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There’s a slightly saccharine quality to the results produced here, but it’s not something you couldn’t tone down in your own work. Books on portraiture are thin on the ground and on painting children even more so, so this is a particularly welcome gap-filler. There’s a good variety of hair, skin and facial types, as well as sound but simple notes on how to deal with the main facial features and step by step demonstrations that are thorough without being over-worked.

All in all, this is an excellent place to start and would probably also carry some welcome hints for the more practised artist.

North Light

Author: Victoria Lisi, Medium: Oil, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Children, Subject: Portraiture

This first appeared several years ago in conventional hardback form. It was a good book then and there’s no reason to suppose it isn’t now, indeed its simple approach and sound advice have stood the test of time well. The general approach is that each chapter is a few pages devoted to a particular painting technique such as the use of masking fluid, toned paper or different types of brush. With 75 different sections, it’s packed with ideas and is something to dip into when inspiration has dried up or you just fancy having a go at something new.

And that’s the problem, because this new edition has been shoe-horned into a format North Light have dreamt up that gives you a book that folds back into a mini-easel and stands up by itself. For books that you need to follow while you’re painting and which have a lot of information packed onto one page, this is fine. However, for something like this, which is much more something to sit down and dip into, it’s an absolute pain. The spiral binding is stiff and you have to turn the page every time (you don’t get two at a spread). And as it’s not a book you need to be constantly referring to as you paint, there isn’t even a payback from the convenience factor a stand-up provides.

All-in-all, I can only suggest you look out for a secondhand copy of the original format. I can’t help feeling that frustration would have this one going out of the window after a few minutes!

North Light

Author: Cathy Johnson, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Techniques

The bulk of this book is devoted to that peculiarly American phenomenon, the floral. This is a formalised still life of flowers, almost always with a cut-glass vase and often also a lace table cloth. It’s a style of painting I suspect you either love or loathe, although I also suspect that, in the right market, they’d be highly saleable. As a bit of variety, this also includes some fruit, which does tend to push it into the category of still life, rather than the purely floral.

It’s not really possible to recommend this as a flower painting book because it’s so specialised, but the demonstrations are well done and contain much useful and practical advice, particularly on glazing. If this is a style you think you might like to explore, then it’s a must. Otherwise, there is useful information to be gleaned, but you might find the pickings rather lean for the price.

North Light

Author: Arleta Peach, Medium: Oil, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Flowers, Subject: Fruit & Vegetables

My goodness, this is a bit specialised, isn’t it? I think I can honestly say this is the first book I’ve seen on painting butterflies, so in this respect, it is at least unique. A word of caution though: this is an American book and these are American butterflies, so don’t be looking for a Purple Emperor or a Camberwell Beauty (though there is a token European Peacock).

The truth is that this isn’t a book aimed in any way at the general painter but is rather a specific style. If you like the idea, it’s well done and the results are attractive so it’s at least worth a look. The surprising thing is that, although they look like watercolours, the paintings are in fact oils.

North Light

Author: Sherry C Nelson, Medium: Oil, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Butterflies, Subject: Flowers

This is clearly a book the publisher expects you to keep by your side and probably get dirty in use. How do I know this? Well, they give you a plastic sleeve for the paperback cover and that’s an additional production expense and publishers HATE those.

OK, so we’ve deduced that it’s something you’ll be referring to as you paint, but does it live up to the implied claim of its title? Well, the subtitle limits its coverage to Landscapes, Flowers and Animals, but that’s still a wide scope. The basic layout is: problem on the left-hand page, solution on the right, so it does follow the by now conventional pattern of the made-up problem, a painting done deliberately badly to illustrate a particular point. I’ve always had reservations about those because I can’t help wondering whether anyone finds them recognisable. That said, if you’re going to say, “most beginners do it like this”, there’s no other way round it really. A score draw on that one, I think.

In terms of coverage, there’s a good balance of both detail and more general work, especially in the landscape section. When we get to flowers and animals, things are a bit more specific and get down to species quite quickly so that you might find your particular bugbear [not a species, ed] doesn’t get covered. If the book has a weakness, this is it. Nevertheless, Trudy is an old hand at the problem/solution approach and she does it well. On balance, I’d say you’ll get much more from this than you’ll miss, which is perhaps faint praise, but it’s very much one you’ll need to make up your own mind about.

David & Charles

Author: Trudy Friend, Publisher: David & Charles, Subject: Animals, Subject: Flowers, Subject: Landscape

This is by no means a book for the beginner, but rather a comprehensive review of landscape painting, for the most part in oils, for the serious student and, as such, it’s to be welcomed.

Most of the book is taken up with a discussion of the process of landscape painting and methods of interpreting different subjects, elements, colours, shapes and lighting patterns. There’s a great deal to read, but it’s punctuated with plenty of illustrations that illuminate the text and never leave you struggling for comprehension. The final section of the book is devoted to a series of demonstration paintings of a good variety of subjects and these are discussed in detail rather than being in the form that could almost be described as painting by numbers.

If you’re a landscape painter and you want a book that takes you as seriously as you take your subject, look no further.

Author: Mitchell Albala, Medium: Oil, Publisher: Watson Guptill, Subject: Landscape

Good portrait painting books come along all too infrequently and something which takes the subject seriously and looks at it in such depth as this is to be welcomed. Suzanne Brooker examines every aspect of portrait painting, from style to facial features and expressions to composition and painting methods. There’s a great deal to read here, but there are also plenty of illustrations to leaven and punctuate it so that you’re never left struggling for comprehension. There is a also a generous series of demonstration paintings which are described in some detail. Although, as a result, they have fewer stage illustrations than has perhaps become the norm, they are, I think, more suited to the more technically advanced artist, the sort of person who is likely to be going into portraiture seriously. In any case, the whole book is anything but an introduction for the beginner and will appeal to (and should satisfy) the more demanding reader. It is a large and quite heavy tome that rewards extended study and is admirably comprehensive both in its coverage and its execution of that coverage.

If I have a reservation, it’s perhaps that the style of painting tends rather heavily towards the old-master that’s (admittedly) implied in the subtitle, but it is an American book and American portraiture can be rather like that. I still think you can learn a lot from it, though and I don’t think you’d feel your money was wasted. If that sounds like faint praise, it’s not meant to be.

Author: Suzanne Brooker, Medium: Oil, Publisher: Watson Guptill, Subject: Portraiture

Regular readers of ABR will know of my allergy to pocket-size books. This is art, fer goodness sake, make it big so we can see it, will you! Small is NOT beautiful, it’s hard to see and you have to force the pages back till your hands hurt in order to see them. The pages, not your hands, don’t get smart with me when I’m having a rant, it makes me angry.

However, just once in a while something comes along that doesn’t just float my boat, it launches a whole navy, kersplash, all at once. And these little books are one of those things. No, they shouldn’t work and, yes, at a fiver a pop, they are expensive, but what they do, really rather neatly, is offer you a single idea on a spread. Nothing so very unusual in that, I’ll grant you, but this is minimalism taken to its absolute limit and it really is just one thing, not even a whole concept. I like that. I like that you can have just Men’s Jeans or The Female Mouth just on their own. In fact, I’d recommend Manga Tips to anyone who wants to draw the human figure because it’s full of basic ideas (like the more comprehensive and better value Mega Manga). The other one that comes at the same time is Mecha Manga, which is more specialised, concentrating on that I take to be robot figures you can’t do without. Both books are arranged by category, so finding things is very easy, though flicking through and trusting to serendipity is a good approach too.

Like I said, a fiver’s a lot for a tiny book, but it’s not a fiver wasted, I’d also say. And I don’t say it often.

Mina Manga series on Amazon

Author: Yshan Li, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Mini Manga, Subject: Figure, Subject: Manga

This introduction to fantasy art has the great benefit of simplicity on its side. Stuart Littlejohn has taken what can be a huge subject and distilled it into three very thoroughly illustrated demonstrations that will set you firmly on the right road if you’re just starting out. If you need a little help with the practicalities of the medium, there’s a useful introduction to materials, colour and composition at the beginning, but even more experienced artists will find that the real meat is in the demonstrations.

Author: Stuart Littlejohn, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Fantasy Art, Subject: Fantasy art, Subject: Landscape

Black’s excellent and developing series of Printmaking Handbooks is producing some little gems.

Although it can only be an introduction, Megan Fishpool goes a long way towards explaining the processes and practicalities of the complex hybrid print process and manages to cover most forms from stereoscopic and lenticular to intaglio and colagraph. Clearly written, and well researched and illustrated, this is an invaluable guide to a difficult subject.

Author: Megan Fishpool, Medium: Printmaking, Publisher: A&C Black, Series: Printmaking Handbook, Subject: Printmaking