Everyone has heard the mantra 'Knitting is the new yoga' but not everyone is lucky enough to have someone to show them the ropes and get them started on their very first row. Unless they have a friend or relative to teach them how to start, often would-be knitters turn to the so-called 'beginners patterns' but these can be confusing, difficult to follow, and more often than not written in 'knit' rather than English. This book will be a tried and tested guide for people at the very beginning of their knitting lives, looking for guidance and patterns for projects that they can use to make that first all-important step to 'Beyond the Scarf'.Contents include: Knitting Basics: Getting Started; Knitter's First Project: The Scarf; Workshops: Decreasing; Creating a Rib; Changing Colour; Increasing; Finishing; Knitting a Flower; Cable: Making a Cable; Making a Cable Bag; Eyelets and so on...

    Now in The Zentangle Untangled Workbook, you'll get enough Zentangle instruction and inspiration to last all year long. Filled with dozens of new tiles and four never-before seen tangles designed especially for this book, you'll be using Zentangle in ways you never dreamed. Create shapes, letterforms, borders, even Zendalas as you master each new tangle, all while reducing stress through the intentional act of creating repetitive patterns. Perfect for artists of all levels, this workbook will immerse you in a daily meditation of Zentangle. Insides you'll find: Seven step-by-step demonstrations to help you get started. Inspiration and guidance on how to use those tangles to create unique and beautiful tiles throughout the year. More than 400 blank or partially started tiles so you can practice all year inside this book and without the fear of the blank page. It's time to tangle!

    On this painterly journey, Tracy Verdugo leads you from self-doubt to self-appreciation by helping you find your voice through a myriad of vibrantly-hued mark making, painting and self-reflection techniques. There are no mistakes here, only opportunities to learn and grow.- Learn the language of your own sacred marks by painting with personal symbology. - Discover the inspiration that exists around you, in your home, your community, the present moment. - 19 step-by-step exercises use popular mixed media materials such as pastels, acrylic paints, inks and more! - See how to use art making to plant creative seeds and cultivate your wildest dreams. Turn on your Paint Mojo and make an awesome, shiny, perfectly imperfect mark of you.

    It can be a wonderful art form and a means of self-expression. Collage Journeys presents a series of innovative workshop assignments, each designed to relate the technique and format of a collage to its subject. Gathering materials, generating ideas, painting with paper, working in layers, using text, keeping a visual journal—project by project, new collage skills are explored. Stunning finished pieces offer additional ideas and inspiration. For anyone who has ever wanted to take collage to the next level‐adding meaning, subtext, and style—Collage Journeys offers the journey of a lifetime.

    Hockney’s extensive research led him to conclude that artists such as Caravaggio, Velázquez, da Vinci, and other hyperrealists actually used optics and lenses to create their masterpieces.In this passionate yet pithy book, Hockney takes readers on a journey of discovery as he builds a case that mirrors and lenses were used by the great masters to create their highly detailed and realistic paintings and drawings. Hundreds of the best-known and best-loved paintings are reproduced alongside his straightforward analysis. Hockney also includes his own photographs and drawings to illustrate techniques used to capture such accurate likenesses. Extracts from historical and modern documents and correspondence with experts from around the world further illuminate this thought-provoking book that will forever change how the world looks at art.Secret Knowledge will open your eyes to how we perceive the world and how we choose to represent it.

    But every volume of The DK Art School gives the reader the precise information needed to create a delightful work of art.

    This Boston-based alternative pop/German-like cabaret duo hand-designed this book which includes art, photos, commentary and 11 songs from their 2004 release. Songs included are: Bad Habit * Coin Operated Boy * Girl Anachronism * Good Day * Gravity * Half Jack * The Jeep Song * Missed Me *Perfect Fit * Slide * Truce.

    Though there are many books on drawing the human figure, none teach how to draw a figure from the first few marks of the quick sketch to the last virtuosic stroke of the finished masterpiece, let alone through a convincing, easy-to-understand method.That changes now!In Figure Drawing for Artists: Making Every Mark Count, award-winning fine artist Steve Huston shows beginners and pros alike the two foundational concepts behind the greatest masterpieces in art and how to use them as the basis for their own success.Embark on a drawing journey and discover how these twin pillars of support are behind everything from the Venus De Milo, to Michelangelo's Sibyl, to George Bellow's Stag at Sharkey's, and how they're the fundamental tools for animation studios around the world. Not to mention how the best comic book artists since the beginnings of the art form use them whether they know it or not.Figure Drawing for Artists: Making Every Mark Count sketches out the same two-step method taught to the artists of DreamWorks, Warner Brothers, and Disney Animation, so pick up a pencil and get drawing. The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

    From quick “try it” ideas using shapes and patterns to doodled portraits and contour drawings, these step-by-step projects are wild creative fun. The featured artists include Cori Dantini, who provides a “Recipe for a Face”; Flora Chang with innovative watercolor designs; and Teesha Moore who offers ideas for adding personality to doodled characters.

    To join the elite ranks of those who write consistently, you need to learn how to stay prolific over the long term. And for that, the number one ingredient is self-discipline. In Self-Discipline for Writers, bestselling author Martin Meadows shares his philosophy and strategies on how to build self-discipline as a writer and how to keep writing over the long term. Here are some of the most important ideas you’ll discover: - 3 foundations of self-discipline for writers (avoid a common mistake that almost always leads to failure), - 3 steps to a strong work ethic as a writer (learn how to develop a strategy for consistently hitting your word counts), - 5 types of self-doubt common among writers and how to overcome them (if you don’t believe in yourself as a writer, how are your readers supposed to believe in you?), - 7 tips on how to manage your energy as a writer—including not only the most fundamental advice, but also intricacies like discussing your projects with other people, capturing fleeting ideas, and reading your reviews (learn why optimizing your energy is key to consistent results), - why control is essential for any writer (and how to claim it), - 5 good business practices for more self-discipline (this includes some surprising thoughts on how to run your writing business to reduce frustration and increase productivity). Writing doesn’t have to be burdensome. You too can write with more ease, and most importantly, write and publish consistently so that you can enjoy a flourishing writing career. Let’s learn together how to accomplish this exciting goal.

    Mix and match to achieve countless variations, building layer upon layer to create unique and wonderfully complex abstract art.- Learn more than 30 step-by-step techniques for developing texture and visual interest, including collage, monoprinting, carving, color blocking, paint skins, raised stencils, glazing and so much more. - Chapters explore the phases of a multi-layered painting, from surface preparation through adding structure, developing complexity and adding finishing touches. - Follow the development of two paintings as each layer adds to the finished result, with tons of additional artwork throughout. - Gain insight on how to make paints, mediums and grounds work for you.Embracing a spirit of freedom and spontaneity, Acrylic Solutions is a stimulating guide for contemporary artists of any skill level. Beginners will learn how to make visually compelling paintings from start to finish, while more experienced artists will find the tools and inspiration to take their work to the next level.

    Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people; essentially-statistically speaking-there aren't any people like that. Geniuses get made once-a-century or so, yet good art gets made all the time, so to equate the making of art with the workings of genius removes this intimately human activity to a strangely unreachable and unknowable place. For all practical purposes making art can be examined in great detail without ever getting entangled in the very remote problems of genius."--from the Introduction

    The creative possibilities are as unlimited as the world around you!

    Devised by an award-winning botanical artist who teaches at the Eden Project, this course takes you from basic drawing techniques to advanced skills required for the analysis of complex forms in watercolour. Following the syllabus of the botanical illustration course at the acclaimed Eden Project in Cornwall, this book offers you the opportunity to perfect the many techniques used to produce beautiful and informative plant portraits.Full of practical information, and with easy-to-follow exercises, the book includes: Pencil Drawing; Shapes in Nature; Plant dissection and bisection; Perspective; Use of tonal contrast; Line drawing and pencil shading; Colour and pigment mixing; Application of watercolour; Highlights and shiny surfaces; Composition and arrangement.

    Each of its 100 sections shows a complete A-to-Z calligraphy alphabet, with lessons on correct pen strokes and advice on avoiding errors. Beginners will find sound basic instruction, while experienced calligraphers can extend their repertoire with letter styles that range from classic Roman to clean and elegant contemporary styles. In addition to analysis of each alphabet's features, the book's detailed instruction provides information on -- Tools and materials * Layout basics * Numerals and punctuation * Illumination and ornamentation * Tips for the left-handed calligrapher . . . and more. Readers will also find examples by master calligraphers from past eras. This book's spiral binding ensures that pages lay flat when opened, allowing calligraphers to study and copy each pen stroke with ease. The Calligrapher's Bible is printed in color and features more than 350 illustrations.