Billy Showell's Botanical Painting in Watercolour


Billy Showell - 2016
    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.

On Photography


Susan Sontag - 1973
    Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When anything can be photographed and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, the most famous being "In Plato's Cave", make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals


Lindsay Cibos - 2009
    From facial expressions to creative coloring, this book contains all the know-how you need to create anthropomorphic cat, dog, horse, rodent and bird characters.Step by step, you'll learn how to:- Draw species-appropriate tails, eyes, wings and other fun details - Give your characters clothes, poses and personalities - Create the perfect backgrounds for your furry antics--with two start-to-finish demonstrations showing howPacked with tons of inspiration--from teeny-bopper bunnies and yorky glamour queens to Ninja squirrels and lion kings--Draw Furries will help you create a world of crazy, cool characters just waiting to burst out of your imagination.

Ways of Curating


Hans Ulrich Obrist - 2014
    Since then he has staged more than 250 shows internationally, many of them among the most influential exhibits of our age. Ways of Curating is a compendium of the insights Obrist has gained from his years of extraordinary work in the art world. It skips between centuries and continents, flitting from meetings with the artists who have inspired him (including Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, and Gilbert and George) to biographies of influential figures such as Diaghilev and Walter Hopps. It describes some of the greatest exhibitions in history, as well as some of the greatest exhibitions never realized. It traces the evolution of the collections from Athanasius Kircher's 17th-century Wunderkammer to modern museums, and points the way for projects yet to come. Hans Ulrich Obrist has rescued the word "curate" from wine stores and playlists to remind us of the power inherent in looking at art—and at the world—in a new way.

Problem Solving for Oil Painters: Recognizing What's Gone Wrong and How to Make it Right


Gregg Kreutz - 1986
    IdeaIs There a Good Abstract Idea Underlying the Picture?What Details Could be Eliminated to Strengthen the Composition?Does the Painting “Read”?Could You Finish Any Part of the Painting?ShapesAre the Dominant Shapes as Strong and Simple as Possible?Are the Shapes Too Similar?ValueCould the Value Range be Increased?Could the Number of Values be Reduced?LightIs the Subject Effectively Lit?Is the Light Area Big Enough?Would the Light Look Stronger with a Suggestion of Burnout?Do the Lights Have a Continuous Flow?Is the Light Gradated?ShadowsDo the Shadow Shapes Describe the Form?Are the Shadows Warm Enough?DepthWould the Addition of Foreground Material Deepen the Space?Does the Background Recede Far Enough?Are the Halftones Properly Related to the Background?SolidityIs the underlying Form Being Communicated?Is the Symmetry in Perspective?ColorIs There a Color Strategy?Could a Purer Color Be Used?Do the Whites Have Enough Color in Them?Are the Colors Overblended on the Canvas?Would the Color Look Brighter if it Were Saturated into its Adjacent Area?PaintIs Your Palette Efficiently Organized?Is the Painting Surface Too Absorbent?Are You Using the Palette Knife as Much as You Could?Are You Painting Lines When You Should Be Painting Masses?Are the EdgesDynamic Enough?Is There Enough Variation in the Texture of the Paint?

How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs


Lee Hammond - 1995
    After you've got the basics down, you'll learn how to use the same techniques to portray every feature of the human face. You'll also discover how to figure out what the features of your photographed model really look like so you can draw them from different angles. Then Hammond shows you how to put all those features together to create a lifelike portrait that truly captures the individuality of your subject.After you've completed these easy-to-do drawing exercises, you'll soon be turning the memories frozen in your old snapshots into warm, beautiful works of art.

Botanical Line Drawing: 200 Step-by-Step Flowers, Leaves, Cacti, Succulents, and Other Items Found in Nature


Peggy Dean - 2017
    It's used widely among artists of many types with both fine and bold lines, creating different variations. Botanical Line Drawing teaches you how to start with the simplest doodles, building into more elaborate, delicate illustrations. This book focuses on the extremely popular subject matter of the natural world and includes flowers, leaves, succulents, houseplants, trees, branches, mushrooms, and more. These simple line drawings will allow you to branch out and have fun with your own personal style, as well as inspire you to add flourishes to other projects.

Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner


Claire Watson Garcia - 2003
    A series of progressive lessons demonstrates such essential skills as recording edges, creating dimension, adding accuracy, developing value, balancing compositional elements, and drawing the human face, both frontal and profile views. Step by step, readers learn how to create a reasonable likeness of an object and give it spatial depth using such simple black-and-white mediums as pens, pencils, charcoal, and graphite wash. Inspirational examples and tips for success from beginning students who have worked on the same material confirm readers’ successes, and allow readers to consider the advice and impressions of others at the same level.

Your Artist's Brain: Use the Right Side of Your Brain to Draw and Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See


Carl Purcell - 2010
    Your Artist's Brain shows you how to portray even the most complex subjects by focusing on what you really see - not what you think you see.Expert art instructor Carl Purcell shows you how to overcome dependency on the intellectual brain and listen carefully to the more observant artist's brain.With Your Artist's Brain, you'll learn visual skills and artistic techniques that will instantly make you a better artist, no matter what your medium.- 22 step-by-step demonstrations on key relationships between shapes, spaces, subjects, backgrounds, angles, sizes, values and more - Easy examples and fun exercises teaching you how to see and design great compositions - Points to Remember sidebars that allow you to quickly grasp each conceptMaximize the power of your artist's brain today and embark on the path to creating better art.

Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax


Lissa Rankin - 2010
    Today, museums are staging exhibitions of encaustic art, workshops in the technique are thriving, and art collectors and dealers are assimilating encaustic art into their collections and galleries. The word encaustic is taken from the Greek and means “to burn in.” In the encaustic process, pigmented wax is applied and then fused to a surface with heat. The result is a broad range of surface effects and a luminous translucency that is unique to the encaustic medium. Encaustic Art is a complete resource for artists who wish to learn to create fine art with wax. It features step-by-step techniques with easy-to-understand instructions and detailed illustrations, stunning examples of encaustic works of art (including sculpture), along with practical advice and thoughtful aesthetic observations from more than 60 professional artists working in the encaustic medium.

A Dictionary of Color Combinations


Sanzo Wada - 2011
    Wada was ahead of his time in developing traditional and Western influenced colour combinations, helping to lay the foundations for contemporary colour research. Based on his original 6-volume work from the 1930s, this book offers 348 color combinations, as attractive and sensuous as the books own design.

How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul


Caroll Michels - 1988
    Drawing on over two decades of experience, Caroll Michels walks artists through the complicated process of balancing grants, gallery representation, private dealer sales, and a personal studio to ensure a public profile and a steady income. Included is a wealth of insider's information on getting into a gallery, being your own PR agent, and negotiating prices, as well as innovative marketing, exhibition, and sales opportunities for various art disciplines. The new edition is fully updated with strategies for using the Web—everything from generating income through freelance work, to creating an entrepreneurial web site for promoting work to agents and clients, to assessing online galleries. An expanded and updated appendix adds more than 200 new resources such as Web designers, insurance and legal services for artists, internships, art colonies, and corporate and public art programs.

Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines


Graphic Artists Guild - 1984
    The twelfth edition of this classic reference has been revised and updated to provide all the information creative professionals need to keep up with current trends and compete in an ever-changing industry.

History of Art


H.W. Janson - 1962
    In the 1st edition, published in 1962, he spoke to that perennial reader he gently called "the troubled layman." His opening paragraph revealed his sympathy: "Why is this supposed to be art?" he quoted rhetorically. "How often have we heard this question asked--or asked it ourselves, perhaps--in front of one of the strange, disquieting works that we are likely to find nowadays in the museum or art exhibition?" Keeping that curious, questioning perspective in mind, he wrote a history of art from cave painting to Picasso that was singularly welcoming, illuminating & exciting. Sojourning thru this book, a reader is offered every amenity for a comfortable trip. Because he never assumes knowledge on the part of the reader, a recent immigrant from Mars could comprehend Western art from this text. The only assumption the Jansons have made is that with a little guidance everyone can come to understand the artifacts that centuries of architecture, sculpture, design & painting have deposited in our paths. Countless readers have proven the Jansons right & found their lives enriched in the process.

How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum


Keri Smith - 2008
    In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists. The mission Smith proposes? To document and observe the world around you. As if you've never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to. With a series of interactive prompts and a beautifully hand-illustrated two-color package, readers will enjoy exploring and discovering the world through this gorgeous book.