Draw 30 amazing animals in just 8 easy stages! Learn how to draw a marvelous menagerie of 30 animals, from dogs, cats and horses to those on the wilder side, including majestic elephants, beautiful birds, lions, tigers and bears – to name but a few! Choose your favorite fauna, and build up their shapes from top to tail in seven simple sketches that culminate in a full-color drawing. With its easy-to-follow landscape format, you can see the creatures come to life across the page, then recreate them yourself on paper or in your sketchbook. This book contains material previously published in the How to Draw series, including Birds (2008), Cats (2008), Dogs (2009), Horses (2009) and Wild Animals (2010).

Take a look inside the homes of some of your favourite artists and explore how each one reflected their spirit and creativity. From William Morris and Pablo Picasso to Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, Artists at Home showcases the quiet retreats, creative hubs, lifelong homes and holiday escapes of key artistic figures. Author Susie Hodge introduces readers to each artist's life and work, placing the significance of the home at the heart of their practice before exploring how each location both reflected and inspired their creative output. By delving into their homes – the architecture, interiors, the lives lived there, and the work created there – we can see these artists’ private spaces as reflections of their artistic output. For these inspiring people, homes are places where the boundaries between work, creativity and daily life are indistinct – they are as much as reflection of their artistic intention as the great artworks that made their name. 

How do you sum up the amazing world of art in just 100 words? This striking book takes on the challenge! From pottery to Pointillism, each of the carefully chosen 100 words has its own 100-word long description and quirky illustration, providing a fascinating introduction to art. Basically, everything you need to know in a nutshell. Along with some classic methods, such as painting and sketching, you'll also discover less predictable aspects of art that will give you a fresh perspective. Featuring materials, elements, methods, art movements, styles and places this book covers a wide range of topics and themes, as well as some key artists of the past and present. With a clean, contemporary design, each word occupies a page of its own. A large striking illustration neatly encapsulates the accompanying 100 words of text. Other titles in the 100 Things to Know About series include: Ancient World, World Politics, Inventions.

Great paintings cannot be fully understood in a single encounter; there is always more to be derived from them. Art lovers may revisit and reconsider the masterpieces throughout their lives, but a deeper understanding can only be gained by analysing the painting in detail, be it the placement of the subject, the lighting, the style of brushstrokes or the themes. Art in Detail examines 100 iconic paintings from the Western canon and spotlights the finer points a quick glance will almost certainly fail to reveal. These include subtle internal details, such as hidden symbols and artistic tricks employed by the painter to achieve particular effects. In addition, Susie Hodge writes intelligently about external influences on the artist – everything from the socioeconomic context in which he or she flourished, to smaller local difficulties, such as the level of air pollution at the time the painting was created. And she treats each of her subjects not only, to quote Matthew Arnold, ‘as in itself it really is’, but also as part of a tradition that links the oldest painting to the most recent, as artists pass a metaphorical baton down through the ages. With 700 illustrations

One of the most legendary artist of all time, Vincent van Gogh has become renowned for the extraordinary vibrancy of his paiting. This beautiful, fully illustrated book looks back at his tragic life and examines the influences that led to some of his greatest work, from the luminous landscapes of the south of France to the Japanese woodblock prints he so admired.

Brimming with upbeat guidance, this accessible handbook shows how anyone can use art to enlighten, uplift, calm and ease stress and anxieties. Visual art is enlightening, challenging, informative and arresting; but it can also be therapeutic, reducing anxiety and stress levels, and offering perspective on the challenges that we all face in our lives. This guide introduces readers to new ways of looking at a wide range of art. Through careful examination and explanation, it investigates how engaging with art and drawing upon its ideas can help everyone feel connected and inspired. From Frida Kahlo confronting her anxieties to Henri Matisse embracing happiness, from Louise Bourgeois conquering fear to Auguste Rodin finding hope, it shows how you too can use art to work through difficult emotions and improve your mental wellbeing. Even art that unsettles can help us to think and feel differently. Artists have been conveying aspirations, emotions, ideas and stories for thousands of years; this book will help everyone to 'read' these messages, and thereby to enrich their own emotional life through art.

Gustav Klimt, well known for his sensual, arresting depictions of women (The Kiss, Fulfillment, The Tree of Life), was a founder of the Viennese Secession movement at the turn of the 20th century, Vienna's own Art Nouveau. His extravagant work, was an obsessive manifestation of the dazzling intellectual society of his time and he painted very large canvases combining oils with gold foil. This beautiful new book brings together a wide selection of Klimt’s magnificent work.

Imagine having 5,000 years of human history's most amazing artworks at your fingertips! Go on a trip through the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art without ever leaving your home! Prepare to explore the treasures of the world's civilisations-from ancient Egyptian amulets, Mayan jewellery, and prehistoric tools-to Medieval tapestries, Renaissance suits of armour, and modern-day baseball cards. Each page brings you closer to the past as you learn about the people of different ages through the objects they left behind. Discover hand-picked highlights of the museum's huge collection as you travel through history, one incredible object at a time. This book combines exclusive Met photography with colourful and quirky illustrations in a resource that parents can trust, with a design that kids will love. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Explore the landscapes and places that inspired great art: find peace in Monet's lily-filled garden oasis, climb Mount Fuji on a printmaker's pilgrimage, sail with Gauguin to the South Pacific to stretch your imagination, or contemplate light and the changing seasons on Chelsea Embankment. Artistic Places is a stunningly hand-illustrated, visionary guide for seekers of beauty, rare tales and cultural riches. Find yourself instantly transported to the places where great artists have sought refuge, found their inspiration and changed the course of art history forever. Susie Hodge, bestselling author and art historian, presents 25 famous and forgotten artistic destinations around the world, and connects these to the artists they inspired. In keeping with the Inspired Traveller's Guide series design, each entry is accompanied by specially commissioned illustrations from Amy Grimes which perfectly evoke the wonders that first attracted the masters, while Hodge delves into each location's curious history with insightful stories both in and beyond the canon. So take a leaf out of your favourite artist's sketchbook and discover the places they loved best. Artists and locations include: J.A.M Whistler in London, England John Constable in Suffolk, England Barbara Hepworth in St Ives, England Paula Rego in Cascais and Estoril, Portugal Pablo Picasso and Guernica, Spain Salvador Dali in Catalonia, Spain Claude Monet in Giverny, France Vincent van Gogh in Arles, France Rene Magritte in Brussels, Belgium Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland Michelangelo in Florence, Italy Canaletto in Venice, Italy Johannes Vermeer in Delft, Netherlands Anni Albers in Dessau, Germany Caspar David Friedrich in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Germany Gustav Klimt and Lake Attersee, Austria Edvard Munch in Oslo, Norway Hilma af Klint and Lake Malaren, Sweden Henri Matisse in Tangier, Morocco Hokusai on Mount Fuji, Japan Paul Gauguin in Papeete and Papeari, Tahiti Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York, USA Grant Wood in Iowa, USA Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico, USA Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan, Mexico Each book in the Inspired Traveller's Guides series offers readers a fascinating, informative and charmingly illustrated guide to must-visit destinations round the globe. Also from this series, explore intriguing: Spiritual Places, Literary Places, Hidden Places and Mystical Places.

A group of primarily Scottish artists (mainly William York Macgregor, Joseph Crawhall, George Henry, Edward Atkinson Hornel, Sir John Lavery and Arthur Melville), the Glasgow Boys were active around the turn of the 20th Century. Though they painted in a number of different styles, they are connected by their rejection of classic Victorian painting. Inspired by the luminous techniques of James McNeil Whistler, they harnessed Impressionistic brushwork and livid realism in their work, trying new methods and everyday settings to create stunning works of art. With over 100 images, and broad introduction, this is a fine addition to Flame Tree's ever-increasing series on painting and illustration, Masterpieces of Art.

Why Your 5 Year Old Could Not Have Done That is Susie Hodge's passionate and persuasive argument against the most common disparaging remark levelled at modern art. In this enjoyable and thought-provoking book, she examines 100 works of modern art that have attracted critical and public hostility - from Cy Twombly's scribbled Olympia (1957), Jean-Michel Basquiat's crude but spontaneous 'LNAPRK' (1982), to the apparently careless mess of Tracey Emin's My Bed (1998) - and explains how, far from being negligible novelties, they are inspired and logical extensions of the ideas of their time. She explains how such notorious works as Carl Andre's Equivalent VIII (1966) - the infamous bricks - occupy unique niches in the history of ideas, both showing influences of past artists and themselves influencing subsequent artists. With illustrations of works from Hans Arp to Adolf Woelfli, Hodge places each work in its cultural context to present an unforgettable vision of modern art. This book will give you an understanding of the ways in which modern art differs from the realistic works of earlier centuries, transforming as well as informing your gallery visits for years to come.

Discover the fascinating connections between the world's greatest artists. Artistic Circles introduces some of the most inspirational stories of friendship, love, creativity and shared passions in the world of art. Whether through teaching, as in the case of Paul Klee and Anni Albers; a mutual muse, as seen in the flowers of Georgia O'Keeffe and Takashi Murakami; or an inspirational romantic coupling like that of Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. In telling the tales of these creatives lives and achievements - each extraordinary and oftentimes ground-breaking - Susie Hodge exposes the fascinating web of connections that have fostered some of the world's art masterpieces. Some are well-known, whereas others span both time and place, linking pioneers in art in fascinating and unexpected ways. Illustrated in colourful tribute to each artists' unique style, Artistic Circles is an illuminating and celebratory account of some of the art world's most compelling visionaries. A perfect introduction for students, and a source of new and surprising stories for art lovers.

Drawing Masterclass explores the act of vision of the world's great artists, describing how their work was created to allow you to weave some of their magic into your own paintings. With detailed analyses and instructive creative tips sections, you can learn how to convey movement like Degas, apply acrylic like Twombly, and command colour like Matisse. The book is organized into seven chapters covering important genres: nudes, figures, landscapes, still life, heads, fantasy and abstraction. Each chapter selects a cross section of artists and examines their practice in detail, using key paintings. Each artist is described through one of 100 selected masterpieces, plus a biographical profile and a practical look at the way the painting was made: the materials and technique, an examination of the ideas and inspiration behind its making and how the artist's life might reflect their concerns. Light and shade, rhythm, form, space, contour and composition are all covered in detail. The book covers a broad historical and geographic sweep, and includes many of the most celebrated male and female artists.

Discover art that dared to be different, risked reputations and put careers in jeopardy. This is what happens when artists take tradition and rip it up. ArtQuake tells the stories of 50 pivotal works that shook the world, telling the fascinating stories behind their creation, reception and legacy. The books begin with the rebels who struck out against Victorian conformism, daring painters and sculptors like Manet and Rodin, Van Gogh and Courbet, who experimented with expressionist and realist art styles as well as controversial subjects. Moving into the fin de siecle and the 20th century, we study the truly iconic works and turbulent lives of artists like Munch and Klimt, Picasso and Egon Schiele, whose work into abstraction, surrealism and cubism shocked and scandalized, but ultimately changed the course of western art forever. Moving into the second half of the 20th Century, we see spectacular works of conceptual rebellion, absurdity and political protest, from Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement to Marina Abramovic, whose often visceral and violent works of performance art laid bare the savagery of the patriarchy and the human condition. In the 21st century, we see how iconoclastic creators have pushed the boundaries of art even further, from Banksy to Louise Bourgeoise, from self-destructing paintings to experimental works of computerized art. Complete with beautiful reproductions of their iconic works, as well as a glossary of terms and movements at the back, meet the huge egos, uncompromising feminists, gifted recluses, spiritualists, anti-consumerists, activists and satirists who have irrevocably carved their names into the history of art around the world. In telling the history of modern and contemporary art through the works that were truly disruptive, and explaining the context in which each was created, ArtQuake demonstrates the heart of modern art, which is to constantly question and challenge expectation. This book is from the Culture Quake series, which looks into iconic moments of culture which truly created paradigm shifts in their respective fields. Also available is FilmQuake, which tells the stories of 50 key films that consciously questioned the boundaries, challenged the status quo and made shockwaves we are still feeling today.

This book takes a highly visual and practical approach to drawing, featuring step-by-step instructions for each art project.

In a series of 50 accessible essays, Susie Hodge introduces and explains the central concepts that underpin Western art and design. From Romanesque to Realism, Pop Art to Pluralism, 50 Art Ideas is a complete introduction to the most important art concepts in history.

Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most productive and exciting painters of his time, noted for his expressive, emotive and sensual paintings which are now instantly recognizable. Indeed, his voluptuous female figures have given rise to the word 'Rubenesque'. This book explores the life and times of Rubens, from his early studies in Italy through to his apprenticeship in Antwerp and his subsequent outstanding accomplishments as 'the prince of painters and the painter of princes'. It also contains a gallery of 300 of his paintings and drawings, revealing his unparalleled position as an artist, diplomat, scholar, linguist, teacher, art collector and devoted family man.

Ever wanted to make a maraca? This step by step guide will show you how, with clear, engaging photos that show just how easy it is to make and personalise your very own maraca. Lilac/Band 0 books are wordless books that tell a story through pictures and are designed to develop understanding about how stories work. Text type: A wordless instruction book. Children can recap the stages on pp.14-15 Curriculum links: Art and Design: Containers

Why did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel, or Rembrandt obsess over painting his own image? What's the secret behind the Terracotta Army, or Andy Warhol's soup cans? Art: Explained offers straightforward and satisfying answers to 100 of these fascinating questions. If you've ever looked at an art masterpiece in awe, but wondered just what it means, here is your guide.

From Surfing to the Secret Life of Rats, Extreme Science will excite and inspire 8-11 year olds. High-interest topics grab the reader and introduce some key science concepts in an accessible and innovative way. The action-packed pages are designed to motivate struggling and reluctant readers, and a reading age of 7 makes the content super-accessible. Extreme titles are ideal for supporting creative classroom teaching and for spicing up topic libraries.

This is an expert and detailed account of the painter Claude Monet, one of the key founders of the Impressionist movement and arguably the most influential painter of modern times. It is an insightful biography that tells the story of his life, the historical context of society at the time, and his relationships with Renoir, Sisley and Manet. It features a beautiful gallery of all Claude Monet's most significant works accompanied by in-depth analysis of his style and technique, stunningly illustrated with 500 beautiful images. It explores his relationship with the traditional art world and his courageous rejection of it, choosing to establish a new form of art. The first half of this impressive book is a review of the life of Claude Monet and the development of his talents. It follows his early experiences and artistic education, as well as his personal life, financial difficulties and marriages, shedding light on why Monet became the painter he did. The second half is a gallery of more than 300 of his works with analysis of each painting. Paintings are reproduced from all phases of his career, including when he lived at Argenteuil, where some of the most famous impressionist works were created. This extraordinary book is an essential volume for anyone wanting to learn more about this fascinating and ground-breaking artist, and to study his greatest works in one beautiful collection.

Klee's art appeals to our primary instincts and makes us look beyond the ordinary. A natural draughtsman, master of colour and hugely influential artist, Klee eludes classification, having been variously linked with Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism and Abstraction. Part of a new series of beautiful gift art books, Paul Klee Masterpieces of Art brims with the subtle warmth and humour of a unique artist. With a fresh and thoughtful introduction to Klee's life and art, the book goes on to showcase his key works in all their glory.