Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Acrylics (DK Art School)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I decided that I wanted to start painting, I bought five "How To" books. This one is my favorite, hands down. The book is well organized, well written, and contains a lot of beautifully detailed photographs. The author has kept the text to a minimum, letting the photographs do much of the talking, which works far better for me than other books that have more emphasis on written instruction.

In only 72 pages, every topic is covered, and no question is left unanswered. It begins with a brief history of the medium, then moves on to cover color, paint types, brushes, painting surfaces, tools, and techniques, as well as galleries of different painting styles. There's even a section on experimental approaches, such as stenciling and inventive scraping. Rather than presenting a series of exercises (as many books do), this author encourages experimentation and discovering your own personal style, an approach that really inspired me to pick up a brush and get started.

Also worth mentioning is that every photograph and illustration is in color . . . really GOOD color. This may sound like a no-brainer, but a few of the other books I purchased contained a lot of black-and-white photos. Hey, you can't learn to paint in black and white!

Experienced artists may find the material here a bit too rudimentary, but for the true novice, like myself, this book is a winner. If you're looking for that ONE book to get you started, this is it!

This book is great. Not only does it start out with the basics, it then takes you deeper, showing you supplies that are really worth gettting. After they show you the basics, they talk about different brush strokes, and color mixing. They show you why acrylic is such a great medium, and the different effects you can achieve using it. Then they begin to talk about light, and have an example painting that you can paint along with. They cover many different forms. Get this book if you want to know about acrylics.

For someone just starting out in the painting feild, acrylic or otherwise, this book is gold. It has all the basic information one needs to create an image. If you want to paint, but don't know where to start, this will definately be the book for you.

Very informative and easy to read. Wonderful pictures! If you are new to acrylics, this is a great place to start!

Considering that I have yet to find a complete compedium of Acrylic techniques, this is probably one of the better books out there, especially for beginners. This book will give you the short and skinny on your tools, paint and mediums, and canvases/surfaces. After that, the book starts giving examples on how to tranfer your image onto the canvas with pencil prior to painting, using opaque methods to painting, transparent(watercolor style) methods, drybrushing, scumbling, and more. Then at the end of the book, it contains a series of gallry examples in acrylic to inspire. This book is a good foundation book, and gives many approaches to using acrylic.

I found this book to be just what I needed to get started with acrylics. It is concise, yet has all that a beginner needs to know what to buy and how to get started. I found the simple exercises very helpful and look forward to trying the more complex techniques as I gain confidence.

I bought this book based on all the other reviews and now I too love it. Loads of beautiful color pictures and examples and written clearly. If you're beginning acrylics - get this !

I have a fairly large collection of painting books and this one is definitely a favorite. It clearly illustrates tools, techniques and examples for a wide variety of painting styles.

This is a great book as a basic staple for reference and for ideas.
I've been painting for over twenty years and I still thought this was an excellent guide for color and style as well as being a refresher of basic techniques.

Good instructions. Good techniques. Good information. Bargain price.
This struggling artist is happy with her purchase. Now if I can just defeat my fear of the blank canvas..........