Drawing the Natural World is a practical and comprehensive guide for artists of all abilities to celebrate through art the beauty of the flora and fauna that make up our planet. The book is divided into the fundamental concepts of art � colour and tone, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space � to introduce the essential techniques and demonstrate how they can be used in drawing the natural world through practical projects. Further chapters cover the anatomy of animals to ensure posture and gait can be accurately captured, and the fundamentals of composition. There is also introduction to the different materials and equipment that can be used, and a guide to basics of drawing. Each of the projects in the book includes a fully illustrated step-by-step sequence to follow, plus helpful tips and advice. There's also background information about the featured animals and plants to broaden the reader's awareness of and connection with the natural world.

Chinese brush painting is an ancient art, steeped in history, symbolism and ritual, and closely linked to Chinese calligraphy. This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a journey through the history, techniques and materials that will enable you to produce stunning paintings of flowers, birds, animals and landscapes. Topics covered include: he history of Chinese painting materials and how to use them; advice on basic brush strokes, colour mixing and brush loading; step-by-step guide to completing a composition of a variety of subjects and finally, instruction on mounting your work for display. Written by a respected artist and teacher, it covers traditional techniques as well as more recent innovative ideas, and reveals the beauty and mastery behind this art.

First published in 1996. The art of the extraordinary French artist, Henri Matisse (1869- 1954), has provided visual pleasures and intellectual challenges to its viewers for the last hundred years. This is collection of gathered, summarized, and evaluated major literature on the artist primarily from France, the United States, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, where major Matisse collections bear witness to early and intense interest in the artist's work.

The ultimate illustrated guide for sourcing, processing and using wild clay. Potters around the world are taking to the local landscape to dig their own wild clay, discover its unique properties, and apply it to their craft. This guide is the ideal starting point for anyone - from novices, improvers and experts to educators and students - who wants to forge a closer bond between their art and their surroundings. Testing and trial and error are key to finding a material's best use, so the authors' tips, drawn from long experience in the US and Japan (but which can be applied to clays anywhere) provide an enviable head-start on this rewarding journey. A clay might be best suited to sculpture and tile bodies, throwing clay bodies, handbuilding and slab bodies, or simply be applied as a glaze or slip. The specific properties of found materials can create a diverse range of effects and surfaces, or, even when not fired, can be adapted for use as colorful pastels or pigments. Beautiful illustrations and helpful technical descriptions explain the formation of various clays; how to locate, collect and assess them; how to test their properties of shrinkage, water absorption, texture and plasticity; the best ways to test-fire them; and how to adapt a clay's characteristics by blending appropriate materials. From prospecting in the field to holding your finished product, there is helpful advice through every stage, and a gallery of work by international potters who have embraced the clays found around them.

Combining ink with dry coloured pencil is an innovative technique that integrates two very different media, resulting in rich and detailed work. This beautiful book looks at different methods of mark-making in ink and a repertoire of coloured pencil techniques, then explains how to work with them together successfully. Drawing on the author's love of the countryside and its plant communities, it shows how the technique can be used to interpret the landscape in a new and highly individual way. Packed with step-by-step sequences and finished examples, this book will encourage beginners to get started and inspire artists looking for a new direction.

For the woodturner seeking projects that are a little more challenging, Dick Sing shares his techniques for creating awe-inspiring wooden ornaments and eggs. Step-by-step instructions and color photos guide you through the process of turning and hollowing out a globe for the incredibly light ornament, crafting a delicate "icicle" for the spindle -- even adding a captive ring for that special finishing touch. Dick provides helpful tips for selecting the appropriate woods, using your tools to their best advantage, and fashioning some new tools from surprisingly ordinary materials. Next he shows how to turn a wooden egg that will look like Mother Nature smiled upon it. One of nature's most perfect forms, the egg is also one of the most challenging, and Dick has spent many years perfecting his techniques for getting an egg to look like an egg. Here he outlines his methods for laying out the egg with a template, making a special chuck so you can finish both ends of the egg in the lathe, and using a homemade mandrel to create an egg that is also a kaleidoscope. Now you can attain eggs you are proud of! As a special bonus, Dick shows you how to recreate the jar he uses for his finish and how to use a wood burning pen to sign your completed projects.

Learn how to create realistic 3D art with this collection of step-by-step techniques and tutorials for creating hyperrealistic art using coloured pencils. The trend for hyper realistic artworks featuring high shine subjects is inspiring a new generation of artists. Take your art to the next level with this collection of step-by-step techniques and tutorials for creating hyper realistic artwork. Artist and author, Amie Howard, is an expert in how to get the most from coloured pencils and she takes you through all the key techniques for rendering realistic representations of everything from pets to water. The first part of the book explores basic drawing techniques including blending, shading, glazing and scumbling - a technique used to create a slick surface texture. There are simple practise exercises for each of the techniques sections so that you can experiment and get comfortable with the different methods before trying them out on a final artwork. This section includes advice about how to get the perfect blend of colours and textures as well as tips about adding in the fine details that make all the difference. The step-by-step tutorials feature a wide range of subjects including animals, portraits, food and drink so you will learn how to recreate a large number of different surfaces and textures. The chapters are broken up into sections: Surfaces; Animals; Birds, People and Other Textures which looks at a range of different natural and synthetic textures including tree bark, grass, a soft drink can and a shiny sweet wrapper. All of the tutorials have multiple step-by-step images so you can see how the forms and textures are built up over a series of stages. Amie shares her tips and tricks for creating incredibly realistic representations of textures including feathers and fur and there are up close studies for a cat's eye, a dog's nose and a single feather so you can the details involved in these projects. Other up close studies include lips and a nose and a bird's beak and eye. The instructions will allow you tackle challenging subjects such as reflective surfaces and ice in glass by breaking down the drawing process into clear step-by-step instructions and photographs, allowing you to follow the artist at each step.

Lauren Wager's follow up to her bestselling Color Collective's Palette Perfect features a fresh approach to color combinations with entirely new palettes, organized by season. What color is summer? Is it a cool and translucent swimming pool aquamarine, brilliant watermelon red, or the pale pink interior of a seashell? If these colors define summer, what color is autumn? How about winter? And spring? In Palette Perfect, Volume 2, designer and best-selling author Lauren Wager explores the multiple possibilities of seasonal color applications, leading the reader through an inspirational presentation of image pairings and color combinations. The color palettes are portrayed in a fresh and dynamic way that allows the reader to see how certain colors play off each other in foreground and background, close together and further apart. This format is a different take on color palettes than Volume 1, and still provides the RGB and CMYK values for artists that would like to translate the colors for web and print. This volume--both a practical guide and inspirational book for designers, illustrators, architects, and crafters, as well home decoration and fashion lovers, professional or otherwise--provides examples of color application within the worlds of contemporary art, fashion, interiors, photography and graphic design. It is a carefully gathered collection of color palettes and stunning images with a touch of the unexpected, utterly successful in its aim.

Featuring historic woodblock prints of elegant Japanese women, this adult coloring book is the perfect stress-reliever for fans of Japanese art and fashion. Beautiful Women Japanese Prints Coloring Book celebrates 200 years of women in Japanese art--from the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of eighteenth and nineteenth-century traditional Japan to modern shin hanga prints of the early twentieth-century jazz era. This lavish fine art coloring book features 22 images of women from all walks of life--from court ladies to housewives--at work, at play and in contemplation. With a wonderful section of prints of varying artistic complexity, this book is the perfect way to enjoy a slice of Japanese culture while having fun creating your own art. When your masterpiece is complete, simple tear it out at the perforation to frame and display. A copy of the richly colored original print sits opposite your "canvas" to use as a reference, if desired, and each print is accompanied by a fascinating introduction to the context or the artist behind the work.

Concrete is a fascinating material in the hands of a creative person. The Direct Concrete Technique, illustrated in this book, empowers anyone to make furniture or sculpture by hand without molds or forms. The key to this method is the use of a steel armature covered with wires. With 296 vivid color photos and precise text, you can learn the steps necessary to use concrete as a fine art material to create innovative and imaginative furniture, from initial concept and the creation of the armature to the application of concrete and finishing the artwork. \nBold and elegant designs of lightweight curvilinear elements can be fashioned with this method. The advantages of concrete and the direct technique are numerous, and the results are immediate and durable. Skills to make free-formed objects of concrete are easily mastered and creative opportunities abound throughout the process. A furniture gallery is provided for further inspiration.

Delve into the popular and competitive world of heroine design as 50 of the world's finest character artists from the fields of animation, illustration, comics, and games share a behind-the-scenes look at their stunning sketchbook pages, showcasing over 2,500 drawings! A range of styles and genres are explored, including classic comic book superheroines and magical princesses, plus historical, fantasy, and sci-fi heroines from across time and space. From concept sketches and initial thumbnails, to emotions and expressions, outfit variations, and an engaging chosen design, artists share their previously unseen explorations alongside expert advice for crafting compelling heroine designs. Further pages explore action and pose - a library of dynamic sketches with invaluable basic-shape overlays, offering a revealing collection of each artist's ideas and experiments. "3dtotal Publishing launched a brand-new design series, with the recent release of Character Design Collection: Heroines. This series aims to present inspirational sketches and pose explorations by some of the best character artists out there. This first edition is simply incredible, and perfect for ushering in what I'm sure will be continued greatness ahead with future volumes... This book will surely serve as a fantastic reference for inspiration and a great tool in learning character creation. Highly recommended!" Nick Charles @ Renderosity Magazine

This book is aimed at helping budding interior designers learn how to draw professional looking interior designs. It is accessible, beautifully illustrated and practical. Guidance is given on drawing perspective, floor plans, drawing furniture and renditions of rooms. Filled with sketches and drawings, this is the ideal guide to producing successful drawings of interior designs.

Artists have always been fascinated with portraying the nude: the beauty and nuances of the human figure are endlessly absorbing. This practical and inspirational book celebrates and continues that enduring and beautiful tradition by encouraging you to discover your own talent and style. Philip Tyler looks in detail at the key skills and themes, such as perception, proportion, composition, colour and facture, that the artist needs. He then investigates ideas and styles, and encourages you to interpret the nude so your paintings have those elusive qualities of vitality and relevance, which can turn a painting into a masterpiece.