An inspired collection of the authors' own work spanning 30 years into the 'Visual Art Language'. Demonstrates a variety of mediums including oil paint, etching and drawing. Will appeal to readers with an interest in Fine Art, practitioners or those with an interest in the development of a visual language. This is a book of original art works comprising 49 colour and 62 black and white images, most are at full page size. The book is divided into six sections which look at different aspects of visual language in terms of either subject matter or media. It contains works from memory, etchings, still life, portrait, figure drawings and student work which form these six sections. Readers are able to see the development of a language which has evolved from early student work to current work. There are brief introductions to each section which aim to explain how the ideas came about, providing some detail about the artistic process, the inspiration behind the work and the challenges encountered along the way. Complementing the visual art are short and concise introductions to each section. A biography of the author is included at the end.

This book is for anybody who wants to draw more, whether you are learning from scratch or developing existing skills. When you're learning to draw, the most important thing you'll own is a sketchbook, and this is a sketchbook with training wheels. Let go of your fear and unlock drawing skills that you never believed you could have with this expertly guided sketchbook. Not your ordinary art book, You Will be Able to Draw by the End of This Book is a combined tutorial and sketchbook that not only teaches you the fundamental steps required for you to be able to draw, but also allows you the space to practise on the page. The book lays flat to allow you to draw comfortably and has an elastic band to keep your artwork safe. Each exercise has an estimated completion time, so it doesn't matter whether you are at home, on your lunch break or even on the bus, you'll always find time to practise. Jake is like an ever-present companion who will guide you on your creative journey, with his friendly and practical tone. His lessons build in complexity as you work through the book, starting with the basics of line making and progressing to portraits and landscapes. His clever exercises will help you gain confidence and break you out of old habits as well as encouraging you to see things in a different way and relax. So pick up a pencil and discover the joy of drawing!

This book is an expert guide to producing beautiful lifelike drawings of birds in their natural habitat. Artists of all interests will find a lot to inspire them in this detailed, practical and beautiful guide on drawing birds. The book includes sections on materials, basic techniques and reference gathering, as well as how to draw the key features of birds such as beaks, eyes, claws, wings and feathers. A special section focuses on birds in flight, and this is followed by chapters on the main bird groups including: Waders and water birds, Wildfowl, Birds of prey, Owls, Garden and woodland birds, Seabirds and Game birds. Each chapter covers the techniques specific to the group as well as numerous examples and a full step-by-step demonstration. The absence of colour means that Andrew uses other aspects such as pattern, shading and shape to give his paintings life and interest. Written for artists who wish to apply their skills to drawing birds, as well as experienced artists who want to improve their drawing skills, this is an expert guide to producing exquisitely rendered, lifelike drawings of birds in their natural habitats and nothing could be more inspirational than Andrew's accurately observed and truly beautiful drawings.

Colour your way to better focus! Colouring books ... for grown-ups. Remember the long hours spent colouring in the lines of your most-cherished colouring books, full box of crayons within reach, the demanding adult world tuned out? Secretly long for an excuse to retreat back into that world? Now you can. Find your inner artist and colour your way to better focus! Mindfulness helps us to appreciate the world around us - to feel centred, less stressed and more fully alive. Art for Mindfulness offers the perfect aid - 60 intricate blank vintage fabric patterns to help focus your mind, unlock your creativity and calm your conscious as you pour colour into them. With an introduction from art therapist and mindfulness practitioner Imi Lo, plus accompanying quotes with each illustration to inspire meditation as you go through, Art for Mindfulness is the beautiful colouring book for grown-ups you can mindfully complete. So pick up your pencil, unleash your creativity and watch your well-being thrive!

Unique digital drawings from one of Switzerland's most prolific artists of today. Since early in his career, the Swiss artist Yves Netzhammer has used digital drawings as the basis of his work, which oscillates between sculpture and the moving image. Lines drawn into a space in abeyance visualize his figurative thought and beguile the viewer into bizarre, comical, and eerie associations. Netzhammer's refined and precise pictorial rhetoric plays a subtle game that permits the viewer a variety of interpretations and continually evades the deceptive moment of unambiguity. This results in images in which complexity and levity, formal strictness, or conceptual proliferation come to the front depending on one's point of view. Convex Thoughts is a bibliographical space that complements its predecessor, Concave Thoughts-together they are a guide for dreamers and musers, an endless storyboard from an art at the highs and lows of its time.

Die Studie widmet sich Lea Grundig (1906-1977) als Prasidentin des Verbandes der Bildenden Kunstler Deutschlands (VBKD) von 1964 bis 1970. Nach Inhaftierung und Verfolgung wahrend der NS-Diktatur fluchtete Grundig 1940 nach Palastina und kehrte 1949 nach Deutschland zuruck, wo sie zur Professorin fur Graphik an der Dresdner Kunstakademie berufen wurde. Sie gehoerte zur "Weimarer Generation" von bildenden Kunstlern und genoss in der ehemaligen DDR hohes Ansehen. Im Jahre 1964 erfolgte die Wahl Grundigs zur neuen Prasidentin des VBKD. Sie war die erste und einzige Frau an der Spitze des ostdeutschen Kunstlerverbandes. Lag das Hauptaugenmerk der Forschung bislang auf dem Wandel Grundigs wahrend der 50er und 60er Jahre zur angepassten und konservativen Kulturfunktionarin, beleuchtet diese kunsthistorisch-zeitgeschichtliche Studie erstmals anhand von bislang unbeachteten Archivunterlagen der Akademie der Kunste zu Berlin die Faktoren, Massnahmen und Auswirkungen der Prasidentschaftszeit Grundigs. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf den Beziehungen der Grundig zu Israel vor der Folie des staatlichen Antizionismus und Holocaust-Gedenken in der DDR, den deutsch-deutschen Kunstbeziehungen, den Diskursen innerhalb des VBKD sowie dem Verhaltnis des VBKD zu den kulturpolitischen Liberalisierungsbewegungen in der Tschechoslowakischen Sozialistischen Republik sowie in der Volksrepublik Polen.

The artist Beatrice Wood, born in 1893, lived and worked until the age of 105. She was known variously as the Mama of Dada and the Queen of Luster. In 1917 she was part of the avant-garde Dada movement in New York. By the mid-1950s she had become a leading practitioner of luster-glazed ceramics. Wood moved from being a debutante to joining one of the most bohemian circles of her day. Her work played with sexuality, but her aesthetic was often more comic than erotic. Now featured in over one hundred museums across the world, Wood is often quoted for her recipe to a long life: "art books, chocolates, and young men." This book contains a collection of risque drawings that document an intimate relationship she enjoyed with a married couple, Jack and Rhea Case, in Ojai, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. The collection was later acquired by Betsy Ross Rowland, who has sponsored this limited-edition book to benefit the ceramics educational programs of the nonprofit CFile Foundation.

Until recently, the Dutch draughtsman Johan Thopas, who was born in 1626 both deaf and dumb, was only known to a small group of connoisseurs, dealers and collectors. However, his remarkable, subtle and technically refined portrait drawings on parchment deserve a wider audience. This handsome publication, the first devoted to his work, will prove to be an eye opener for many art lovers. Beginning with his earliest works (two beautiful miniatures of 1646 in the Fondation Custodia in Paris), Thopas produced incredibly refined drawings, usually with lead point on parchment. He had an almost magic control of the lead point, and his sense of texture and the way he was able to achieve this with minimal means is astounding, setting him apart from other draughtsmen in the Dutch Golden Age. Thopas was also able to capture brilliantly the characters of his sitters– such as the sulky husband and trouser-wearing wife in the 1684 companion pieces in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Apart from lead-point drawings, Thopas made several drawings in colour, on parchment and on Japanese paper. In most cases these drawings were done after life, although we do know that the large commission he received from the Bas-Kerckrinck family in Amsterdam included several drawings that were done after existing portraits. Furthermore, he produced at least one brilliant copy after a painting by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, Venus, Mars and Cupid, and even a painting, portraying a dead child. He must have made more paintings and certainly more drawings than the seventy we know today (all of which are catalogued and illustrated here). In this exhibition his only known painting and the one mythological drawing are accompanied by thirty of his most beautiful portraits, from private collections in the US, Canada, United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as well as well-known museums and print rooms, such as the Albertina in Vienna, the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, the Städel in Frankfurt or the Victoria& Albert Museum in London. The author of the catalogue, Prof. Dr Rudolf E.O. Ekkart, is regarded as the most important connoisseur in the field of Dutch sixteenth- and seventeenth-century portraiture and the author of many important monographs and other publications in the field of Dutch portraiture. He was Director of the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) in The Hague between 1990 and 2012 and gained momentum as Chairman of the Committee that carried his name and proved responsible for the return of many looted works of art that were returned to the heirs of many Jewish collectors in The Netherlands. Included in the book are Dutch and German translations of the essays.

In 1965, Tom of Finland began flirting with the idea of an ongoing character for his panel stories, the ultimate Tom's Man. He tried out a blond named Vicky-a common male name in Finland-followed by a Tarzan-inspired Jack. Then in 1968 Tom settled on Kake, a dark-haired, mustached leatherman who often wore a tight white T-shirt bearing the motto "Fucker." Kake lived up to this moniker, a sort of post-Stonewall, hyper-masculine Johnny Appleseed traveling the world on his motorcycle to spread the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex. Tom lived out many of his most personal fantasies through Kake, and Kake's international fans made him the template for what came to be known as the gay clone look of the 1970s. Between 1968 and 1986, Tom published 26 episodes of Kake adventures, most as 20-page booklets. Tom of Finland - The Complete Kake Comics collects all of these stories in one volume. Return with Kake to the days when men were men, sex was carefree, and everyone wore a big thick mustache. About the series Bibliotheca Universalis - Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

Illustrate your own storybooks with cute and playful characters, animals, and more, using the enjoyable techniques in Illustration School: Let's Draw a Story. Sachiko Umoto, one of Japan's most popular artists, teaches you how to create a fantasy world filled with animals, characters, castles, rainbows, and much more, all in the popular Japanese character style. No drawing experience is necessary to sketch playful elements and designs that make up these whimsical stories. Start with basic tools and supplies, then get tips for how to start and build a drawing. Learn how to create your own heartfelt stories featuring children and adults, animals, buildings, objects, and landscapes, all infused with your style. Be inspired by Sachiko's stories of a journey into the desert, a king and queen in a castle, and a monster island filled with cute creates. Trace or copy the drawings to invent your own tales and infuse them with color and details to make them unique. What better way to creatively express yourself? Make connections with friends and family by showing them your creations. As Sachiko says, "It's bound to make everyone happy." With this book you'll discover fun ways to: Add weather elements such as rain, wind, and dramatic skies Draw villages and towns with detailed doors, windows, balconies, and roofs Sketch facial expressions that give characters depth Become an imaginative storyteller Use your imagination to create vibrant fantasy worlds with no limits Illustration School: Let's Draw a Story will help you bring to life the stories you want to tell! Discover how the Illustration School series of books makes drawing enjoyable and stress-free. Using Sachiko Umoto's fun, easy techniques for sketching quirky animals, plants, landscapes, and people in the Japanese character style, you'll fill pages with charming illustrations that are uniquely you.

A representative selection of Leonardo's various achievements: drawings of plants, landscapes, human face and figure, etc., as well as studies for Adoration of the Magi, Sforza monument, Last Supper, more. 60 illustrations.

Capture Every Cute and Cuddly Detail, Step-by?Step!

Who can resist the appeal of adorable baby animals? From their big, round eyes to their soft, cuddly fur, these little creatures are a special delight.

Now you can learn to draw all your favorites following the step-by-step instruction in this unique guide. It's fun and easy, even if you?re new to drawing. Just start at the beginning to discover all the tips and tricks for drawing eyes, ears, muzzles, paws and feet. Once you?ve got the basics down, you can move on to creating realistic drawings of all kinds of sweet baby animals, including puppies, kittens, bunnies, lambs, foals, penguins, ducklings, fawns, piglets and more.

In every complete demonstration, you?ll find extra instruction for rendering the unique texture of baby fur and feathers. There's also an in-depth chapter that shows you how to use drawing pencils, select reference photos, create compositions and establish proportions.

With Draw Baby Animals, you have everything you need. Give it a try, and see what you can create!

Create authentic-looking maps of fantasy cities, hamlets, fortifications and more in a popular tabletop, RPG style. 30+ step-by-step demonstrations show you how to create your own unique RPG maps Learn how to draw fantasy cities, medieval settlements and more from a professional gaming illustrator Tips and techniques for drawing fences, stone walls, forests, fields, bridges, footpaths, mountains, harbors, shields, coats of arms and other cartography elements Put your design and drawing skills on the map!

One of the few books on the subject, Young's completely illustrated manual gives expert guidance on how to draw shirts, pants, skirts, gloves, hats, coats, and undergarments on the human figure. He covers folds in relation to the body, the figure's supporting surfaces, effects of pull and crush, action folds, and more. Over 200 drawings.

Dazzling works on paper from a vast and celebrated collection The Harvard Art Museums house one of the most significant collections of works on paper in North America. Among its many strengths are sheets by draftsmen of the French School, including notable masters such as Simon Vouet, Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Jean-Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Following an introductory essay that charts the formation of this group of drawings, this catalogue provides thorough entries on more than 100 outstanding examples from the 16th to 18th century that encompass a range of genres and motifs—from landscapes and figure studies to historical and mythological scenes—many of which were produced for major commissions or mark key moments in the development of style and taste in early modern France. Alvin L. Clark Jr. marshals his decades-long engagement with these works, pairing a discerning eye with perceptive readings that deepen our understanding of the drawings and their makers. Distributed for the Harvard Art Museums

This volume, originally published in 1989, is intended as a practical guide to archaeological illustration, from drawing finds in the field to technical studio drawing for publication. It is also an invaluable reference tool for the interpretation of illustrations and their status as archaeological evidence. The book's ten chapters start from first principles and guide the illustrator through the historical development of archaeological illustration and basic skills. Each chapter then deals with a different illustrative technique - drawing in the field during survey work and excavation, drawing artefacts, buildings and reconstructions, producing artwork for publication and the early uses of computer graphics. Information about appropriate equipment, as well as a guide to manufacturers, is also supplied. An obvious and important feature of Archaeological Illustration is the 120 line drawings and half-tones which show the right - and the wrong - way of producing drawings. This volume will therefore be of interest to amateur and professional archaeologists alike.

This yearlong workshop guides you through 52 weekly lessons that not only improve your technical skills but refine your personal style, preferences, and expression. The first half of the year focuses on learning and polishing the building blocks-such as line, perspective, and shading-while the second empowers you to make choices and question "methods." Each week includes an introductory quote from art history, what (and how) to practice for the specific lesson, and further "if you have time" suggestions to build on. Going beyond simple step by step, each lesson also includes works by artists in other mediums to look up, rooting the theme in its broader artistic context. By the final assessment lesson of week 52, you'll be more skillful and knowledgeable about drawing, and about yourself as an artist.

Delve deeper into the work of the intriguing and iconic artist Aubrey Beardsley with this beautiful reissue of his classic 1897 illustrated book, containing fifty of his best known works. Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) lived a desperately short life and his career spanned just seven years. Nonetheless, his output as a draughtsman and illustrator was prolific. Beardsley's subversive illustrations became synonymous with decadence: he delighted in the erotic, shocking audiences with his bizarre sense of humour and fascination with the grotesque. His work was deemed too scandalous by many publishers of the period, but found a suitably unseemly home with the notorious Leonard Charles Smithers.  This book, published by Smithers in 1897, and now reproduced in a near-facsimile edition, is as much a historic document as it is a beautiful introduction to Beardsley's art.