An icon of 1980s New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) first made his name under the graffiti tag "SAMO," before establishing his studio practice and catapulting to fast fame at the age of 20. Although his career lasted barely a decade, he remains a cult figure of artistic social commentary, and a trailblazer in the mediation of graffiti and gallery art. Basquiat's work drew upon diverse sources and media to create an original and urgent artistic vocabulary, biting with critique against structures of power and racism. His practice merged abstraction and figuration, poetry and painting, while his influences spanned Greek, Roman, and African art, French poetry, jazz,and the work of artistic contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly. The results are vivid, visceral mixtures of words, African emblems, cartoonish figures, daubs of bold color, and beyond. This book presents Basquiat's short but prolific career, his unique style, and his profound engagement with ever-relevant issues of integration and segregation, poverty and wealth. About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

John Muir Laws’s guide to drawing birds is itself winged, soaring between a devotion not only to art but also to the lives, forms, and postures of the birds themselves. Here, artistic technique and the exquisite details of natural history intertwine, and drawing becomes the vehicle for seeing. As Laws writes, "To draw feathers, you must understand how feathers grow, overlap, and insert into the body. To create the body, you must have an understanding of the bird’s skeletal structure. To pose this skeleton, you must be able to perceive the energy, intention, and life of the bird." This how-to guide will perfect the technique of serious artists but also, perhaps more importantly, it will provide guidance for those who insist they can’t draw. Leading the mind and hand through a series of detailed exercises, Laws delivers what he promises: that "drawing birds opens you to the beauty of the world." An Audubon Book.

Simply magical manga in watercolor! Learn how to create beautiful manga art from pencil sketch to finished painting, with this comprehensive guide. As the popularity of Manga art continues to soar, manga and comic book artist Lisa Santrau shows beginners how to create subtle and beautiful manga pictures using pencil and watercolors - the simplest of art materials. Lisa explains the materials and tools needed and then explores the fundamentals of how to draw manga - from color theory and breaking down drawings into basic shapes, to body proportions and faces for both classic manga and chibi manga figures. You will learn how to sketch, how to create depth in your work with shading, and a range of watercolor techniques including washes, wet-on-wet and layering, as well as special techniques involving masking fluid and an innovative 'film' technique for creating texture and patterns. The exercises that follow the basics explore a wide range of techniques including manga poses, hair and eyes, then learn about backgrounds, textures, gradients and more. Finally, there are 12 step-by-step painting projects to perfect your manga art skills, with downloadable templates if you want to skip the drawing and get straight to the painting. The projects are varied and fun, and comprise: Sweet chibi girl on a slice of cake, using the dry technique Steampunk chibis against a bright background, using the wet-on-wet technique Chibi sorcerer's apprentice in a flying teacup, with a galaxy background Chibi Harry, aka a world-famous wizard, teaching you character design Young girl framed by a romantic floral design, using a monochrome palette Sailor boy in a symbolic sun circle, created with masking fluid Girl in a kimono backlit by a window with flowers, using the white of the paper Historical heroine in a voluminous ballgown, using the film technique Melancholic schoolgirl against a fluorescent background, with the film technique Silhouette in the evening sunset, using the wet-on-wet technique Food overload boy in the land of plenty, featuring surface textures Girl's face with expressive eyes, exploring cool versus warm colors This easy-to-follow book by the creator of the popular Mechanical Princess comics, contains all you need to successfully paint your own watercolor manga art.

With a great range of flowers--from daffodils, fuchsias, geraniums, and poppies to sunflowers, tulips, and water lilies--beginning artists will discover the delights of creating floral pictures from this invaluable resource. Showing how to break down basic flower shapes and add elegant detail with an easy-to-follow process, this guidebook carefully leads new drawing students through a step-by-step process, resulting in display-worthy creations.

Acclaimed artist and educator Lisa Bardot gives you all the tools you need to approach creating art and illustration on your iPad, using Procreate and other popular drawing apps. - Explore the core technical aspects of your chosen app, including layers, masks, alpha lock, and brushes. - Learn how to draw plants, flowers, and animals, then move on to drawing people and more complicated scenes. - Step-by-step exercises lead you through each new topic, with plenty of tips, tricks and techniques. - An ideal starting point for newcomers to digital art, but with plenty of original inspiration and advice for more advanced artists.

RETURN TO PLANET CUTE!!! Kawaii: How to Draw Really Cute Animals teaches you how to draw almost 100 different creatures in an adorable manner. Don't believe seagulls and stingrays can be cute? Think again! You don't need any specialist tools or materials to start drawing cute stuff: all you need is a biro or marker pen, then you're ready to go! In her latest book, artist and illustrator Angela Nguyen starts by teaching you the essential techniques of kawaii through quick and easy exercises on the basic shapes, effects and style. From there, jump straight into drawing the myriad beasts - small and big - you can find inside the book, from household pets to the exotic animals in the seas and skies. The clear and easy-to-follow step-by-step diagrams are great for visual learners, and make following the instructions for your kawaii critters a breeze. As a brand new addition to this series, interactive pages have been included to encourage you to get drawing straight away, and practice alongside Angela's examples. A perfect book for beginners - add cute-appeal to your furry 'n' feathered companions in no time at all! Other title in the series is the incredibly popular Kawaii: How to Draw Really Cute Stuff

Award-winning manga artist Sonia Leong, with the help of other acclaimed manga creators and educators, gives you all the tips, tricks and tools you will need to get your ideas onto the page. - Discover how to get started, build your confidence, and boost your skills, beginning from first principles. - Learn how to draw faces, bodies, hands, feet, and create unique characters with their own styles. - Get the most out of your drawing materials, from traditional pens and pencils to digital software, and discover how best to use them to work up your own manga stories and comics. - Benefit from advice on pacing, layout, composition and lettering.

Take your doodling skills to the next adorable level with this follow-up to popular YouTube artist Pic Candle's best-selling Kawaii Doodle Class and Kawaii Doodle Cuties-featuring over 100 lovable, huggable characters to draw into over 20 lively doodle scenes. Kawaii Doodle World also includes simple step-by-step illustrations and instructions, search-and-find puzzle patterns that you can color, inspiration pages, and even a doodle refresher course. Pic Candle shows you all the steps for drawing all sorts of adorable characters-cupcakes, donuts, lattes, mushrooms, office supplies, potted plants, stars and planets, doodle monsters, and more-into super-fun doodle scenes. Complete each scene by embellishing it with fun decorations and whimsical patterns. Soon enough, you will be filling every page of your sketchbook with your own kawaii doodle world. So, let's get this doodle party started! Learn how to draw even more cute things with these other fun books in the Kawaii Doodle series: Kawaii Doodle Class, Kawaii Doodle Cuties, Mini Kawaii Doodle Class, and Mini Kawaii Doodle Cuties.

Discover the creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of leading fantasy artist John Howe - conceptual designer on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy - in this comprehensive practical art book. Brings together Fantasy Art Workshop and Fantasy Drawing Workshop into a combined volume, fully updated and with new art. Examines in fascinating detail over 150 of the artist's outstanding sketches, drawings and paintings, plus the techniques and stories behind each. Leads you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned drawing and painting demonstrations that reveal John's renowned artistic approach in action. Discusses the rewarding journey into fantasy art, from the first steps of building a compelling portfolio to book illustration, graphic novels and the big screen. This book will appeal to artists and fans of John Howe's work by leading you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned demonstrations, sketches and finished paintings, some designed specifically for this book, that reveal John's renowned artistic approach in action, plus the techniques and stories behind each. It covers a wide range of subjects, beginning with the creative process, exploring where inspiration comes from, looking at narratives and themes, gathering reference materials, organizing your working environment, and protecting and storing artwork. Howe covers drawing materials and explores drawing and painting fantasy beings from initial inspiration and approaches to characters, symbolism and accoutrements. He begins by showing how to create different types of male and female archetypes, humans in action, armour and weapons, faces, expressions and hands, hair and costumes, and goes on to explain how to create different types of fantasy beasts: talons, wings, fangs and fire, and noble animals, interspersed throughout with exciting case studies. The book also explores fantasy landscapes and architecture and balancing light and dark atmospheres. The final section of the book provides further inspiration and guidance on presenting work in various forms, including film work, book covers and advertising, all areas John Howe has vast experience in. The foreword is written by groundbreaking film director Terry Gilliam, with an afterword by Alan Lee, John's partner on the conceptual design for The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and Oscar-winning illustrator.

Petite in size but packed with inspiration, Just Draw Botanicals presents 90 beautiful, contemporary botanical artworks in a range of media and styles. Each spread includes a stunning work of art paired with a discussion of the artist's approach to creating it, including the techniques employed. At the bottom of the page, find tips on the tools, materials and methods used to make the piece. A hyper-realistic blackberry, a watercolour sketch of a bunch of mint in a glass, a detailed scratchboard study of three pussy willow twigs, a tribal-style pattern inspired by different leaf shapes, an abstract image-transfer print of a milkweed plant... the techniques and subjects covered are diverse. With these and more artworks - created in a variety of media, including watercolour, coloured pencils, oil, pen and ink, mixed media and pencil - explore: Shape, form and light Harmonious colours Contrasting elements Fine detail Capturing movement Cropped compositions Using negative space Anatomical accuracy A visual index is included at the front of the book so you can easily skip to a style or colour palette that interests you. At the back of the book, find an overview of materials and tips for using them; a list of further resources, including books and websites; and two additional indexes, one by artist name and the other by subject. Whether you are an artist looking for fresh ideas for creating botanical art or simply enjoy looking at nature-inspired images, this portable volume is a rich resource.

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.

The Bargue-Gerome Drawing Course is a complete reprint of a famous, late nineteenth-century drawing course. It contains a set of almost two hundred masterful lithographs of subjects for copying by drawing students before they attempt drawing from life or nature. Consequently it is a book that will interest artists, art students, art historians, and lovers and collectors of drawings. It also introduces us to the work and life of a hitherto neglected master: Charles Bargue. The Drawing Course consists of three sections. The first consists of plates drawn after casts, usually of antique examples. Different parts of the body are studied in order of difficulty, until full figures are presented. The second section pays homage to the western school of painting, with lithographs after exemplary drawings by Renaissance and modern masters. The third part contains almost 60 academies, or drawings after nude male models, all original inventions by Bargue, the lithographer. With great care, the student is introduced to continually more difficult problems in the close observing and recording of nature. Charles Bargue started his career as a lithographer of drawings by hack artists for a popular market in comic, sentimental and soft-porn subjects. By working with Gerome, and in preparing the plates for the course, Bargue was transformed into a spectacular painter of single figures and intimate scenes; a master of precious details that always remain observation and never became self-conscious virtuosity, and colour schemes that unified his composition in exquisite tonal harmonies. The last part of the book is a biography of Bargue, along with a preliminary catalogue of his paintings, accompanied by reproductions of all that have been found and of many of those lost.

Traces the evolution of Matisse's work on paper, from experimental beginnings to the artist's instantly recognizable mature style An internationally recognized expert in the European tradition of draughtsmanship, Christopher Lloyd offers rare insights about the technical qualities of Matisse's drawings. This book traces the evolution of Matisse's large and varied body of drawings and works on paper-including graphic work, the celebrated cut-outs and the famous decoration of the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence, France. The artist's drawings are contextualized within his own biography and times, from vibrant early twentieth-century Paris to later periods in luxurious Nice. Lively prose and a wealth of reproductions illustrate Matisse's versatility in different media and his innovative, expansive concept of drawing. Despite the variety of his output, the work always reflects the artist's constant desire to express pure emotion in visual terms. Since 2014, Christopher Lloyd has published four highly successful books on the drawings of modern artists. This book follows his most recent publication, Picasso and the Art of Drawing. With over 150 illustrations, including archival photographs of Matisse's studio and the artist at work, this volume concisely covers Matisse's entire graphic oeuvre. Distributed for Modern Art Press

""Anyone who can hold a pencil can learn to draw with some degree of proficiency," Bert Dodson proclaims."

In this book he shares a complete drawing system that you can use for any subject or type of drawing-even if you doubt your ability to draw. It's based on fifty-five "keys to drawing," which are introduced at a comfortable pace. The keys are interspersed with dozens of practice exercises that help you learn by doing.

You'll learn how to: Restate, focus, map and intensify.Free your hand action, and then learn to control it.Convey the illusions of light, depth and texture.Stimulate your imagination through "creative play"

Jake Spicer wants you to learn how to draw. This is his complete course in drawing, suitable for complete beginners as well as experienced artists, and designed to help you fit drawing into your lifestyle. Tried-and-tested exercises, ranging from five-minute sketches to dedicated sessions of an hour or longer, cover every subject and location you could wish for, while accessibly written drawing theory helps you relate the technical concepts to your practice, helping you to hone your craft. Whatever your goals are, expert art tutor Jake Spicer gives you the inspiration and encouragement to draw more - and keep improving.

Featuring over 100 images, including step-by-step examples illustrating how to improve costume renderings. This is an invaluable resource for students in Costume Rendering and Costume Design courses, along with professional costume designers looking to improve their rendering skills. Written to complement any rendering style.

Still Life is an accessible instruction course for complete beginners to learn how to draw and paint contemporary still-life subjects. Following a concise guide to the tools, materials and basic techniques that every beginner needs to know (including line, tone, colour, composition and perspective), there are ten tutorials showing how to draw and paint a variety of still life subjects using beginner-friendly materials, including pencil, charcoal, coloured pencils, pen and ink, watercolour paints and watercolour pencils. Each tutorial has a list of the materials and tools required, step-by-step photographs of the work, informative text and tips and strategies for getting the best results. By working through the tutorials, you will gradually develop your skills and build confidence until you feel equipped to attempt any still life. In addition to the tutorials, you'll find three 'focus on' feature spreads. These pages offer more in-depth/advanced techniques appropriate to the projects.