Bøker i Dover Art Instruction-serien

Fifteenth-century handbook, written by a working artist of the day, reveals techniques of the masters in drawing, oil painting, frescoes, panel painting, gilding, casting, more. Direct link to artists of Middle Ages.

This instructive book presents excellent annotated line drawings of anatomical structure for the beginning artist, explaining the subject in simple terms, identifying parts of the body and demonstrating physical activities through the author's sketches. Chapters cover the human skeleton, head and neck, torso, arm, hand, leg, foot, and musculature. 179 black-and-white illustrations.

A truly admirable book.--Bookman's Journal and Print CollectorAs a book of reference to the practicing artists who wants to solve some particular difficulty, the book could hardly be bettered.--FieldRex Vicat Cole makes learning about perspective an enjoyable and fascinating pursuit in this clearly written and profusely illustrated book. Over 390 diagrams illustrate every aspect of the text, and more than 80 illustrations reproduce drawings and paintings--by old masters and by the author--that indicate how perspective is utilized in practice. The book is so well illustrated that many perspective problems can be answered without reference to the text at all. The text itself clarifies the theory of perspective and offers numerous practice exercises. Among the topics covered are the principle of perspective in theory, the rules of perspective and their application, depths, the use of plans in sketching foreshortened surfaces, inclined planes, the circle, arches, how to draw curves by straight lines, perspective of the sky and sea, perspective of shadows, and more. Two additional sections cover perspective in the history of art and mechanical perspective.A noted landscape painter and art instructor, Mr. Cole combines common sense with an understanding of Nature's laws to make perspective a subject that every artist can approach with confidence. Art students will also find this book extremely valuable.

A teacher for over 60 years, painter Hensche placed great emphasis in his classes on Monet's Impressionist tradition of seeing and painting color under the influence of light. Hensche taught students to "see the light, not the object," says Robichaux, who in this book reveals the basic painting philosophy and methodology of a great teacher.

The guidance to be found within these covers reflects the author's inspired ability as a teacher and artist of the highest magnitude. It is probably the finest book on the subject of drawing the human form that I have ever seen.--Irving Shapiro, A.W.S., Director, American Academy of ArtThis unique guide offers a bold, innovative approach to drawing from life. Instead of teaching the traditional method of building up a drawing from lines, leaving mass and tone till later, noted art instructor Douglas R. Graves takes precisely the opposite tack. The student is encouraged to begin seeing and thinking in terms of tonal masses immediately. This approach enables students to draw quickly and accurately without the need for a line drawing first. The author compares it to learning to paint with charcoal.Step-by-step demonstrations and over 200 of the author's own drawings offer inspiration and practical guidance in the technique. You'll learn how to see tonal quality, how to key a drawing, how to translate color into black and white, and valuable techniques for keeping the figure from looking stiff. Other topics include the role of alignment in achieving proper proportions, foreshortening, male and female figure distinctions, the use of modeling to achieve added dimension, drawing the face, positioning the figure, and many other aspects of life drawing.For students of drawing--beginner to expert--this book is an invaluable guide not just to drawing from life but to the essential principles of observation, composition, and draftsmanship that underlie all successful drawing and painting. It belongs in the library of every artist. For this edition, the author has revised previous chapters and added a new one on Different Modes of Charcoal.Revised and enlarged Dover (1994) republication of the work published by Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1971.

Without shading, even a beautiful drawing can appear flat. But artists can learn to add dimension to their work with these techniques, illustrations, and exercises that show how to achieve effects with light and shadow.

Perspective is easy; yet, surprisingly few artists know the simple rules that make it so. Remedy that situation with this simple, step-by-step book, the first devoted entirely to the topic. 256 illustrations.

Artists who love the sea will treasure this illustrated guide with advice on technique, color, and composition. Ballinger shows how to paint seaworthy vessels, calm and stormy waters, sea birds, the sky, and more. 8-page color insert.

In this thought-provoking practical guide, a noted artist and educator demonstrates that learning to violate the rules of perspective (profitably) is as important for the practicing artist as learning the principles of perspective themselves. Only in this way can students free themselves from the constraints of tradition and find their own imaginative paths. However, it is vital that students first have a solid grasp of classical perspective before they can think about adapting it creatively.In presenting the principles of perspective drawing, Mr. Watson devotes a chapter each to step-by-step discussions of such topics as the picture plane, foreshortening and convergence, the circle, the cone, three-point perspective, universal perspective, figures in perspective, and much more. To illustrate his points he offers expert analysis of the works of such leading illustrators as John Atherton, V. Bobri, R. M. Chapin, Jr., Albert Dorne, Robert Fawcett, Constantin Guys, W. N. Hudson, Carl Roberts, Ben Stahl, and Aldren A. Watson, as well as drawings by Pieter de Hooch and Paul Cézanne. The result is a ground-breaking study that artists, illustrators, and draftsmen will find invaluable in learning to create works with convincing perspective.Ernest W. Watson taught at Pratt Institute for over 20 years, co-founded and served as editor-in-chief of the magazine American Artist, and co-founded the prestigious art publishing house of Watson-Guptill.Dover (1992) republication of How to Use Creative Perspective, originally published by Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1955.

I have made it my concern to hunt out this technique for your study as I learned it by looking and listening. On Divers Arts, c. 1122, is the oldest extant manual on artistic crafts to be written by a practicing artist. Before Theophilus, manuscripts on the arts came from scholars and philosophers standing outside the actual profession. On Divers Arts describes actual 12th-century techniques in painting, glass, and metalwork, which the Benedictine author wished to pass on to those gifted by God with a talent for making beautiful things. Theophilus teaches, with rigorous attention to fact but also with great reverence the making of pigments for fresco painting, the manufacture of glue, the technique of gold leaf on parchment (the first recorded European reference to true paper), how to blow glass and design stained glass windows, how to fashion gold and silver chalices, and how to make a pipe organ and church bells. Precise instruction on enameling, chasing, repoussé, niello, and beaded wire work prove Theophilus's first-hand knowledge of his craft.While 90 percent of Theophilus's writing is sound technical knowledge, medieval folk lore occasionally spices his text: Tools are also made harder by hardening them in the urine of a small red-headed boy than by doing so in plain water. But the magnificent fact of On Divers Art remains its status as the first technical treatise on painting, glass, and metalwork, for which actual specimens still survive. The editors have taken care to ensure both philological and technological accuracy for this authoritative edition of a medieval classic, a manual of great importance to craftsmen, historians of art and science, and all who delight in the making of the beautiful.

An inspiring sourcebook, this guide helps artists discover a wide variety of subjects and ideas for their next sketch. More than 140 of the author's drawings illustrate nostalgic scenes, old engravings, atmospheric effects, photographs, and landscapes.

Focusing on harmonic relations between lines, color, and dark and light patterns, this manual influenced generations of artists. Practical and well-illustrated, it conveys its insights in a convenient workbook format.

Learn principles of composition, classical and modern, through analysis of works from Middle Ages to present -- Goya, Cezanne, Hopper, many others. 148 illustrations, 9 in full color.

"Monumental book . . . Mr. Vicat Cole is a born teacher."--Contemporary Review"Mr. Vicat Cole's ability as a landscape painter is well known, and he unites to his executive talents the qualifications of an accomplished teacher."--Connoisseur"The name of the author is itself a guarantee that the subject is adequately treated. It is handled in a systematic and lucid way, which the novice . . . can follow with ease."--StudioFor years greatly admired and widely used, this excellent text by one of Britain's foremost art instructors has achieved the status of a classic in its field. The author, also a noted landscape painter, offers complete and accurate instruction in painting and drawing trees to all serious artists--beginner or advanced, amateur or professional. Its extremely comprehensive and detailed coverage has earned this volume a permanent place in the libraries of landscape painters, students, and teachers. Every aspect of trees and how to depict them--in any style--is covered with unusual clarity and precision; problems of balancing tree groups, relations of light and shade, delicacy and weight, distance, sky apertures and their patterns, curves and straight lines in tree branches, tree color, the influence of special environmental factors (age, frost and snow, wind, moonlight), the effects of bud arrangements on the anatomy of trees, etc. Of special value is the very thorough and lucid analysis of tree anatomy: the proportion of boughs, branches, and twigs; the positioning of leaves on twigs; the form, texture, and color of leaves; leaf patterns; flower arrangement; stipules, bracts, buds, scales, spines, seedlings, the bark, and all the other essential details of structure. Specific information is given for each tree discussed: oaks, sycamores, willows, pines, maples, etc.; abstract and inaccurate generalizations are avoided. Nearly 500 illustrations by the author accompany the text, demonstrating all the anatomical features discussed. In addition, there are 48 full-page plates: magnificent landscape paintings and drawings by Giorgione, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van der Neer, Watteau, Hobbema, Turner, Gainsborough, Dupré, and many others, showing their compositional use of trees, their details in rendering, and similar material. Unabridged and unaltered republication of second edition.

The combined training and experience of the authors of this classic in the varied activities of painting conservation, cultural research, chemistry, physics, and paint technology ideally suited them to the task they attempted. Their book, written when they were both affiliated with the Department of Conservation at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, is not a handbook of instruction. It is, instead, an encyclopedic collection of specialized data on every aspect of painting and painting research.The book is divided into five sections: Mediums, Adhesives, and Film Substances (amber, beeswax, casein, cellulose, nitrate, dragon's blood, egg tempera, paraffin, lacquer, gum Arabic, Strasbourg turpentine, water glass, etc.); Pigments and Inert Materials (over 100 entries from alizarin to zinnober green); Solvents, Diluents, and Detergents (acetone, ammonia, carbon tetrachloride, soap, water, etc.); Supports (academy board, dozens of different woods, esparto grass, gesso, glass, leather, plaster, silk, vellum, etc.); and Tools and Equipment.Coverage within each section is exhaustive. Thirteen pages are devoted to items related to linseed oil; eleven to the history and physical and chemical properties of pigments; two to artificial ultramarine blue; eleven to wood; and so on with hundreds of entries. Much of the information--physical behavior, earliest known use, chemical composition, history of synthesis, refractive index, etc.--is difficult to find elsewhere. The rest was drawn from such a wide range of fields and from such a long span of time that the book was immediately hailed as the best organized, most accessible work of its kind.That reputation hasn't changed. The author's new preface lists some recent discoveries regarding pigments and other materials and the pigment composition chart has been revised, but the text remains essentially unchanged. It is still invaluable not only for museum curators and conservators for whom it was designed, but for painters themselves and for teachers and students as well.

The whys and hows of the various aspects of landscape painting: angles and consequent values, perspective, painting of trees, more. 34 black-and-white reproductions of paintings by Carlson. 58 explanatory diagrams.

"In any exhibition of amateur work . . . it is not at all unusual to find many charming water-colour drawings, but . . . it is very rarely that the work in the oil medium is anything but dull, dead, and lacking in all vitality and charm."--Harold SpeedSuch provocative assertions are characteristic of this stimulating and informative guide, written in a highly personal and unique style by a noted painter and teacher. Brimming with pertinent insights into the technical aspects and painting in oils, it is also designed to help students perfect powers of observation and expression.Harold Speed has distilled years of painting and pedagogical experience into an expert instructional program covering painting technique, painting from life, materials (paints, varnishes, oils and mediums, grounds, etc.), a painter's training, and more. Especially instructive is his extensive and perceptive discussion of form, tone, and color, and a fascinating series of detailed "Notes" analyzing the painting styles of Velasquez, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Franz Hals, and Rembrandt.Nearly 70 photographs and drawings illustrate the text, among them prehistoric cave paintings, diagrams of tonal values, stages of portrait painting, and reproductions of masterpieces by Giotto, Vermeer, Ingres, Rembrandt, Titian, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hals, Giorgione, Poussin, Corot, Veronese, and other luminaries. In addition to these pictorial pleasures, the author further leavens the lessons with thought-provoking opinion.Clear, cogent, and down-to-earth, this time-honored handbook will especially interest serious amateurs studying the technical aspects of oil painting, but its rich insight into the mind and methods of the artist will enlighten and intrigue any art lover.

This handy guide provides numerous insights and shortcuts to drawing and sketching effectively. Describing mandatory skills for beginning and advanced students, the text covers such subjects as diminution, foreshortening, convergence, shade and shadow, and other visual principles of perspective drawing.Accompanying a concise and thoughtfully written text are more than 150 simply drawn illustrations that depict a sense of space and depth, demonstrate vanishing points and eye level, and explain such concepts as appearance versus reality; perspective distortion; determining heights, depths, and widths; and the use of circles, cylinders, and cones.Artists, architects, designers, and engineers will find this book invaluable in creating works with convincing perspective.

Much of the learning to practice as well as to appreciate art is concerned with understanding the basic principles. One of these principles is what Harold Speed calls "dither," the freedom that allows realism and the artistic vision to play against each other. Very important to any artist or work of art, this quality separates the scientifically accurate from the artistically accurate. Speed's approach to this problem is now considered a classic, one of the few books from the early years of this century that has continued to be read and recommended by those in the graphic arts.In this work, Harold Speed approaches this dynamic aspect of drawing and painting from many different points of view. He plays the historical against the scientific, theory against precise artistic definition. He begins with a study of line drawing and mass drawing, the two basic approaches the artist needs to learn. Further sections carry the artistic vision through unity and variety of line and mass, balance, proportion, portrait drawing, the visual memory, materials, and procedures. Throughout, Speed combines historical backgrounds, dynamic aspects which each technique brings to a work of art, and specific exercises through which the young draughtsman may begin his training. Although not a technique book in the strict sense of the terms, The Practice and Science of Drawing brings to the beginner a clear statement of the principles that he will have to develop and their importance in creating a work of art. Ninety-three plates and diagrams, masterfully selected, reinforce Speed's always clear presentation.Harold Speed, master of the art of drawing and brilliant teacher, has long been cited for this important work. For the beginner, Speed will develop a sense for the many different aspects which go into an artistic education. For the person who enjoys looking at drawings and paintings, Speed will aid developing the ability to see a work of art as the artist meant it to be seen.

Students, designers, and craftspeople who want to create their own abstract patterns and designs will find this profusely illustrated guide one of the best books available on the subject. After an introductory chapter dealing with the geometric basis of design, the author goes on to discuss implements and their use (T-square, compass, dividers, ruling pen, etc.), borders, textile patterns, nature study, and treatment.Over 380 illustrations include many diagrams, designs for title pages, border patterns, allover patterns, textile patterns, and historical examples from an extraordinary number of cultures and periods: Assyrian stone carvings, Greek and Roman jewelry, 18th-century English silverwork, and more. Thorough and comprehensive, Abstract Design and How to Create It will be an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to learn the principles and techniques of creating nonrepresentative designs.