Here are fresh ways of seeing and understanding nature with a vivid journey through the seasons. Detailed facts are interwoven with artistic insights. Readers are helped by simple observation exercises, by inspiring illustrations that make a companion guide to plant growth around the year. A wide variety of common plants axe beautifully drawn, from seed to bud to flower and fruit. The drawings are accompanied by helpful suggestions that encourage readers to try out the observation and drawing exercises.

In The Wood Burn Book, Rachel Strauss (@woodburncorner) teaches you everything you'll need to know to master pyrography, whether you're brand new to the hobby or you've been "writing with fire" for years. This essential guide opens with a brief background to the art of wood burning, a list of tools and how to use them, basic techniques that can be used over and over again, and even what to burn and how to be safe doing it. You will also find a detailed explanation of the process from start to finish, with patterns, techniques for lettering and adding color, as well as dozens of projects ready for gifting, including picture frames, cutting boards, coasters, cards, wooden spoons, and jewelry. Above all, Strauss has created the book she wished she had when she first discovered pyrography: a simple guide that quickly gets the reader successfully burning. With the right tools and a little time, you'll be able to create meaningful handmade gifts without breaking the bank. Whether it's to create a family name sign as a housewarming gift for newlyweds, or customize baby blocks for a new little one, wood burning is the versatile hobby that can be used time and time again to create memorable gifts for all of life's occasions. In addition, wood burning is a practice in mindfulness, requiring patience and focus to awaken the senses and calm the mind. Mastering the art of writing with fire begins with the ability to follow a line. If you can trace, you can burn.

This is an accessibly written, illustrated biography of Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), one of the most famous women artists in 18th-century Europe. It presents an overview of her life and work, considering Carriera's miniatures alongside her better-known, larger-scale works. Focusing on interpretation of her paintings in the historical context of her life as a single woman in Venice, the book offers an easy guide through Carrieras life, the people she met, her clients and her artistic approach. The author's new iconographic analysis of some of Carriera's works reveals that she was an erudite painter, drawing on antiquity as well as the work of Renaissance virtuosos such as Leonardo da Vinci and Paolo Veronese.

Many people crave a creative outlet, but more often than not, don't know where to start. In Colours, Giovanna Ranaldi invites you to nurture your creativity and build your confidence by taking inspiration from famous works of art that celebrate colour. Each section explores a particular aspect of colour, from basics such as the history of the colour wheel and using complementary colours, to understanding the impact colour has on our emotions and dreams. Throughout the book, Giovanna provides creative and fun prompts that will encourage you to draw or paint on the pages using various techniques. Colours is full of information on how to see colour and use it in your own artwork and is packed with inspiration from the world's most celebrated artists, including Paul Klee, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Sonia Delaunay and more. Colours is a short course in unlocking your creative self - perfect for budding artists of all ages who are keen to try out different artistic techniques and materials, and begin their artistic journey.

This comprehensive book offers a guide to all the materials, techniques and approaches an artist needs to start painting and drawing with confidence. As well as step-by-step instruction for beginners, it offers expert tips, advice and ideas to offer inspiration to more advanced practitioners. Throughout, lively and original works by contemporary artists illustrate the skills in action. Special 'focus' features are included on painting and drawing popular subjects such as portraits and figures, landscapes, buildings and flowers. With tried-and tested techniques and expert guidance, this book provides an invaluable practical reference for every amateur artist looking to hone their skills in oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolours, charcoals, pen and ink or coloured pencils.

How to Keep a Sketch Journal is the essential travel-sized guide to keeping a visual diary of your surroundings. Whether you're a habitual sketcher or just starting out, this book will teach you how to improve your observational sketching, indoors or outdoors, whether you're drawing still lifes, environments, or scenes. It covers sketching with different media, from a simple pen or pencil to using watercolors or pastels on the go. The book stands perfectly on its own as a guidebook, or can be used as a complement to 3dtotal's Sketch Journal travel portfolio, fitting neatly alongside your favorite sketching tools.

The top-selling Sterling Sketchbook series now features the popular new Kraft-cover format! With their quality paper and sturdy binding, this is the sketchbook of choice for both amateur and professional artists.   This beautiful sketchbook contains acid-free, medium-weight drawing paper with a vellum finish that’s perfect for everything from charcoal and pencil to light washes with ink and watercolor. Perforated pages make it easy to tear out “masterpieces� for framing or gift giving. All the copy (title, paper description, size, page count) appears on an attractively designed removable sticker that you can either leave on or remove for a clean, blank front cover.

Learn how to draw stylish manga characters with this fun workbook geared toward budding artists. Start out by tracing the sample illustrations, then practice drawing using the provided guidelines. Once you master the basics, you'll be freehanding your own awesome manga girls in no time!

If a person is struggling with feelings that involve pain or anxiety, then we find a complex network of difficulties affecting that person s capacity to express what torments him. Whatever the person s age, they very often have no access to the words that might convey their internal conflicts. People interacting with that person may believe he is deliberately refusing to express what affects him, but it is certainly true that most times this is not the case. When dealing with children, these difficulties are even more acute. Many years ago it was found that children often expressed in their drawings elements of the conflicts they were experiencing of themselves and the world in which they lived. The author followed this practice in his work not only with children and adolescents, but at times also with adults.This fascinating book arose from his discovery that single drawings could at times represent only a part of an underlying emotional experience that "completed" its expression in another picture drawn after that first one. At first, it seemed a mere coincidence, but time came to show him that this was a strategy similar to what we find in ordinary verbal language and that drawings clearly constituted a language of their own. He therefore subjected the phenomenon he now found to further investigation. The author s hope is that his subsequent findings may prove to be a valuable clinical tool for colleagues in their work. This research should give closer and more detailed understanding of this splitting mechanism, so well known in actual words, but apparently not previously describe in drawings."

The Beauty of the line: life and times of Dumile Feni is a celebration of an eminent South African artist, who carved a place for himself, in art circles in South Africa and abroad. The subject of diverse interpretations, Feni was a larger than life figure whose reputation as an artist is evidenced by his captivating sculptures, drawings and sketches. With skilful narration, Manganyi weaves intimate stories from Feni’s friends and acquaintances such as Hugh Masekela, Willie Kgotsisile and Louis Maqhubela, who reflect on his personal challenges and how these impacted on the creative processes behind his artistic flare. The author's portrayal of the famed artist will engage and entice the readers into the nooks and crannies of Dumile Feni's life, and the expressive power of his art.

This new detailed guide to learning the skills and techniques of drawing modern fashion and figure is also a rich reference source for a broad range of modern garments and accessories. Extensively illustrated, this introduction teaches by example, the power of drawing as a means of communication and expression and strives to show students how to perceive things in order to be able to draw them correctly. The first section is dedicated to drawing the human figure, while the second portion deals with how to draw a wide range of modern garments and accessories and the types of techniques used to render them convincingly and elegantly in different fabric designs and textures. This volume offers a complete presentation of proportions of the croquis, draping the figure, accessories, flats, and features an encyclopedia of details, how to draw textiles and real clothes, the art of illustration, and computers and fashion drawing. For designers, fashion professionals, teachers and students of fashion.

A visual, large-format compilation of some the finest architectural drawings from Sir John Soane's extensive collection.Architectural Drawings casts light on the magnificent architectural drawings of neo-classical architect, teacher and collector, Sir John Soane that are otherwise concealed in archives. This book, featuring artworks handpicked from what was probably the first comprehensive collection of architectural drawings in the world, numbering 30,000 at the time of his death in 1837, celebrates a life spent procuring curiosities. The collection encompasses the hands of Montano, Thorpe, Wren, Talman, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Gibbs, Kent, Chambers, Adam, Clerisseau, Pecheux, Wyatt, Playfair, Nash and, of course, Soane himself. The quality of Soane's collection of drawings is scarcely paralleled elsewhere and on account of their fragility, these items are infrequently seen by the public. This innovative book draws together the most exquisite and important works from the collection for the first time, showing the extraordinary connoisseurship of Sir John Soane while also exploring what drove Soane to amass such a collection and the provenance of his various significant acquisitions.This book illustrates the story of Soane as a collector of architectural drawings, but a story which is not normally available to the public, and will provide a sumptuous opportunity to peruse some of the finest architectural drawings in existence.

This inspiring book makes drawing in a realistic style easier than you may think and more fun than you ever imagined! Authors Mark and Mary Willenbrink (Watercolor for the Absolute Beginner) cover it all-from choosing materials and the correct way to hold your pencil, to expert advice on the tricky stuff, like getting proportions and perspective right, drawing reflections, and designing strong compositions. (It's not as scary as it sounds...not with Mark and Mary as your guide!) At the heart of this book, a series of fun, hands-on exercises help you practice and perfect your strokes-24 mini-demos lead up to 9 full step-by-step demos. Each exercise builds on the previous one as you develop your skills, build your confidence, and enjoy yourself along the way. The lessons you learn by drawing simple subjects such as coffee mugs, clouds and trees will help you take on progressively more challenging matter like animals, still lifes, landscapes and portraits...the kinds of subjects and scenes you've always dreamt of drawing. This book is just the ticket for budding artists of any age. It's never too early and never too late to discover the pure joy of drawing!

Anyone wanting to develop their drawing skills, as well as artists, teachers and students, will enjoy the creative challenge of form drawing. Regular practise can help discover what the art of line can mean. Drawing skills are developed through systematic exercises, and can develop self-confidence, balance and tranquillity. Simple form drawing is used in Steiner?Waldorf schools as a companion discipline to handwriting and drawing skills. It offers a healthy antidote to screen culture.

This practical introduction to botanical illustration is formed of ten graded lessons, where each teaches you new skills to build upon the last. From mushrooms to orchids to hawthorn berries and leaves; once you've completed these lessons in drawing and painting botanical subjects, you will have all the techniques you need in order to tackle far more complex arrangements. An experienced teacher of botanical illustration, Valerie Price shows even the uninitiated illustrator how to produce accurate and beautiful results, with her step-by-step instructions on how to tackle each individual project. With advice on topics including accurate drawing, measuring and recording your subject, right the way through to preparing a well-composed botanical plate, this book covers everything you need to know to get ahead in botanical illustration.

Learn how to draw all kinds of woodland animals using this fun and easy step-by-step method. Starting with simple shapes, Susie Hodge shows you how easy it is to develop circles, rectangles, squares and ovals into an exciting selection of animals and birds including rabbits, badgers, woodpeckers, wolves, squirrels and chipmunks. If you have never drawn before this is definitely the book for you, and there is a lot here to inspire more experienced artists too.

This book deals with the critical nature and crucial role of architectural drawings. A manual which is essentially not a manual; it is an elucidation of an elegant manner for practising architecture.

Organized around eleven exercises, the book does not emphasize speed, nor incorporate many timesaving tricks typical of drawing books, but rather proposes a slow, meditative process for construing drawings and for drawing constructing thoughts.

This is an indispensable reference text and an effective textbook for students seeking to advance their appreciation of the nature and exercise of architectural drawings.

Addressing one of the greatest challenges posed to new artists--drawing human beings accurately and expressively--this encouraging sourcebook gives artists of all skill levels a classroom view of life drawing, from full-form views to close studies of hands, feet, faces, and limbs. Giving each exercise a modern, fresh approach, instructor Gottfried Bammes encourages artists to "get it right" and includes simple tips and methods to achieve a correctly drawn figure. Additional in-depth chapters deal with proportion, structure, and posture, emphasizing both a balanced and emotive composition.

Building on the foundation established with the first book in the series, Framed Perspective 2 guides artists through the challenging tasks of projecting shadows in proper perspective on a variety of environments and working with characters in perspective set in particular situation or setting. Author and artist Marcos Mateu-Mestre reveals the many techniques and mechanics he has used to become proficient in such endeavors, including using anatomy, shadows, and clothing folds to define the shape and volume of characters within an environment. He also shares how to effectively observe a model or object to extract the right amount of information to then translate it into an impactful graphic and visual image, the goal of every visual storyteller.

Crack out the crayons, Gromit lad, and get colouring with this inventive new colouring book! Wallace, inventor extraordinaire, and his canine companion, Gromit, invite you to spend a grand day in, colouring in iconic scenes and classic characters from four of their hit films: A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death.  The Wrong Trousers celebrates its thirty-year anniversary in 2023 so make sure you use the Right Pencils – and watch out for silent penguins masquerading as house guests... The perfect opportunity for fans of the films first time round to enjoy them anew.

Drawing the human face has a timeless and universal appeal, though it's often perceived as being difficult to achieve. Carole's book removes the mystery from portrait painting, and makes the subject accessible to even absolute beginners. She shows you in easy step-by-step stages how to use line, tone and form to capture a likeness and give it both personality and expression. Containing simple exercises along with longer step-by-step projects, this book leads you by the hand through the different elements of the face, allowing you to gradually build your skills before leading on to successfully describing your subject's likeness and character. Composition, clothing, props and more personal characteristics like age and hairstyles are all covered. The book also includes information on drawing from life.

With Draw 62 Animals and Make Them Happy, illustrator Terry Runyan shows you how to draw 62 amusing animals-and animals in silly situations-by following her easy step-by-step instructions. On the left-hand page, follow the steps for drawing each subject, from simple shapes to identifying marks. On the right-hand page, you'll find several other cleveroptions for varying animals by changing the view, the posture, accessories, or expression. Grab your pen and use the open spaces throughout the book to create your own versions and variations. Whether you're drawing a sidesplitting pooch, a comical cat, or a facetious fox, with Draw 62 Animals and Make Them Happy you're sure to enjoy learning how to bring them to life! Fresh, modern, and with a dash of clever humor, the Draw 62 series from Quarry Books is the most entertaining way to practice your illustration and expand your imagination.