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Paperback Painting What (You Want) to See: "Forty-Six Lessons, Assignments, and Painting Critiques on Watercolor and Oil" Book

ISBN: 162654378X

ISBN13: 9781626543782

Painting What You Want to See

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Format: Paperback

Condition: New

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Book Overview

If you have ever wanted to control your art so you can paint anything-and paint it well-this book is for you The mediums are oil, watercolor, and contour drawing, but this is a book about making good paintings, not about a particular medium. The subject matter is broad, ranging from still lifes to figures and portraits, to landscapes. Again, the point is that if you can paint, you can paint anything But you must never feel compelled to simply paint was is before you. You must feel free to paint not what you see, but what you want to see-the way you want it to look-and this book shows you how.

In this book, Charles Reid offers up a complete course in painting and seeing. He critiques student work and analyzes problem paintings, explaining where the artist went wrong and what they could have done to improve their work. Reid also includes numerous assignments to help guide your practice, and important lessons on values, color and composition. You'll learn to make a contour drawing; how to layer your washes to achieve a desired value; how to mix values for bold statements; how to mix subtle colors and flesh tones; how to paint lights and shadows; how to uses edges to direct the audience's eye; how to integrate the subject with the background; how to loosen and liven up your painting; and much more.

Painting What You (Want To) See is perfect for artists of all levels of ability, but is exceptionally well-suited for intermediate and advanced students who want to increase the range and expressiveness of their paintings. The clear instructions, detailed tips, and innumerable illustrations and examples will help you develop your own style. This is one of Charles Reid's finest books on painting technique.

Readers interested in related titles from Charles Reid will also want to see: Flower painting in oil (ISBN: 1626543801), Painting by Design (ISBN: 1626543216), Pulling Your Paintings Together (ISBN: 1626543844), The Natural Way to Paint (ISBN: 1626543828).

Customer Reviews

5 ratings

One of Reid's Best Books

If you're a Reid fan, than you'll want this book. If your'e not a Reid fan, you'll still want this book. Even though it's a bit older (published in 1987) the material presented is timeless. Reid is a wonderful teacher and provides solid information regarding color, value, drawing, composition, etc. I particularly liked this book because it doesn't waste valuable teaching space discussing paper, brushes and pigments. That information can be found in so many other watercolor books. This book teaches you how to look at your subject, artistically review it, and then translate your visions to paper. Even though Reid has such a distinctive style, his teaching can be used to bring out the best in any artist's personal style. This is not a how to copy Reid book, but a book that was written to help painters express their own visions.

Painting what you want to see

It's really useful book containing plenty of great advice and detail about how to look at a subject. It's detailed enough to learn stuff but not so that it gets boring. recommended.

Wow! Best Art Technique Book I've Found.

"Painting What You Want To See" covers a slew of topics of tremendous importance to improving your artwork that are slighted by most authors and most teachers. These topics include the understanding the propper proportion of light & dark values, the importance of distinct colors, how to get better looking colors (e.g., lights, darks, greens, skin tones), why some edges should be blurred and which ones, how to (and not to) arrange objects in a painting, how to tie objects together into a cohesive whole, the relative importance (or lack thereof) of propper perspective, techniques for better looking shadows, the importance of sketches, and many more topics. For each topic, the author includes one or more generally worded exercises that will help the reader practice the technique. These are not those awful step-by-step-reproduce-my-painting-exactly sort of exercises, either, but well thought out tasks that will help you see the importance of the technique in your own work. There is a very nice section at the end which demonstrates common problems and how to fix them. I only wish this section were longer. Although the book focuses on watercolor and oil, most of the lessons are applicable to all mediums. Many of the demonstration pictures are sketches suitable to the lesson at hand, not final works, so don't expect every drawing to be "amazing". Many of the paintings focus on people, and several the topics covered are of particular value to figure painters. I would highly recommend this book to any artist.

Not only beautiful, it's a useful book

There are 46 lessons and assignments in this book, critiques included. Reid covers not only painting but, more important, seeing.Reid begins by reviewing the basics: Contour drawing, value scales, seeing shapes, adding values to drawings. Then he goes into detail in working with values, handling color, directing the eye, composing with color, and interpreting light. The last two sections of the book deal with critiques, solutions and learning from the masters. There's also a useful bibliography that's divided into books about painting and those on drawing. Then there's a list of artists whose work the student should study to gain insight into different techniques.This book is a fresh look at working in watercolors and oils. I'd recommend it to photographers, too. These ideas and information could be easily translated to the film medium.All that said, it's a gorgeous coffeetable book, too.

Great for learning about value, composition and color

I have been painting for about a year and have had a lot of trouble composing paintings that flow as well as I would like them to. This book has helped me tremendously. So many of the books I have read talk only about technique and do not thoroughly address the important issues surrounding composition as this one does.
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