Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors [Paperback]

Betty Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 23, 2004

Millions of people have learned to draw using the methods of Dr. Betty Edwards's bestseller The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Now, much as artists progress from drawing to painting, Edwards moves from black-and-white into color. This much-awaited new guide distills the enormous existing knowledge about color theory into a practical method of working with color to produce harmonious combinations.

Using techniques tested and honed in her five-day intensive color workshops, Edwards provides a basic understanding of how to see color, how to use it, and-for those involved in art, painting, or design-how to mix and combine hues. Including more than 125 color images and exercises that move from simple to challenging, this volume explains how to:

see what is really there rather than what you "know" in your mind about colored objects
perceive how light affects color, and how colors affect one another
manipulate hue, value, and intensity of color and transform colors into their opposites
balance color in still-life, landscape, figure, and portrait painting
understand the psychology of color
harmonize color in your surroundings

While we recognize and treasure the beautiful use of color, reproducing what we see can be a challenge. Accessibly unweaving color's complexity, this must-have primer is destined to be an instant classic.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Betty Edwards is professor emeritus of art at California State University in Long Beach, California. She is the author of The New Drawing on the Right Side of the, the world's most widely used drawing instructional, which has been translated into thirteen foreign languages with U.S. sales of almost three million copies. She speaks regularly at universities, art schools, and companies, including the Walt Disney Corporation and the Apple Corporation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (September 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585422193
• ISBN-13: 978-1585422197
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Techniques > Use of Color
  • #3 in Books > Arts & Photography > Study & Teaching
  • #4 in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Commercial > Illustration

More About the Author

Betty Edwards is professor emeritus of art at California State University. She is the author of The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the world's most widely used drawing instructional.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

153 of 154 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Color Theory Demystified November 22, 2004

By Alfta

Format:Paperback

Betty Edwards, the author of Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain, has ventured into the world of color and painting with Color. Edwards demystifies color theory and brings it within grasp of just about any artist or designer. If you have had problems understanding just what makes up a harmonious color palette, then this book will help you solve that problem.

The book starts out at by explaining the basic vocabulary and works its way up to what makes a harmonious color arrangement. It achieves this with a number of exercises that are designed to give the student firsthand experience with mixing color and picking a palette. Though this book is written for painters, designers will get a lot of use out of it. In fact, I was able to do almost all the exercises digitally and got a good bit of benefit from doing so. I am a painter as well as a graphic designer, so I will be doing the exercises twice (once digitally and once with oils), but even if you are solely a graphic designer, this book will be of great benefit for you if you do not have a good foundation in color theory.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the numerous side bar quotes from famous artists and designers. We hear from the likes of Goethe to Itten. Though the quotes are not really needed for the text, it is certainly interesting to hear some of the greats talk about color.

The book's sub-title includes the word "mastering," but I do not think you will be a master of color after having read this book. However, you will have a firm foundation in color theory and will be pointed in the right direction to reach that goal if you put in the effort. So if you have always been mystified by color theory or never have gotten around to studying it, then this book is for you. You will come away from reading this book with a firm understanding of color and what makes good color design.

90 of 92 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Now I get it... May 3, 2006

By K. Rusinack

Format:Paperback

I am not an artist, at least, that is not what I've gone to school for (I am a History professor). But Betty Edwards' books, over the past couple of decades, have helped me to draw like I know what I am doing. And now I know more about color and the art of mixing acrylics.

For those of you who have taken art classes or consider yourselves to be artists, I don't know how you take the book. But for those of us who yearn to express ourselves through art but were never instructed, this book is a godsend. No one ever explained color theory to me before, at least that I could grasp, but Edwards' no nonsense way of teaching as a step-by-step process explains color theory in excruciating detail.

I tried to paint before, but failed to mix the colors the way I wanted to, or to match what I was seeing. Edwards makes sure that this never happens to you again, at least that is what I got from the book. What I found the most helpful on an emotional level were the little blurbs in the margins, which some other "reviewers" criticized. Why do these help? Because now I know that Van Gogh, Da Vinci, and others had to LEARN color theory like I have to learn it. They didn't just pick up a paintbrush and oils and voila!, they were masters. They worked at it, just like me. I don't feel so stupid about art anymore.

Edwards will make you see color structures in a better way, an artists' way. You should be able to express what you see in front of you better after reading her instructions in this book and doing the lessons. Painting used to be mysterious to me, and now I know how to achieve the colors I want, how to balance out my paintings, and how to think like a painter. Like I said above, I no longer feel like an idiot where painting is concerned, I feel like I can paint, which is exactly what Edwards wants from her readers.

The only problem I have with the book is that my color mixes don't always come out looking the same as in the book, even though I do what she says to do, but it may be the limitations of color in printing a book that is the problem, maybe not, I don't know. But unlike some of the other "reviewers," I had no problem getting all the right materials. Just go to Dick Blick Art Supplies online and you will find all the materials she wants you to have, no problem, including all the right colors.

If you have never understood color theory before and want to understand it, and if you have never been taught to mix paint before but want to learn it now, I highly recommend this book. Maybe it should be called "Painting for Dummies," or something, because I am not so sure how much help it is for people who already call themselves artists, but it is helping this historian learn to express her creative side with confidence and in color.

90 of 95 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn Color Here December 27, 2004

By Alan Dale Daniel VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

If you paint and use color, or just want to appreciate color in painting, this is the book. What makes Betty Edwards a wonderful teacher is her ability to question what she is doing as a teacher and then find ways to introduce new ways to study the material so as to bring the essence of the lessons home to the student. In this book she explains that her students were not grasping the essence of color and how to render it effectively. After some thought she developed new lessons that explained to the students how to understand and use color. These lessons are now brought to us in the form of this tomb.

I have executed the lessons, and they work. Even though I have been painting for 10 years I learned a lot from this book and doing the exercises. Doing the exercises is key, but they are very straight forward to do and one can learn even in "failure" (I had to do a couple of them more than once).

So there you have it. This is an instructional book that works in that it communicates to the reader (student) lessons about color and color usage that are invaluable. The lessons are clear and the results of doing the lessons are an increased understanding of art and color.

Highly recommended.