The airbrush has been rather elbowed out by computer graphic techniques lately, but this is a timely reminder that the medium has rather more painterly qualities than pure technology can provide. This new book packs a lot into its 144 pages and, necessarily therefore, skates over a certain amount.
Although it’s intended to appeal to beginners as well as the more experienced artist, I can’t help feeling that a complete tyro would do well to seek out something a little more basic to begin with. Although types of gun and basic techniques are covered, there’s no real disguising that this quickly develops into something of a masterclass, with a series of demonstrations that make heavy demands on your technical ability.
None of this is to say that this isn’t a hugely worthwhile book, and it’s also true that the airbrush is a difficult tool to learn and handle, albeit one which repays study and diligence. The accompanying DVD features all the six demonstrations and goes a long way to helping you follow what’s going on.
Author: Roland Kuck, Medium: Airbrush, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Techniques
Terry Harrison is among the best there is at explaining the technical process of painting and he’s also a very generous teacher, unafraid to share his many personal secrets.
This series from Search Press is developing nicely and they’ve done well to be selective about who they get to contribute to it, because it’s an easy format to do, but a hard one to get right. You get a good range of topics here, including painting from photographs, the use of additives, skies, foregrounds, trees, mountains, water and coastal scenes. There are plenty of illustrations with the text confined to simple captions that give you just the essential information so that you know what you’re looking at.
Author: Terry Harrison, Medium: Acrylic, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Top Tips, Subject: Techniques
Once again, David Curtis comes up with a title that’s almost impossible to define, and yet it doesn’t matter. “Impact” could, I suppose, be the quality that grabs your viewer’s attention, and that’s certainly what we want, but how do you achieve it? I was going to say that you won’t find a straight answer here, although there is a section headed “Impact”, which pretty much confirms what I said above. “The degree of impact depends on the skill of the individual artist in selecting, responding to and interpreting ideas” – a deceptively simple statement which could be summed up as, “either you’ve got it or you haven’t”.
The truth, however, is that we all know what impact is, especially in relation to David’s work, because he undoubtedly has it and, if any of his experience is going to rub off, then working through one of his books is the nearest most of us are going to get. Like most of David’s books, this is about the creative process of painting rather than being a detailed instruction manual, but he has much to say and it’s worth hanging on his every word, except when your breath is being taken away by the quality of the illustrations.
David’s work is almost impossible to review. You know you’re in the presence of greatness and, if you like his style, then this latest book isn’t going to disappoint you. Be honest, all I really have to do is tell you it’s available, isn’t it?
Author: David Curtis, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Landscape, Subject: Seascape
Generally speaking, the Ready to Paint series has proved its worth with a huge variety of subjects and media. Here, you have tracings for five major New York landmarks – Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, The Flatiron Building, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty – that you can complete from the comfort of your armchair, either as a record of an actual visit or as an aspiring tourist. Writing this as I am when flights are grounded by volcanic ash, the book suddenly takes on a strong relevance, too.
Author: Geoff Kersey, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Buildings, Subject: New York
Excuse me, Monet in Acrylics? Yes folks, in the comfort of your own home you can reproduce accurately the works of one of the great Impressionists using a medium that wasn’t available to him. How cool is that?
I’m sorry, but it’s hard not to have just a little fun at the expense of a series which has proved its value elsewhere and has now strayed into the realms of the Old Masters. My first reaction is not to be convinced by this departure but, if you want to measure yourself against the greatest, or just have a little fun, then this will do it for you. As a painting instruction manual, I have my doubts about its value, but is this what it ever intends to be, I wonder? Time and sales will tell.
Author: Noel Gregory, Medium: Acrylic, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Ready To Paint, Subject: Monet
Rather than a conventional instruction manual, this is more of a celebration of the medium of acrylics that reads like one of those “good enough to eat” cookery books. It’s not often than an art book features pictures of swirls of paint, but the author started out as a photographer and he captures some startling images. Even in his paintings, the paint itself becomes part of the composition and there’s something somehow luscious about the results. It’s all intriguing and sometimes a little disturbing, too.
This certainly isn’t a book for anyone looking to learn how to paint but, as an immersion in the medium, it’s really rather beautiful.
Author: Jean-Paul van Boxtel, Medium: Acrylic, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Techniques
Gosh, I had no idea just how many different types of dragons there are out there, and they’re big scary things, too! Yes, I know, but fantasy art isn’t really my thing. However, if it’s yours and you want to know about dragons, then there’s no doubt that this book is admirably comprehensive both in its coverage and the detail of its instruction.
Author: Tom Kidd, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Fantasy art
The thing you notice about cartooning books after a while is that they’re never written by people you’ve heard of. A little thought and you realise that this is because the best-known names are too busy actually drawing to write a book. And then you realise that it’s also a blessing in disguise because you won’t land up emulating a style everyone else recognises as well. In reality, you probably have seen work by Franklin Bishop (and other writers of cartooning books), but you don’t realise it because he/they are more of a chameleon, drawing to suit the style of the commission than to represent themselves.
Anything that calls itself “everything you need to know” is giving a hostage to fortune, but the truth is that this is an excellent little primer in the art of cartooning and is packed with ideas and practical advice that you get you started and well on the road.
Author: Franklin Bishop, Medium: Drawing, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Cartooning
I think you could say that, with this really rather surprising addition, this imaginative series has come of age. Botanical illustration isn’t normally regarded as something for the beginner, and yet these books, with their pre-printed tracings, are surely firmly in that camp. Aren’t they? And yet this works, completely. The answer, I think is that there’s a degree of flexibility in the format and here it bridges the gap between the beginner and the intermediate painter and makes accessible something that can be tricky to get started with.
Once again, by freeing you from the problem of getting the draughtsmanship right in the first place, Michael Lakin is able to concentrate on demonstrating the use of brushwork, colour and shading for producing detailed flower portraits. There’s still a lot to learn, of course, and six demonstrations, detailed as they are, won’t teach you everything you need to know, but by the end you’ll be able to decide whether it’s worth progressing and buying one of the many larger books on the subject.
Author: Michael Lakin, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Ready To Paint, Subject: Botanical Illustration, Subject: Flowers
Now you really can paint the works of the masters in your own home. Whether you’d want to, or whether you should even try is, I think, a matter for question, but this book will provide you with tracings and demonstrations for completing five of Van Gogh’s most well-known works.
There are some artists whose work repays study by the aspiring painter; their work, style or technique has particular qualities that are worth emulating. I suppose you could say that they’re painterly – that indefinable quality about which you can really only say that you know it when you see it. Monet is one of these, but I can’t help feeling that Van Gogh’s style is so idiosyncratic, so much his own, that it’s not really something you can learn a huge amount from. However, if that’s what you want, here it is.
Author: Michael Sanders, Publisher: Search Press, Series: Ready To Paint, Subject: Van Gogh