Anyone who can hold a pencil can learn to draw.In this book, Bert Dodson shares his complete drawing system--fifty-five "keys" that you can use to render any subject with confidence, even if you're a beginner.These keys, along with dozens of practice exercises, will help you draw like an artist in no time.You'll learn how to:Restore, focus, map, and intensifyFree your hand action, then learn to control itConvey the illusions of light, depth, and textureStimulate your imagination through "creative play"

    Includes meaningful ways to use your existing & future photos. Has creative ideas for preserving precious details of your life. Includes tips for finding inspiration in each day!

    The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginning painters and provides useful tips for more advanced artists.This book is divided into three sections. In the first section, you will find practical advice on choosing the necessary tools and equiopment as well as hints on mixing colors€”one of the trickier skills to master until you have learned some of the basic properties of color. Next, the techniques used in watercolor painting are explained in detail, from the most basic like laying washes and reserving highlights to some of the more unusual and exciting methods like wax-resist or spattering paint. Tutorials and more than 100 step-by-step sequences demonstrate how to paint a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, buildings, people and still life. Over 180,000 copies sold worldwide.

    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.

    For those who have always wanted to or tried and failed to learn to draw it provides simple step-by-step instruction, plus easy-to-follow practice exercises, and provides the motivation and inspiration readers need to be successful. For those who already draw, Everyday Sketching and Drawing offers another technique to add to their drawing arsenal.Why do so many adults come to view drawing as difficult or fraught with anxiety? Traditional art instruction is often bogged down with jargon, rules, and admonishments that unintentionally stifle the joy of drawing for its own sake.Steven Reddy's new and easy approach to drawing instructs sketchers to document their unique and compelling lives in realistic yet playful sketches that record the places, spaces, and objects that help define them as individuals. He reminds artists to slow down, notice, and attend to the sketch-worthy scenes and subjects that are unstaged and always there in our everyday lives. He offers a versatile technique that can lead to a skill that fills sketchbooks with the visual details that differentiate one life from another. This approach is a meditative, relaxing alternative to academic concerns about perspective, proportion, and accuracy. Reddy encourages artists to capture in whimsical but detail-specific illustrations their unique, subjective interpretation of their visual surroundings.Steven Reddy's drawing method produces extremely detailed and realistic scenes of objects and scenes in everyday life in a relatively short period of time (60 minutes to 3 hours or more, depending on the sketcher's preference). Modifying a technique utilized by Old Master oil painters, the drawings pass through 5 clearly articulated stages where each step focuses on one visual concept at a time.

    In this book, Sunshine Cobb covers all the foundational skills, with lessons for constructing both simple and complex forms from clay. Ceramic artists will also find a variety of next-level techniques and tips: designing templates and replicating pieces, lidded vessels, using molds, a variety of decorative techniques, and other avenues of exploration are all inside.Artist features and inspirational galleries include work from today's top working artists, such as Bryan Hopkins, Lindsay Oesterritter, Liz Zlot Summerfield, Bandana Pottery, Shoko Teruyama, Courtney Martin, Sam Chung, Deborah Schwartzkopf, and many more.  Take your hand building skills—and your artwork—to the next level with Mastering Hand Building. The Mastering Ceramics series is for artists who never stop learning. With compelling projects, expert insight, step-by-step photos, and galleries of work from today’s top artists, these books are the perfect studio companions. Also available from the series: Mastering the Potter's Wheel and Mastering Kilns and Firing.

    Learn how to choose and mix colors, and create a multitude of effects using only one set of tubes. Discover how to make your own equipment, set up a "studio" space, and use household materials to save money. Beginners can follow processes stage-by-stage, while more experienced artists can dip in and out for help with specific problems. A unique section on how to develop your art and take it to a wider public is full of professional secrets which can bring you success much more quickly. “Try it” and “Fix it” panels placed throughout the book suggest ways of practicing and developing new skills, and avoiding or correcting common painting errors.

    Focusing on a popular art medium that has been around for over 50 years, The New Acrylics illustrates how artists can create lush textures, color, and luster with the modern acrylics readily available in any art supply store. These are nontoxic, environmentally sound, and exist in the most dazzling array of chemical formats—from the most fluid to the highly viscous. Not only do artists paint with acrylics these days, they can create rich metallic effects, or even 3-dimensional sculptures. Traditional technique based books on acrylics cover traditional methods of painting. However, The New Acrylics is geared toward more nonconventional ways in which to manipulate modern-day acrylics, and demonstrates new applications such as glazing, textured effects, soft sculpture effects, or staining, thus reinventing the old way of handling acrylics, and revealing a fabulous new artistic medium. The underlying theme of this dazzling and sophisticated book is to encourage artists to interpret and handle acrylic paints in a vibrant, fresh, and above all, individualistic style.

    The ultimate tool for designers and creatives looking to tap into the trend of hand-drawn lettering, this workbook features step-by-step lessons on a range of styles plus more than 120 practice pages, making it the ideal place to learn and perfect this in-demand design skill.

    

    It's all fun so get inspired and tangle something! Learn to color with chalks, watercolors, pencils and pens; add bling with glitter, jewels, and sparkly inks.

    This book goes in depth on setting tracts of text for long reading, with a strong emphasis on print.

    Pretty cool! The popularity of these resins for jewelry making has soared with the introduction of easy-to-mix, low-odor products, ideal for crafters. Now best-selling author Sherri Haab shows how to put the miracle of modern technology to work making necklaces, bangles, bracelets, pins, earrings, and rings. Projects range from simple to sophisticated, from Bakelite-style heart pins to faux amber earrings to glitter gem bracelets, from scrimshaw bracelets to cloisonné pins to transparent resin necklaces backed with gold leaf. Packed with tips on tools, supplies, finishing, and creating special effects, including ideas on combining resins with polymer clay, The Art of Resin Jewelry is a beautiful and practical introduction to an exciting craft.

    It is the most popular style for social correspondence, invitations, and other communications requiring an elegant hand. In this practical manual, a noted calligraphy teacher offers a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for the student. Beginning with a brief but fascinating history of copperplate, she moves quickly to an in-depth examination of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation. Each letter is demonstrated stroke by stroke with a clear explanation. Readers will also find detailed discussions of writing in color, using the proper paper, and learning how to retouch, correct, and crop. Ms. Winters then shows how copperplate can be used to write a simple paragraph, a short quotation, or poetry, and explains how to use the script commercially for addressing envelopes and writing name cards and invitations. With this easy-to-follow manual and some practice, calligraphers will be able to create copperplate scripts with the rhythm, grace, and ease of the great writing masters.

    In this her fourth book she reveals in depth the techniques she uses to produce her stunning works of art. Every aspect of botanical painting is covered, including the materials and tools you need, preserving your specimens, drawing, painting, color mixing and composition. Richly illustrated throughout with step-by-step demonstrations and examples of Billy’s work, this book is a visual feast as well as an invaluable source of expert guidance and inspiration. With a diverse range of subjects that include flowers, foliage, fruit and vegetables, Billy provides an insight into her painting techniques that artists of all abilities will find both informative and inspirational.