Product Description

A veritable bible for beginners as well as an invaluable reference for accomplished artists, The Artist's Manual is a hands-on guide to hundreds of techniques for painting and drawing. This easy-to-use manual clearly explains the artist's essential tools and material--how to choose them, how to use them, and to care for them. Includes 523 color photos and 234 color drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #582616 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review

This omnibus of a book serves as an all-around reference guide to the techniques and equipment for all painting and drawing media, and I do mean all. Emphasizing a partnership between personal vision and technical ability--the learning hand and the seeing eye--the editor brings together every conceivable step in the painting and drawing process, from support preparation to the final steps of protecting, matting and framing art. Areas of picturemaking often not attended to receive careful attention; for example, in the section on supports, there is in-depth information about the quality of different canvases--how to stretch, prime, size, tone and more. For drawing media (anything that makes a mark) advice is presented for colored pencils, charcoal, cont crayon, pastels, markers, and pen and ink, with an in-depth treatise on what to look for in drawing inks. 523 full-color photographs and 234 color drawings make the book a visual treat. Most pages have three or four color illustrations complemented by clear descriptive text. After dealing with varied aspects of all major media, Editor Gair also introduces pertinent material on color, composition, subjects, and themes. If your resource shelf has room for but one general book on drawing and painting, this inexpensive and informative volume can be recommended for secondary school level and beyond.

About the Author
Angela Gair is a painter, an art teacher, a regular contributor to art-education magazines, and the author of several art-instruction books. She lives in England.

Customer Reviews

Invaluable book! Excellent resource for visual artists...
I have thumbed through many an art technique book, and have found many lacking. This one is great! Not only is it a feast for the eyes with gorgeous illustrations, but I learned things I never even heard of before! It is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to many different mediums and how to use them, including oils, watercolore, acrylic, gouache, colored pencil, glazing, ink... and plenty more...Very, very helpful. I read it all the time. A valuable overview of art technique and all the goodies available at your local art supply. I love this book!

Great for Beginners
This book gives good, basic descriptions of a wide variety of drawing and painting media and techniques. The photographs and illustrations are easy to follow. The organization is well thought out. However, if you are looking for a substitute for Ralph Mayer's ...... "The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques," this book will not have the technical depth you may want.

An easy-to-use guide of painting techniques
This manual is essential and practical, the informative text is very clear, it has hundreds explanations about techniques, composition, color, artist's materials and tools. And also is superbly ilustrated. If you are a professional artist so improve your knowledge with this book, if you are a beginner, here is everything you need to start your work.