Currently the top ten vote getters are (links to Amazon):
The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing (Dover Art Instruction)
,Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
,Alla Prima: Everything I Know about Painting,
The Charles Bargue Drawing Course
,Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
,The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing
,The Practice and Science of Drawing
,Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters
,Classical Painting Atelier
Keys to Drawing
See the full list and vote on your favorite art instruction books.
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| Blog Reader Daniel Marknew's Bookshelf, from Your Art Bookshelves |
"Learning to See: Best Drawing and Painting Instruction Books"
Previous related posts on GurneyJourney:
Your Art Bookshelves
Top Ten Dover Books for Art Students
Best How-To Books
Jack Hamm's books.
ReplyDelete"Drawing the Head and Figure"
"How to Draw Animals"
"Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes"
and my all time favorite
"Cartooning the Head and Figure" - more styles and tips than any other cartooning book out there!
All the fundamentals are there to build from. I'm always seem to uncover some nugget of wisdom each time I thumb through to them.
I think the biggest problem that art instruction books face is the rise of the DVD and digital video downloads. I have quite a collection of art books, but I find myself reaching for the DVDs more often than not. I would rather watch a two hour video of Richard Schmid doing an outdoor painting than read Alla Prima. Not that there is nothing to be gained by reading Alla Prima. I would just rather watch Richard SHOW me how he does things than read about how he did it.
ReplyDeleteI really love Loomis books,but actually my way to see the world changed thanks to Color and Light and Imaginative Realism. I don't say it because it's tour blog,that's what happened to me. I use PC to "paint" but i learned way more from your books than from digital art ones.Perhaps some of the chapters must be taken as an introduction to the problems more than a deep analysis,but they are useful ad well,since the reader can start from there to go deeper in the subjects with other books or the web.Since i'm self thaugt i consider those two books the core of my art course. :)
ReplyDeleteI already voted in that pool and "Colour and Light" was my choice! And not only mine by the way) Your book is still on the first place and it really deserves it! While writing I usually use this Tiff Paging tool, which helps me greatly! And what tool do you consider to be the best?
ReplyDeleteI would also say "Color and Light and imaginative realism" and not because it is your BLOG... It is so clear and well explained. As I do most of the time Imaginativ Realism, this book aside with your BLOG helped me a lot! I could progress also in my own courses and workshop. In position 2, I would place "Alla Prima, all I know about painting" by R. Schmid. Not that I really learned something new in it, but I really enjoy the whole philosophy, the way of approaching the painting, and so on.
ReplyDeleteOf course, as "the daily painter" said, the DVD should have a great place, as it is a very effiscient way of learning... There is tones of really wonderful videos out there ! (Morgan Weistling, Richard Schmid, Jeffrey Watts, Zbukvic, donato Giancola, and so on....)...
I have been painting for 40 years. I bought Color and Light when it first came out, and was impressed with how immediately useful and it is. I don't really like many "how to" books, I think Color and Light is well beyond that. The "GJ" blog is also a great tool as well, and it is easy to see how Color and Light was inspired from this wonderful blog.
ReplyDelete