Customer Reviews

Color Mixing Bible: All You'Ll Ever Need to Know About Mixing Pigments in Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Soft Pastel, Pencil, and Ink

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've just started oil painting, and this book proved invaluable in helping me sort out the many, many different kinds of paint with their exotic names out there. I generally like to jump in and just experiment, but when I discovered the high price of good oil paints, I decided I needed a little book knowledge first. This book costs about the same as a good tube of paint, and saved me from buying many colors that, before reading the book, I didn't realize I wouldn't really need (at least to start with). It's one of clearest, most concise books I've read (on any subject). Every word is one of wisdom. If you're new to mixing paint, or having trouble figuring it out, get this book (it doesn't really cover HOW to paint though).

The first thing I always did with a new set of paints was create color swatches and mixes. Now that my paint sets are more expensive I hate to waste paint on swatches that I'll probably put in some "safe" location in the studio...never to be seen again. Here I can reference swatches of commonly used colors, opaque and transparent in a range of media. Sidaway also includes the best history of pigments that I've read to date - answering a question about phthalo blue that's been bugging me for years (when was it introduced? 1936.) This book is no substitute for learning about your palette, but does provide information on how to select an appropriate palette.

This book will makes your life easier by guiding you in choosing the right ccolor combinations to reach the desired hue.

It is simple to use and accurate; don't waste your art supplies by mixing the wrong colors. Great for people like me, afraid of color.

This book is the best l've seen. Very easy to understand and excellently laid out making very easy for the beginner to learn the basics of color mixing.

I think this book covers most of what you need to know about color. I like the color charts for each medium. I still think you need to make your own charts, because colors vary. But the color charts in the book are good for reference. I think it could be stronger in the area of color theory, but as a reference book it is good.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Color Mixing Bible, it had more to it than I could have hoped for! I bought it to help ME make better choices in the acrylics I was about to invest in but, as a drawing and painting teacher, I have used it to help students in preliminary exercises with pastels, my advanced students have used it for setting up their pencil "palette" before starting assignments, my graphics students, who are into cartooning, have snatched it for the ink mixing section, the "subject mix" section has helped some of my Fundamentals students understand what to look for in making a formal analysis of artists' palettes, the book is new and already lovingly abused! Ian Sidaway has provided clear and consistent visual tables of results that have helped me and my students make better choices the first time with fewer of the unhappy accidents that occur in the haste of classrooms and deadlines. I particularly enjoy the "Watchpoints" that offer tips and caveats about certain pigments and their behaviors.
I strongly recommend the Color Mixing Bible to artists that work in different media; sometimes we get stuck mixing in a medium that just doesn't respond as expected because we are less practiced in it. This book allows the opportunity to make visual comparisons between media as we work.

I airbrush and oil paint and have bought several different color guides and this is the only one I will ever need. The colors in it as references are easily available in most brands of paints and the mixing ratios are easy to understand and transfer to any quantity you need. You can't go wrong when it tells you to mix 1 part naphthol crimson to 1 part cerulean blue to get a brick red...the only other thing I would consider getting with this book is the Magic Palette guide to hang on the wall where I paint.

The introduction of this book taught me more on colourmixing than three terms of adult education classes at my local high school. Fantastic and informative, with a useful layout. I would recommend this book to everyone with artistic inclinations.

I just love this book. Couldn't wait to receive it and have it next to my work using it everytime I paint. Am a new student of art and am grateful for books like this one. Thanks for a great product.

Use this book along with your Magic Palette, and you will become expert at mixing colours.
Love it...Again..No More Guess Work or wasted paint. Very comprehensive. I wish I'd had this book years ago. Read the other good reviews..you'll see.