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. For anyone who has ever had the urge to create art, this easy-to-use manual clearly explains the artist's essential tools and materials -- how to choose them, how to use them, and how to care for them. Packed with information on myriad techniques, from color use and composition to subject choice, and including tips from the professionals, here's everything painters and illustrators need to begin, develop, and perfect their craft. Over 500 color photographs, 200 original works of art, and an extensive list of suppliers complete the most comprehensive, inspirational, and affordable artists' instruction book available today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #347162 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

You'll be inspired to try something new.
I'm incredibly impressed with this book. Anyone with a twinkling of creativity could pick it up and begin almost anything. I found this in a bookstore and vowed I would own it. It's beautifully photographed and illustrated as one might expect, but often can't find in art guides. The text is right on the money. In my opinion it's the most comprehensive guide out there and it doesn't just cater to beginners, which is why I was so taken with it. I've been dabbling in the arts since I could walk and wanted something that might cover some of the mediums that I haven't experimented with yet.

The chapters are divided into: Supports, Drawing Media, Painting Media, Color and Composition, Subjects and Themes, The Studio, Reference. I was especially impressed with the Reference section, as this was one of the first general art guides I'd found that carried health and safety info as well as a list of suppliers. The artwork examples in each of the sections are really well chosen. If I were an art teacher, I would make this text required reading material. It's intelligently written without being dry, boring, or patronizing. And never overly simplistic--a huge bonus if you're tired of pat-on-the-head guides.

Beautiful
I'm a true novice, a friend once said I like to "color". She may be right!

I find this book informative (basic info for people like me who didn't go to art class in school) and inspirational. I love the art in it and the collage with art materials on the cover and throughout the book is stunning. A must even for us non-artists!

I bought the book a few years back and still dig it out when I feel the urge to be creative. That to me is a sign of a good book! It is a book that I look at over and over again, and doesn't get "dated".

Good book, but definately for novices
This is a good book to become familiar with a wide range of materials and basic techniques. Appearance wise, it is heads and shoulders above the competition.

However, the text itself is more of a dummy's guide to art materials. Essentially, it gives enough information for someone to be able to communicate effectively with others on the subjects. It gives some basic instructions, which are perfect for someone with little background in the subjects.

I would really give this text two scores, one on the body of content, and another on its helpfulness to amatures. The scores would probably be a 3 and a 5.