in it. It helped me see how things were put together. 

But, I'm sure that can be subjective

 Everyone learns differently. It's not a fit for all but I enjoyed it personally. But, it still won't help so eobe with two left hands(me) draw any better hahaha! Guess I should practice 

[Stetson912]

@GatoGordo, other resources haven't been mentioned. I assume you are looking for introductory basic fundamental type knowledge.

There is a book by Pete gorrell called "floral pattern drawing for the artistically impaired". It's a fairly good book but doesn't focus necessary on Sheridan.

A real nice publication comes from our very own hidepounder aka Bob park (no wait, flip that,) called "creating Western floral designs" it is a nice book. Focused more on Sheridan. His method, Pete's method, and Dons method are all similar but have their own flairs to them. Might be worth a look to ya.

[JLSleather]

Maybe I should have bought Don's e-book?  I just watched tolerated 16 minutes of some 35 minute video about using Illustrator to lay out patterns .  At that point, I really couldn't take any more.  PUH LEEZE . it's a 6x4 card holder, and you have a $600 software program, add a silly accent, and a voice that sounds like you're apologizing endlessly for something -- to draw 3 rectangles (two identical pockets, so maybe that's actually TWO rectangles).

I think I just failed (yet another) idiot test

 

[GatoGordo]

Thanks Stetson912, that is exactly the feedback I was looking for. I purchased the eBook this morning, but probably will not get to it until next week. I will report back what I think about it.

As for Bob Park's book, I have looked at it several times. Since it is over fifty dollars and I am unable to actually scan through it before purchasing, I have put off purchasing it. I will consider it again after I finish Mr. Gonzales's book.

[Stetson912]

6 hours ago, GatoGordo said:

it. I will consider it again after I finish Mr. Gonzales's book

The two are fairly similar, just FYI. I like and use both. But the principals and methods are much the same. I wouldn't rush out to get it untill you see where Dons gets ya. 

@JLSleather I wouldn't recommend any of these to someone with more experience doing it. I think the information provided would already have been aquired and be superfluous to an experienced floral pattern drawer who knows the correct way to ouine and construct a pattern or someone with considerable artistic ability.

I have neither so I need them crutches haha!

[robs456]

I've had the Don Gonzales book for a while and I do recommend it.
At the time I was a complete beginner to Sheridan design, and the way he explains flow and the circle layout and connection is great. Also great is how he explains how to build up the different elements, like scrolls.
It is not going into much detail on how to draw leaves and flowers though, there are some pics and explanations but not much. And there's nothing about stamping etc.
But then again, it is a DESIGN book after all, he never said anything different, and as such it is great.
If you're on a beginner or intermediate level I recommend the investment in knowledge from Don.

[ScoobyNewbie]

@ABHandmade

Peculiar means what you think it means in the context that you used it.

Different than you were expecting.

It can have a bit of a negative swing, “Uncle Jimmy is a bit... peculiar, don’t worry.”

But you did use it correctly.