It explores basic materials and instruments; fundamental properties of strokes and pen control; key elements of shading; and indispensable techniques for creating vibrant textures. As a bonus, a chapter is devoted to what the author refers to as, the secret Line of Balance. This book is not just written to instruct but also to intrigue and inspire enthusiasts of pen and ink drawing.

    Bestselling author, artist, and illustrator Lisa Congdon brings her expertise to this guide to the process of artistic self-discovery.Find Your Artistic Voice helps artists and creatives identify and nurture their own visual identity.This one-of-a-kind book helps artists navigate the influence of creators they admire, while simultaneously appreciating the value of their personal journey.• Features down-to-earth and encouraging advice from Congdon herself• Filled with interviews with established artists, illustrators, and creatives• Answers the question "how do I develop a unique artistic style?"An artist's voice is their calling card—it's what makes each of their works vital and particular, but developing such singular artistry requires effort and persistence.Find Your Artistic Voice offers everyday strategies, inspirational anecdotes, and practical advice to push through fear and insecurity in your artistic practice.• Makes a perfect gift for aspiring artists and creatives, serious hobbyists, art students, makers, teachers, budding creative professionals, and fans of Lisa Congdon• A self-help creativity book for those looking for artistic guidance• Great for those who enjoyed reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber

    In a perfect world, where every day is a breezy 72 degrees with partial cloud coverage, we would all have a 5,000-square-foot studio-and the entire catalog of B&H(TM) in our equipment lockups. But the reality is that you may have an outdated DSLR with two decent lenses (which took you several years to save up for), and all you have at your disposal is an unfinished basement, your garage, or the empty conference room at your office. That's where "Studio Anywhere" comes in. With photographer Nick Fancher as your guide, you'll learn how to get portfolio-ready photos while working in some of the most problematic scenarios imaginable. Whether shooting a corporate portrait, a test shoot with a model, or a promo shoot with a band, you'll discover that most of the time, there's no need for an expensive studio-you just have to get creative." ""Studio Anywhere" is a resource for photographers to learn through behind-the-scenes photos and lighting diagrams from a range of photo shoots-but it doesn't stop there. Because directing a photo shoot involves more than simply knowing how to wield a camera or process a raw file, Nick also lets you in on the aesthetic decisions he makes in his signature photos, inspiring you to develop your own vision. And, finally, he describes his Lightroom and Photoshop workflow so you can learn how to deftly navigate post-processing. Shows how to create images with minimal equipment that is within reach of anyone's budgetTakes you through the entire shoot, from concept to lighting to exposure to post-processing in Lightroom and PhotoshopTeaches how to build a portfolio without a dedicated studio space

    This richly illustrated and expert study follows the artist from the early gloom-laden paintings in which he captured the misery of peasants and workers in his homeland, through his bright and colorful Parisian period, to the work of his final years, spent under a southern sun in Arles.

    Whether you're a professional artist interested in improving your drawing skills, or an aspiring designer fresh out of high school looking to add to your portfolio, The Silver Way will help you build your confidence and strengthen your work in order to successfully design characters for any project, in any style. Chockfull of helpful--and entertaining!--drawing techniques and easy-to-follow tutorials developed through his decades of experience as an artist on popular animated shows (Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, The Fairly OddParents) and as the owner of Silver Drawing Academy, The Silver Way is the kind of educational art book you'll revisit again and again for guidance, encouragement, and inspiration.

    Inside you'll find guidelines for rendering accurate skin tones in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil and pastel.You'll begin with a review of the five essential painting elements (drawing, value, color, composition and edges), then learn how light and color influence the appearance of skin tones. Artist Chris Saper provides the advice and examples that make every lesson and technique easy to understand--immediately improving the quality of your work. You'll discover how to:Paint the four major skin color groups (Caucasian, African American, Asian and Hispanic)Refine these colors into dozens of possible variations within each groupSelect your palette and mix hues for clean, beautiful colorsDetermine the color and temperature of light that falls on your subjectPaint direct and indirect sunlight, artificial light and highlights of lightMaster the four elements that determine color in shadowUse photographic references when you can't paint directly from lifeYou'll also find seven step-by-step demonstrations and an appendix of sample color charts for each major skin type under a range of lighting variations. It's all you need to bring your portraits to life!

    It lets you juxtapose disparate elements, styles, and media against each other and create something entirely novel, bizarre, arresting, beautiful, ironic, or unsettling. Old and new can be fused together; the digital and hand-made can be combined.What you can create with collage knows no bounds.This little book is full of big ideas from contemporary collage artists to inspire you to think differently. It's the perfect gift for creative friends and family, providing inspiration for curious beginners as well as seasoned collagists looking for new ways of working.With a new idea on every page, you will discover fresh ways of tackling the medium to create work that is original and exciting.Ideas include:- monoprint- embroidery- felting- portraiture- painting- body art- sketchbooking- miniature dioramas- Surrealism- Photoshop- and many more!

    This step-by-step book offers 52 fun and creative art projects set into weekly lessons, beginning with drawing, moving through painting and printmaking, and then building to paper collage and mixed media. Each lesson features and relates to the work and style of a contemporary artist and their unique style. The labs can be used as singular projects or to build up to a year of hands-on fine art experiences. Grouped by medium, the labs are set up loosely to build skills upon the previous ones; however, you can begin anywhere. Have fun exploring:drawing by creating a whimsical scene on a handmade crayon scratchboard.painting by using watercolors and salt to create a textured landscape.printmaking by using lemons, celery, mushrooms, and other produce to make colorful prints.paper by creating an expressive self-portrait using pieces of colored tissue paper.mixed media by making insects from patterned contact paper and watercolor pencils.Color photos illustrate how different people using the same lesson will yield different results, exemplifying the way the lesson brings out each artist’s personal style. Art Lab for Kids is the perfect book for creative families, friends, and community groups and works as lesson plans for both experienced and new art teachers. The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

    Banksy is the world's foremost graffiti artist, his work adorning streets, walls and bridges across nations and continents. His stencil designs are instantly recognizable and disturbingly precise in their social and political commentary, flavoured with subtle humour and self-awareness. More popular than ever, Banksy has spawned countless imitators, students and fans alike, his fame - although unlooked-for - inevitably transmitting his ideas and work to the international arena.With a range of topics for the graffiti lover, coming from a variety of inspirational sources, this book provides an overview of how Banksy's work is changing the face of modern art - as well as the urban landscape. Distilling his influence and his genius into an easily accessible full-colour 128 pages, this is the perfect purchase for any fan of Banksy or the graffiti art scene.

    A two-pronged task, it requires great technical skill and an intuitive eye. In both these respects, John Singer Sargent stands out as a portrait artist of major stature.Born in 1856 in Florence of American parents, Sargent showed artistic aptitude at an early age and was enrolled at the Academia delle Belle Arti in that city. Later he studied with Parisian artist Carolus Duran, acquiring the loose, painterly style for which he is renowned. International acclaim as a portrait artist came early in his life and followed him throughout his career.Sargent's portraits done in oil are well known; they appear in major museums throughout the world. A lesser-known but no less respected aspect of his oeuvre, his portrait drawings are the focus of this collection. Included here are early works in pencil and pastels, and later renderings in charcoal, a medium Sargent favored after 1910. They have been selected from both public and private collections by art historian Trevor J. Fairbrother and attest to Sargent's technical skill, versatility, and dexterity in three different mediums.In addition, these works reveal Sargent's ability to treat a diverse group of subjects; he handles the languorous beauties of the Edwardian age, members of the aristocracy, and the great literary and artistic figures of his day with equal virtuosity, capturing their characteristic mood and style. This collection includes portraits of Lord and Lady Spencer, Henry James, William Butler Yeats, Vaslav Nijimsky, Tamara Karsavina, Dame Ethel Smyth, and Jascha Heifetz.Artists, students, historians, and lovers of portraiture will appreciate this selection of drawings by Sargent. Anyone interested in trying his hand at portraiture will find this volume both instructional and inspirational.

    It is the product of preparation and effort, and it's within reach of everyone who wants to achieve it. All it takes is the willingness to make creativity a habit, an integral part of your life: In order to be creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative. In The Creative Habit, Tharp takes the lessons she has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career and shares them with you, whatever creative impulses you follow -- whether you are a painter, composer, writer, director, choreographer, or, for that matter, a businessperson working on a deal, a chef developing a new dish, a mother wanting her child to see the world anew. When Tharp is at a creative dead end, she relies on a lifetime of exercises to help her get out of the rut, and The Creative Habit contains more than thirty of them to ease the fears of anyone facing a blank beginning and to open the mind to new possibilities. Tharp's exercises are practical and immediately doable -- for the novice or expert. In "Where's Your Pencil?" she reminds us to observe the world -- and get it down on paper. In "Coins and Chaos," she provides the simplest of mental games to restore order and peace. In "Do a Verb," she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In "Build a Bridge to the Next Day," she shows how to clean your cluttered mind overnight. To Tharp, sustained creativity begins with rituals, self-knowledge, harnessing your memories, and organizing your materials (so no insight is ever lost). Along the way she leads you by the hand through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts into productive grooves. In her creative realm, optimism rules. An empty room, a bare desk, a blank canvas can be energizing, not demoralizing. And in this inventive, encouraging book, Twyla Tharp shows us how to take a deep breath and begin!

    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.

    The authors, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, worked with Walt Disney himself as well as other leading figures in a half-century of Disney films. They personally animated leading characters in most of the famous films and have decades of close association with the others who helped perfect this extremely difficult and time-consuming art form. Not to be mistaken for just a "how-to-do-it," this voluminously illustrated volume (like the classic Disney films themselves) is intended for everyone to enjoy.Besides relating the painstaking trial-and-error development of Disney's character animation technology, this book irresistibly charms us with almost an overabundance of the original historic drawings used in creating some of the best-loved characters in American culture: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Snow White and Bambi (among many, many others) as well as early sketches used in developing memorable sequences from classic features such as Fantasia and Pinocchio. With the full cooperation of Walt Disney Productions and free access to the studio's priceless archives, the authors took unparalleled advantage of their intimate long-term experience with animated films to choose the precise drawings to illustrate their points from among hundreds of thousands of pieces of artwork carefully stored away.The book answers everybody's question about how the amazingly lifelike effects of Disney character animation were achieved, including charming stories of the ways that many favorite animated figures got their unique personalities. From the perspective of two men who had an important role in shaping the art of animation, and within the context of the history of animation and the growth of the Disney studio, this is the definitive volume on the work and achievement of one of America's best-known and most widely loved cultural institutions. Nostalgia and film buffs, students of popular culture, and that very broad audience who warmly responds to the Disney "illusion of life" will find this book compelling reading (and looking!).Searching for that perfect gift for the animation fan in your life? Explore more behind-the-scenes stories from Disney Editions:The Art of Mulan: A Disney Editions ClassicWalt Disney's Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub IwerksOne Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the GlobeThe Walt Disney Studios: A Lot to RememberFrom All of Us to All of You: The Disney Christmas CardInk & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's AnimationOswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons, Revised Special EditionDisney Villains: Delightfully Evil - The Creation, The Inspiration, The FascinationThe Art and Flair of Mary Blair: An Appreciation, Updated Edition

    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.

    This book presents step-by-step techniques for 35 image transfer processes, extensive tips for fixing mishaps and examples of how to combine transfers in finished pieces of mixed-media art.This comprehensive guide features:35 Techniques: This book focuses exclusively on making transfers--from simple tape and gel medium transfers to more complex and out of the box techniques, like solar silk screens and plastic wrap transfers.Troubleshooting: Image Transfer Workshop includes extensive answers to help fix problems in transfers gone wrong. You'll learn what to watch for, what to do to get great transfers every time.Dual Styles, Dual Approaches: The authors' different styles illustrate how transfer techniques can take on completely different looks. Finished pieces of art for each technique and a section of completely stepped-out projects are sure to inspire you!Let Image Transfer Workshop help build your image transfer confidence.