Drawing Made Easy: Getting Started: Discover your "inner artist" as you explore the basic theories and techniques of pencil drawing Review

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Drawing Made Easy: Getting Started: Discover your "inner artist" as you explore the basic theories and techniques of pencil drawing ReviewDon't be misled by this book's small size! Carol Rosinski is a knowledgeable, gentle authority who will take you by the hand and talk to you while you "get started" learning to draw. From the preliminary basics (pencils, paper and erasers) to discussions of line, shape and form, and then on to more advanced topics such as combining multiple images to create a subject and using a computer to emphasize different elements in a drawing, Getting Started gives concrete advice and tons of encouragement every step of the way.
Rosinski goes beyond simple demonstration to explain the reasons and feelings that make each element essential to a good drawing. She never wants you to accept what she says as true just because she says it: she wants you to experience for yourself the point she is discussing. For example, to the perennial beginner's question ("How much detail should I include?"), she offers pairs of drawings designed to be viewed at different distances (p. 43) and asks you to reflect on what you see.
Any good drawing book will stress the importance of locating the light source in a scene and understanding how light defines objects and their shadows, but Rosinski is not content simply to make those statements and leave it at that. Instead, she presents photographs of a large pumpkin taken at 5 different times during the day, so that the reader can actually see the effects of changes light on an object. Similarly, her discussion of shape and the importance of positive and negative space begins with an exercise in which the student "deconstructs" a photograph by cutting around the main subject and separating it from its background. By completing this exercise (or viewing the excellent photographs Rosinski includes as illustrations), the student can see exactly how line functions to define an object's shape as well as how it serves as a boundary between positive and negative space.
With such an able guide at hand, you'll have no trouble "getting started" on a drawing project! This book is a "must have."Drawing Made Easy: Getting Started: Discover your "inner artist" as you explore the basic theories and techniques of pencil drawing Overview

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Digital Art Masters: Volume 5 Review

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Digital Art Masters: Volume 5 ReviewDigital Art Masters: Volume 5 is another great compilation of top quality art and insightful tutorials. If you have earlier volumes, you pretty much expected that. I've a wonderful time going through this thick 288-page book.
This time, art is categorised into 5 sections: Sci-Fi, Scene, Fantasy, Character and Cartoon. As usual, you see work created from all sorts of medium (2D & 3D), across a variety of art genre gravitating towards concept art. There are 3D modeling on different subjects, digital and background painting and many more.
The featured illustrations and galleries are beautiful and detailed. I can't begin to imagine the amount of time spent to create some of these inspiring illustrations, especially so when some of them are just personal projects.
There's plenty to learn from as there are to see. The artists share their techniques as they go through their process of creating the featured illustrations. The book is filled with all sorts of tips, ranging from matte painting, scene composition to even portrait drawing.
You can also visit the publisher's website for some free video tutorials.
Volume 5 is a great addition. Highly recommended to 3D modelers, digital painting artists and art lovers.
(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)Digital Art Masters: Volume 5 Overview

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You Can Paint Watercolors Review

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You Can Paint Watercolors ReviewThe author/artist has the gift of taking complex painting subjects (landscapes, animals, people) and expressing their nature in simple strokes of watercolor. The effect is far from simple; it's that stripped-down-to-the-essentials that makes watercolors so appealing yet difficult to learn. One or more strokes of the brush, and you've gone too far and the painting is overworked and wrong. This book will help you over that perenniel problem.
Mr. Cranshaw's book is full of examples on which you can learn, copy and base your own outdoor and studio painting. His sense of fun is never far away. I have other books from this author and I did some really great paintings of cattle immediately and easily after reading and trying his methods. If you want to simplify and improve your watercolor, get some good techniques for plein-air (outdoors) work, I can't recommend this book enough.You Can Paint Watercolors Overview

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DreamScapes Myth & Magic: Create Legendary Creatures and Characters in Watercolor Review

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DreamScapes Myth & Magic: Create Legendary Creatures and Characters in Watercolor ReviewThis book is both beautiful to look at and practical to use. I have the first Dreamscapes book and had high hopes for this one as well. It DID NOT disappoint. Lots of new information,wonderful samples and Ms.Pui-Mun Law's easy style make this book a diamond amongst pearls! I will be using this for a long time to come. What could make this book even better? Add a spiral binding for ease of use when painting! Thank you Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for making it feel like I can paint too!DreamScapes Myth & Magic: Create Legendary Creatures and Characters in Watercolor Overview

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Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results Review

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Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results ReviewI've always been interested in coloring my art in Photoshop like the pros do; as a self-taught artist, I'm constantly looking for the best resources to teach me what I need to know. Suffice it to say, I've bought quite a few books discussing computer painting and coloring. I've picked things up from them here and there, but I can honestly say that I have not found a book more comprehensive, more considerate of its audience, and better conceived than Hi-Fi Color for Comics. Before reading any further, however, please note that to get the best results from this book, you need to have Photoshop on your computer.
Hi-Fi Color for Comics is actually the best resource you can have if you're trying to learn how to do computer coloring for either comics work or just coloring your own black-and-white artwork - whether the art is inked or still in pencils. In this book you'll learn:
1. How to best scan your work and even how to best stitch together artwork that is too large to fit into one scan
2. How to 'flat' artwork (lay down the base colors)
3. How to render over the flats (the actual painting)
4. How to create color holds (turning black and white lines into colored lines for dramatic effects)
5. Special effects (making glows, fire effects, etc.) and making 'Helpers' (special image files that you can use in your artwork as starters for skies, grass, gravel, etc.)
6. Color Separation (in other words, how to finish your artwork's file and make it ready for print, etc.)
While this book would be great if it only outlined these subjects, it does something even greater: it contains a DVD-ROM that includes a large number of files. Here are just a few:
1. Photoshop Pre-Sets (color settings, brushes, and even shortcut scripts [which you will use liberally in the book's lessons] that you can install directly into Photoshop)
2. Examples of colored artwork, Helpers, etc.
3. 'Homework' assignments for stitching scanned artwork, flatting, etc.
Basically, the DVD-ROM allows you to practice what you learn right along with the lessons taught. You can open the files provided and dig right into coloring them to really get your feet wet in the coloring process right away. This is probably the best feature of the book. And, as a bonus, the pencils that you will color over are done by professionals and, in some cases, provided by top artists like Terry Moore and John Byrne.
Now, certainly, this book is not perfect: there are a number of typos, a couple of accidents in some of the lesson steps, and I found several instances where some lesson steps were accidentally left out (fortunately, they're simple enough that you will figure it out even if you're a novice). Also, those of you wanting to color your penciled artwork should note that, before performing the color separation Step 3 script to finish your artwork, be sure to Apply your line art or else your pencils would be almost completely washed out (the book fails to mention this problematic issue, I discovered).
While it has its faults, Hi-Fi Color for Comics remains the very best resource out there for those interested in learning the comic book style of computer coloring. It is a tremendously well-thought-out book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. If this book is your speed, you may also want to consider another helpful volume, with has another approach to coloring, Digital Manga Workshop: An Artist's Guide to Creating Manga Illustrations on Your Computer. Enjoy!Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results Overview

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How to Paint Like the Old Masters Review

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How to Paint Like the Old Masters ReviewI first saw this book at my local bookstore a few years ago. The paintings presented in this book consolidated my love of classic fine arts (AKA the Old Masters' works). At the time, I did not have enough facilities to pursue oil painting, I simply admired beautiful works by Mr. Sheppard and put the book back to the shelf. Briefly, my conclusion of his work at the time was "unreachable".
I recently bought a copy of this book for myself and in fact have painted, as a practice, some paintings, using the techniques of Titian (both portraiture and nude) described in the book. I fall in love with the techniques of this Old Master simply because the choice of colors and every steps were done in oil (personally, I don't like to use charcoal or other materials in underpainting; they tend to smear and cause a mess). The following are my humble opinions about this book, based on my own experience using it:
1) Don't kid yourself, this is a profound book. Objectively speaking, with only 143+ pages, the author covers the following topics: - Materials and Formulas - Techniques of Durer, Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt, and Vermeer
Due to space limit, expect some details that may need more in-depth discussions. However, the book does include a reference citation for further reading.
2) This book does not make you a "Master", but it helps to "try out" these techniques. In my humble opinion, to fully benefit this book, the reader should have the following skills before trying the techniques described in the book:
- Good craftmanship. Don't expect to create a masterpiece without a decent drawing skill to start with. Be honest with yourself, if you think you have a problem looking at an object (either live or from a photo) and render it on a canvas, you are not ready for this book yet.
- A reasonably decent ability in recognition of shade, light, and halftone; and a considerable knowledge of color mixing in oil. If you have never mixed oil colors, the book does provide, to some extent, what colors to use. However, in reality, variations occurred, due to different brands of colors or medium used. In any event, you might be able to get by.
3) Practice makes perfect. Do a few paintings using the techniques of your choice. You will eventually find out that no matter how strictly do you follow the techniques described in the book, YOUR WAY of painting will end up different. This is exactly what makes every artist unique. As long as your final work is good, it is a masterpiece of its own right. Who cares whether you tried to be a Titian or Rembrandt and failed. After all, that is even not a good idea, in my opinion.
In closing, I am happy to have purchased this book and tried out some paintings for myself. It surely is a great reference every time I plan to do a portraiture in the Old Master's way (but then again, when the painting is done, it becomes "my" way).
In a few words, "Strongly recommended".How to Paint Like the Old Masters Overview

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DK Art School: An Introduction to Acrylics Review

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DK Art School: An Introduction to Acrylics ReviewWhen I decided that I wanted to start painting, I bought five "How To" books. This one is my favorite, hands down. The book is well organized, well written, and contains a lot of beautifully detailed photographs. The author has kept the text to a minimum, letting the photographs do much of the talking, which works far better for me than other books that have more emphasis on written instruction.
In only 72 pages, every topic is covered, and no question is left unanswered. It begins with a brief history of the medium, then moves on to cover color, paint types, brushes, painting surfaces, tools, and techniques, as well as galleries of different painting styles. There's even a section on experimental approaches, such as stenciling and inventive scraping. Rather than presenting a series of exercises (as many books do), this author encourages experimentation and discovering your own personal style, an approach that really inspired me to pick up a brush and get started.
Also worth mentioning is that every photograph and illustration is in color . . . really GOOD color. This may sound like a no-brainer, but a few of the other books I purchased contained a lot of black-and-white photos. Hey, you can't learn to paint in black and white!
Experienced artists may find the material here a bit too rudimentary, but for the true novice, like myself, this book is a winner. If you're looking for that ONE book to get you started, this is it!DK Art School: An Introduction to Acrylics Overview

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Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens Review

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Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens ReviewI first encountered Dave Stevens in 1982. I went over to my friend Scott's house and he said something like "Comics are good again. Kirby's doing something for a company called Pacific and check out this backup story in this Mike Grell comic." I looked at that six page story in Starslayer #2 and saw an instant newness and familiarity in Stevens' renderings of Cliff Secord and the supporting cast. Like the best songs by Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Stevens' art was both new but at the same time it felt like something that always existed and was waiting to be plucked out of the air if the right artist came along to see it. That day began about ten years of waiting patiently between episodes of The Rocketeer, anticipating each new cover Dave did for Pacific and Eclipse comics. Usually when we bought a new Pacific Comic, the first thing we did was flip it over and see if there was a Stevens cover in the "Coming Attractions."
Brush With Passion: the Art and Life of Dave Stevens collects all those covers, a generous sampling of Rocketeer art, and much, much more. In addition to Stevens' published and familiar work this book has a generous sampling of Stevens' early samples, animation work, commercial art, and commissioned pinups and other drawings. Almost every page is a visual treat, offering something you haven't seen before or a familiar Rocketeer page reproduced from the original art as you never seen it before.
Stevens provided the often illuminating narrative for the book. We learn of Stevens kind of stumbled into doing the Rocketeer and what was supposed to be a quick fill-in job grew grew into something that defined Dave Stevens for many of readers, who always clamored for more. But the conditions of the comic market at the time, and Stevens' drive for doing the job right made his output seem sporadic and never enough for his eager fans. Brush With Passion details what Stevens was doing all that time: working with the Rocketeer movie, trying to do jobs that would earn him a living and challenging himself as an artist. And toward the end, taking oil painting classes and battling leukemia.
I got to meet Dave Stevens once in the early 1990's at one of John Hitchcock's comic shows in Greensboro. I probably asked him when the next Rocketeer was coming out and he patiently and graciously answered my questions. I bought a couple of prints from him and as he signed them I commented how his cover for the Sheena in 3-D comic was one of my favorites by him. He commented, "Apparently someone else liked it too, it's been stolen." There's a happy ending to that story in this book.
One more Stevens story. The drawing on page 181, "Charity." I was over at a friend of mines house who sold original comic art. He had a polaroid of that piece he passed around. At this time, Dave was "just teasing" with his Eclipse covers and just seeing a full on nude by Stevens was something. Even though I was an adult, seeing that drawing brought some of that some thrill one got when viewing their first Playboy magazine at the age of 12 or 13. That's what Stevens' art always did for me, whether it was a drawing of the Rocketeer, the Shadow, or one his pretty girls, it always felt like seeing something new, but something you always wanted to see but just didn't know it yet.Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens Overview

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Life's Pleasures: The Ashcan Artists' Brush With Leisure, 1895-1925 Review

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Life's Pleasures: The Ashcan Artists' Brush With Leisure, 1895-1925 ReviewRelatively few primers offer in-depth details on the Ashcan artists: a school of early 20th-century American artists whose work centered around New York City life. Here the underworld of the City was often displayed - and LIFE'S PLEASURES is the first book to explore the lighter side of the Ashcan artists' works, featuring leisure scenes in cafes, bars and parks and movies. You'll recognize the artists' names ' Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, John Sloan - and the essays offer further insights on New York culture and artistic sentiment, making LIFE'S PLEASURES a top pick for both New York and college-level art libraries.
Diane C. Donovan
California BookwatchLife's Pleasures: The Ashcan Artists' Brush With Leisure, 1895-1925 Overview

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