Zen of Drawing inspires you to pick up a pen, pencil or an iPad and start drawing what you see with a 'zen' approach.Author Peter Parr has spent his career in animation successfully teaching people to draw and encouraging students to nurture their skills through observational drawing. He advocates a fresh way of looking closely at your subject and enlisting an emotional response, in order to fully appreciate the nature of what you are about to draw.You will learn that whatever you are drawing, it is essential not only to copy its outline but also to ask yourself: is it soft, smooth or rough to the touch? How heavy is it? Is it fragile or solid? Then, having grasped the fundamental characteristics, or zen, of the object, make corresponding marks on the paper - crisp textures, a dense wash, a scratchy or floating line.The chapters cover: keeping a sketchbook; tools (pen, pencil, charcoal, watercolour and iPad); perspective; line and volume; tone and texture; structure and weight; movement and rhythm; energy, balance and composition.

This revised 15th anniversary edition of the bestselling beginning drawing book updates art and text examples to include new student pieces, up-to-date materials, and additional sections on drawing in 3D and travel sketching, along with refreshed and contemporary design.

Based on author and art instructor Claire Watson Garcia's successful courses and workshops for beginning and aspiring artists, Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner applies a positive, accepting tone to a progressive series of lessons in sketching and rendering. The book's step-by-step methodology and examples of student works from earliest efforts to completed drawings give novices the tools and techniques needed to make competent and eloquent renderings of still lifes, portraits, and more. In this revised edition, Garcia covers such in-demand subject matter as drawing-on-the-go, drawing in three dimensions, and drawing the portrait at a three-quarter view. The reinvigorated art and text ensure that this drawing instruction classic will continue to appeal to new generations of aspiring artists.

Kristy Rices joy-focused approach to watercolor art has won the hearts of fans worldwide. Here she teaches the basics of painting, infusing the learning process with wit, wisdom, and laughter. Rice shows all levels of painters how to make art for joys sake. She offers her quirky, joy-focused guidance on preparation, including the materials you really need (and dont need), and walks you through Basics and Details. Five Exercises enhances your ways of brush handling, muscle memory, color mixing, and texture, and 20 Leaves helps you put them all together. Five Techniques lets you experience flowers, fruits, veggies, landscapes, and patterns. And the projectsor as Kristy calls it, the Ready to Fly listinclude Leaves and Greens; Take a Walk Pattern; Textile Pattern; Gem and Rock Pattern; Imaginary Landscape; Bouquet; and Watercolor Fragments. A great duo: use this book with the Art for Joys Sake Journal!

Everything you need to know to make magic with watercolor

Features 80+ lessons, exercises and demonstrations, including live instruction on the enclosed DVD

Watercolor moves like no other medium. Just add water, and the pigment takes on a life of its own. This book makes learning to paint equally dynamic, with page after page of step-by-step demonstrations, plus more than 40 lessons on the companion DVD.

Get off to a happy start with basics such as laying a wash, applying a glaze and keeping whites white. Expand your skills and discover new ways to express yourself with advanced techniques, including special effects using salt, rubber cement and foil. From selecting and caring for your brushes to secrets for painting big, bold, beautiful shadows, "Watercolor Essentials" contains everything you need to paint with confidence.

• 33 exercises, from foundational skills to advanced techniques for painting clouds, rock textures, moonlit water and more
• 7 start-to-finish demonstrations take you through the process of painting a variety of subjects, including atmospheric landscapes, waterscapes and flowers
• 70-minute DVD puts it all into action, so you can see how the paint is applied and reacts on the paper

Now available in a brand-new edition, this popular and widely praised instructional textbook has become a standard for classroom use in fashion design courses. Twenty-four step-by-step exercises tutor students in methods for finding inspiration, developing techniques to sharpen their observational skills, and in creating fashion drawings in color and black-and-white media. Separate sections coach students in getting started, and on understanding figure proportions, planning and designing garments, and creating and assessing flat specification drawings. New in this expanded and updated edition is a section that provides detailed instruction in digital art techniques. This beautifully illustrated guide is organized into units that reflect curricula at leading international design colleges. Added features include a designer's glossary and an index. The book's more than 300 color illustrations are as instructive as they are handsome.

If you've ever wanted to take up the creative art of pyrography, here's the perfect place to start. Big Book of Pyrography Projects is packed with tips, tricks and inspiration. All you need is this big book and an inexpensive woodburning tool to start adorning wood, paper, gourds and more with beautifully burned images and patterns.Leading pyrography artists and authors show you how to complete 23 of their favourite projects, from realistic portraits and landscape scenes to stylized frames, platters, boxes, bowls and birdhouses. Applications in both fine and decorative art are presented in traditional designs as well as modern innovations.Whether you're a complete beginner or an accomplished pyrographyartist, you're bound to find exciting ideas in this book. You'll also find helpful advice inside on choosing a woodburning system, creating your own patterns, making practice boards, staying safe and keeping your woodburner clean. A full-colour gallery presents a stunning array of projects from international artists to stir your imagination and spark your creativity.

A comprehensive course in landscape painting with acrylics by popular author and tutor Charles Evans. Charles' no-nonsense techniques and engaging writing style bring acrylic painting within the grasp of anyone keen to get started in this versatile and popular medium. The book begins with excellent advice for the beginner, including easy drawing for painting, composition, easy perspective, light and shade, colour, and how to use acrylics with different painting styles. There are six full step-by-step painting projects ranging from simple skies to snowy landscapes with horses, each of which is supported by additional exercises and techniques. The step-by-step projects allow aspiring artists to put into practice their new-found skills, and produce six stunning paintings of their own, in a range of styles. A pull-out outline drawing is provided for every project, and Charles shows how to transfer these onto the painting surface. Charles' accessible and irreverent style makes learning to paint with acrylics easy and fun.

The ultimate Cricut how-to book that covers everything you need to know to purchase a Cricut and use it like a pro! Are you new to Cricut crafting? Returning after a hiatus and desperate for a refresher? Perhaps you're an old pro looking for brand-new ideas, tips, and tricks for your crafts? Look no further than The Unofficial Book of Cricut Crafts. Throughout the more than 300 pages of this book, author Crystal Allen will not only present you with craft ideas that embrace every awesome element of this popular cutting machine, but, perhaps most importantly, she'll start you at the very beginning of your Cricut journey with loads of information about the different Cricut machines (Cricut Explore Air 2, Cricut Maker, and Cricut Joy) so you can determine which is best for you before you buy. After you unbox your Cricut and have a general understanding of the parts of your machine, Crystal will teach you how to use Cricut Design Space and get images from Cricut Access, and then you'll be presented with projects that use the most popular materials your Cricut can cut. These include fabric (cotton, felt, and fleece); basswood and chipboard; leather; vinyl; paper; and heat transfer vinyl. Crystal even tackles infusible ink! Projects meant to inspire you will include step-by-step instructions and photos. They include: Personalized leather keychains Etched wine glasses Engraved quote bracelets Felt coffee cozies Paper luminaries Chalkboard signs Inspirational quote pillowcases Sleep masks Photo puzzles Leather headphone keepers Infusible Ink coasters A rag quilt and more! The Unofficial Book of Cricut Crafts is perfect for the first-time Cricut user, the small business owner who has been using Cricut for years, and everyone in between!

Color has captivated artists, designers, scientists, and philosophers for centuries. From early principles of color theory to color wheels, great thinkers study and use color to explain and illustrate their ideas. Color is a sketchbook with thick, blank pages (140 gsm, ~95 lbs. paper weight) and a full-color appendix with striking vintage illustrations from rare books on color theory. The textured cover features a tipped-in color wheel. Inspired and inspiring, this journal is the perfect jumping off point for creative expression.

This comprehensive and accessible reference guide provides an in-depth exploration into the art of painting with acrylics, and has been created as one book that will accompany the reader on the complete journey from beginner to artist. With expert advice and step-by-step guidance in a wide range of techniques, this is an indispensable resource for beginning artists, students, and experienced painters alike. Drawing on the expertise of master painters from around the world, Complete Guide to Acrylics covers every aspect of working in acrylics in detail, from materials and mediums to tools and techniques. It is also a very practical approach, brimming with demonstrations to explain and reinforce the essential skills, and offering useful insights into all stages of the creative process. Accompanied by a wealth of images, and with a useful reference section with technical data and notes on commissions, selling and exhibiting, this is the ultimate desktop resource for artists, students, and hobbyists alike. Previously published as Complete Guide to Painting in Acrylics.

This title is aimed at beginner artists interested in cartooning and at the countless fans of cartoons, animation and comics. Not only are cartoons a form of entertainment, but they're an incredibly popular style of drawing! With a fresh and easy-to-follow approach to cartooning, Christopher Hart shows readers basic tips for creating a cast of the most hilarious, outrageous characters inspired by today's cartoons. Chock-full of tips, hints and step-by-step illustrations, "Modern Cartooning" gives artists of all ages the tools they need to let their imaginations run wild.

Porcelain dishes made in China for 18th- and 19th- century American families from Maine to South Carolina and west to Mississippi and California are presented with family crests, initials, names, and original decorations.

From head to toe, the human form, in all its complexities, is visually simplified to such a degree in this remarkable workbook that even complete beginners will soon be able to draw accurate, well-proportioned faces and figures every time they try.
Avoiding complex charts of muscles and bones that are more helpful to doctors than to artists, this book's refreshing approach teaches anatomy from a cartoonist/illustrator's point of view. For example, there are many large and small muscles in the neck, all rendered in great detail in most anatomy books, but here, master teacher Christopher Hart shows only the four that are visible and need to be drawn. His clear instruction helps readers to visualize and portray shifting body weight in a pose without the need of a model, and instead of showing a mass of facial muscles and bones, he translates them into the simple planes an artist needs to draw a range of expressive faces.

Gain insight into methods of the best contemporary acrylic artists in the 3rd edition of AcrylicWorks. Features more than 125 paintings by about 100 artists selected from hundreds of acrylic painters across the world invited to submit work for consideration. Each painting is accompanied by a caption that offers instructive information that discusses the artist's radical breakthrough in the painting process. Entry fee of $25 for first image and $20 each additional entry helps defer cost of production. The 1st annual AcrylicWorks brought in $25,233 in fees, and AcrylicWorks 2 brought in $24,032 in fees. Call for entries promoted in consumer mailings, The Artist's Magazine, www.artistsnetwork.com and http://wetcanvas.com.

These 90 magnificent designs--from elaborately detailed elephants to skulls, dragons, and eagles--just beg to be colored in. Use them for meditative downtime . . . or to inspire a real tattoo!

In this book, comics icon Lee provides aspiring comics artists with the modern tools they need to succeed in the world of comic-book creation. Focusing on topics like anatomy, perspective and character design, as well as brand-new topics like manga art styles, digital art and more, this is the next step for those looking to perfect their superhero rendering and create fantastic worlds perfect for today's modern comic-book audience. With examples from his classic collaborations at Marvel Comics and from today's top comics artists, Lee builds on concepts only touched upon in his previous instructional offerings and provides a pathway for aspiring artists to bring their comic-book artwork to professional-quality levels.

Find your artistic creativity with delicate doodles, big colors and lavish layers! CreativeGIRL features art projects that teach you how to draw and paint your story using pencils, watercolor paints and simple mixed-media supplies. Danielle Donaldson shows you how to draw the pretty pictures from your imagination, infuse your art with delightful color combinations and work through creative frustration with simple fixes. You'll learn how to paint with watercolor, tell visual stories with and without words and add depth with layers using mixed-media techniques and little details--all while finding inspiration and gaining confidence in your own artistic style. Draw, paint, layer and create! More than 30 techniques and projects including drawing, painting and adding layers for artists and aspiring artists of all levels. Learn how do draw and paint figures such as creativeGIRL, busyGIRL and tutuGIRL. Then create your own girl to channel your story. Find even more inspiration in a gallery filled with extraLOVE from the artist.

Starting in the Victorian years of the 19th century, hearty oyster consumption made special, beautifully crafted "oyster plates" a necessity in fashionable homes and restaurants. This book is perfect for collectors, complete with a rarity guide and color photographs of almost 500 pieces of original dishware and unusual serving utensils. The text is filled with the history of oysters plate manufacturers from Limoges and Meissen to Wedgewood.

Glen Scouller's paintings are full of vibrant colour and light. In Colour and Line in Watercolour - his first book - he explains how he achieves these effects. He combines traditional watercolour techniques with adding pen and ink, pastels and crayons to create paintings brimming with colour and spontaneity.Using step-by-step demonstration paintings, Scouller shows how he builds up his paintings, working first in watercolour and adding other media to create his original style. He gives advice on his methods and techniques and encourages the reader to experiment with mixed media. He believes that keeping a sketchbook is very important, especially when travelling and shares tips on how to start and use one. There are also sections on painting outdoors and in the studio. The subjects covered are boats and boatyards, landscapes, still life, animals and figures and portraits.Colour and Line in Watercolour encourages all watercolourists, whatever their level, to experiment with the medium and produce exciting and challenging work of their own by adding line in various mixed media to their watercolours.

Learn to draw figures and faces with this clear and easy to follow guide, the latest in the bestselling 'Read This' series. Revealing the techniques and ideas behind inspirational works, the book will set you on the path to making your own great drawings. From traditional life drawing to unconventional character studies, works by masters such as Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin and Vincent van Gogh, as well as contemporary artists including Marlene Dumas, Zin Lim and Catherine Kehoe, all serve to illustrate a range of approaches and encourage readers to try out new ideas. Read This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing People is part of the internationally-bestselling 'Read This' series, which has sold over half-a-million books worldwide and has been translated into over 20 languages. More titles in the 'Read This' series: Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs by Henry Carroll (9781780673356) Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs of People by Henry Carroll (9781780676241) Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs of Places by Henry Carroll (9781780679051) Use This if You Want to Take Great Photographs: A Photo Journal by Henry Carroll (9781780678887) Read This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing by Selwyn Leamy (9781786270542) Use This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing by Selwyn Leamy (9781786274052) Read This if You Want to Be a Great Writer by Ross Raisin (9781786271976) Read This if You Want to Be Instagram Famous edited by Henry Carroll (9781780679679)

Selecting perfect colour combinations has never been easier! By popular demand, Joen Wolfrom has designed a durable, colour-accurate, double-sided, multi-purpose colour wheel that is perfectly sized for use in your studio, workroom, office, or sewing room. It's easily transportable! One side of the wheel features 24 pure colours with 4 essential colour-plan wheels for each colour. The opposite side shows a range of each pure colour's tints, shades, and tones. Pure-colour wedges are slotted so you can audition colours (fabrics, paint swatches, etc.) alongside them to ensure a perfect match.

Everyone talks vaguely about the 'patterns' to be found in mathematics, but in this colouring book you will find them in all their inspirational glory. Many of the intricate waves, loops and geometrics that can be found in nature and art have their basis in maths - but you need no prior knowledge to admire and colour them. From mandalas to fractals, sunflowers to tiling, there is much to enjoy here and throughout the book you will also find short descriptions of particularly important curves, structures or geometric patterns to further your knowledge. Relax and enjoy the intricate patterns in this book and add colour to create stunning designs of your own. Who knows? You might begin to better understand the world too.