With a few simple steps, anyone can discover their artistic side and achieve moments of peace and tranquility. Forty straightforward lessons promise fun and colorful results -- no pressure and no skill required. This simple painting medium produces colorful, modern paintings to adorn invitations, gifts, and walls. The forty lessons cover useful topics like:Painting on vacationPainting your petsLayering colorsMixing colorsPainting flowers and plantsThe supplies are simple: a basic palette of watercolors, a selection of brushes, and nice thick paper will do the job. Your bright, whimsical art is guaranteed to bring color to any gray day. It's never too late to pick up a new hobby -- start painting your own beautiful cards and artwork today!

    In Draw Your Day, Baker guides you through her inspirational practice and provides guidance for starting your own. Part instructional guide and part encouraging manifesto about how making art--even art that's not museum-worthy--can make your life more mindful and meaningful, Draw Your Day is ideal for both seasoned artists looking for fresh inspiration, as well as aspiring artists who need a friendly nudge to get started.

    Find your "authentic" design voice and get carving today!

    Watercolor Painting For Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to create breathtaking paintings so beautiful you won't believe you made them yourself. This friendly, guide gives you hands-on instruction and easy-to-follow, step-by-step exercises to help you master the basics. Filled with full-color projects and sample paintings, it shows you how to work with color and texture, practice composition, and make smooth changes. You'll find out how to select the best tools, materials, and supplies, practice basic brush strokes, and use the three best common techniques: flat wash, graded wash, and rough texture. Discover how to:Select the right brushes, pigments, and paper Mix colors and work with white Create backgrounds and foregrounds Transfer your drawings to watercolor Avoid common watercolor mistakes Experiment with texture using salt, sponges, plastic wrap, and more Find your way around the color wheel Practice the principles of design Plan compositions using thumbnails Work with one-point, two-point, and three-point perspective Paint fabrics, shiny surfaces, and organic textures Paint landscapes, seascapes, animals and more Complete with strategies for improving your painting immediately and marketing and selling your work, Watercolor Painting For Dummies, is the resource you need to make your creative dreams come true.

    She shares her expertise in How To Draw Modern Florals, a step-by-step guide that teaches everything you need to know about modern florals, including:Tools of the trade Where to find inspiration The anatomy of a flower The basic shapes for drawing a flower You'll feel as though you're sitting down with Alli at a coffee shop as she walks you through the process of drawing and designing all aspects of modern florals. You'll learn designs from classic favorites like the rose to today's trendiest florals, as well as succulents and cacti--some of Alli's favorites!How to Draw Modern Florals is an introduction, so no experience is needed! If you can draw an S or a C with a pen, Alli can teach you to draw a beautiful, modern floral design.

    Mixed media enthusiasts will enjoy learning the essential concepts for creating their own mixed media art--whether they are experienced in its approaches or just starting out. 101 Mixed Media Techniques features a wide variety of traditional and eclectic techniques, including drawing and painting techniques, stamping, stitching, using photos, prepping backgrounds, working with wax, using different kinds of inks, collaging, journaling, and working with encaustics. Multiple ways to use each technique are provided to inspire and nurture creative freedom in each artist. Each technique is presented in a step-by-step format, beginning with an overview of the required tools and materials. Instructions are presented in a straightforward, approachable style, so beginning to advanced artists can master them with ease. The engaging and accessible format allows for the option of focusing on one technique at a time or several, catering to the preference of each artist. Readers will not only learn a variety of techniques, but will also discover new ideas and inspiration for using the techniques in their own projects. With so many options to choose from, 101 Mixed Media Techniques has something to offer every type of artist and is sure to inspire new forms of creativity.

    Over 100 illustrations spotlight dozens of different varieties, including Oak, Willow, Pine, and Palmetto. Topics include shading techniques, composition, portraying shadow and light, and approaches to outlining.Author and illustrator Victor Perard, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was an art instructor at New York City's Cooper Union for twenty years. This informative volume reflects his extensive teaching experience and provides practical advice for artists at every level.

    But not with Art At the Speed of Life author and workshop instructor Pam Carriker as your teacher. She helps you take on faces one quick sketch at a time for faster, easier, more enjoyable drawing and painting. Not your average book on drawing the face, Mixed Media Portraits With Pam Carriker shows easy ways to draw more realistic faces in your own signature style. The goal is not an immaculate finished portrait, but a continually growing collection of personal, expressive sketches that you can use and reuse in your mixed-media work.Inside you'll find:- An easy-to-learn face-mapping technique that allows you to draw faces from your imagination, without a model or photo in front of you - Mini-demonstrations breaking down each facial feature - Simple color combinations for mixing both realistic and out-of-the-ordinary skin tones - 15 step-by-step projects featuring original ways to use your portraits as starting points for mixed-media masterpieces - Tons of expert tips, from selecting the right pencil for the job to creating self-portraits, working with reference photos and using transfer techniques In the true spirit of mixed media, this book is all about combining, layering and experimenting in your pursuit of portrait nirvana. It will get you out of your comfort zone and into the habit of making faces that are truly and uniquely your own.

    You will learn to create simple, balanced features and add shading with colored pencils and paint. From there, you will learn how to draw the rest of the figure and put it into a unique, textured, mixed-media background.- Learn to design costumes and personalities for your girls and adapt them to fit your own artistic style.- Create vivid, exciting backgrounds by layering paint, collaging with fabric, carving beeswax, distressing wood, and building up texture with mediums and pastes.- And the accompanying online videos include a mini workshop full of whimsical mayhem, motivation, and real-time video with Suzi Blu, showing you detailed drawing and shading techniques for faces, beeswax finishes, and how to make a mixed-media art journal start to finish.

    Factor in nearly as many years of teaching experience, and that adds up to a whole lot of know-how to share. In Pastel Pointers, he lays it all out: information on tools, materials, color, composition, landscape elements, finishes and more. Compiles the best of McKinley's popular Pastel Pointers blog and Pastel Journal columns Covers frequently asked questions ("How do I achieve natural-looking greens?") and simple solutions to common problems, such as excess pigment buildup Includes a chapter on "The Business of Pastels"—tips for framing, shipping, preparing for gallery shows, and otherwise representing your work in a professional manner This book covers everything from the fundamentals to get you going (how to lay out your palette, create an underpainting, evoke luminous effects) to inspirations that will keep you growing (plein air painting, working in a series, keeping a painting journal). Whether you're a beginner or an experienced painter anxious to explore the expressive possibilities of pastel, this is your guide to making the most of the medium.

    With over 101 of the most popular, interesting, and indispensable tricks for working with acrylic-each with its own step-by-step demonstration-there is literally page after page of acrylic instruction and inspiration for readers to discover. A gallery of finished art at the back of the book will show readers how to combine different tricks to use in their artwork offering them real-life applications for acrylic techniques.

    Brimming with inspiring examples of the artist’s work, this beautiful book takes you inside Geninne’s studio for an in-depth look at how she creates. You will discover, step by step, how this devoted artist spends time photographing nature, selecting her materials, and developing her personal imagery. Explore:How her studio is set up, how she works, and what materials and tools she usesHow she captures nature with both a camera and phone for referenceHer artistic process through the step-by-step creation of 5 watercolor paintings, 5 collages, and 5 ink drawings, with notes on each medium and techniqueAs a special bonus, the book includes 32 pages of collage papers, painted and selected by Geninne, for you to use as you explore and develop your own artistic voice. Vibrant, detailed, and richly imaginative, Geninne’s interpretation of the birds she has observed so closely will inspire you to use the natural world as fodder for your paintings, drawings, and collages.

    This superb drawing guide helps you unravel its complexity and capture its aesthetic on paper. Packed with instructive illustrations and specially-commissioned photographs of male and female models, Anatomy for the Artist unveils the extraordinary construction of the human body and celebrates its continuing prominence in Western Art today. Through her detailed sketches, acclaimed artist Sarah Simblet shows you how to look inside the human frame to map its muscle groups, skeletal strength, balance, poise, and grace.Selected drawings superimposed over photographs reveal fascinating relationships between external appearance and internal structure. Six drawing classes guide you through human anatomy afresh, offering techniques for observing and drawing the skeleton, including the head, ribcage, pelvis, hands, and feet. By investigating a series of masterworks juxtaposed against photographs of real-life models, Dr. Simblet also traces the visions of different artists across time, from Holbein's Christ Entombed to Edward Hopper's Hotel Room.For any artist, learning about the human body is always a palpable delight. This imaginative reference guide will enhance your anatomical drawing and painting techniques at every level.

    In 1989, when Dr. Betty Edwards revised the book, it went straight to the Times list again. Now Dr. Edwards celebrates the twentieth anniversary of her classic book with a second revised edition.Over the last decade, Dr. Edwards has refined her material through teaching hundreds of workshops and seminars. Truly The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, this edition includes:the very latest developments in brain researchnew material on using drawing techniques in the corporate world and in educationinstruction on self-expression through drawingan updated section on using colordetailed information on using the five basic skills of drawing for problem solving

    Author Jane Davenport is a beloved artist and international workshop instructor known by her thousands of students and fans for her over-the-top, enthusiastic, happy, and encouraging style. In Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces, Davenport guides you, step by step, through the foundations of drawing a face, developing successful features, creating skin tones, playing with bright colors, shading, highlighting, and much more as you learn to create amazing mixed-media portraits.With this elegantly designed guidebook, you will quickly master a variety of techniques in a variety ofmediums, including:PencilMarkerPenWatercolorAcrylic paintInkPastelEphemeraDrawing and Painting Beautiful Faces will have you dancing your way through the exercises. In no time at all, you will have a selection of beautifully faced portraits ready to view, display, or even sell to a fashion designer.