Customer Reviews

Oil Painting Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, so the format of this page only allows you to give one rating, indiscriminating of what kind of readers the book is aiming towards. I'd like more details, as the following:

1) 5-star for self-taught and beginning oil painters.
2) About 3.5 -> 4-star for intermediate oil painters.
3) Nice to own as a reference book for advanced and accomplished. No rating necessary.

So, there you had it. If you are new to oil painting, this book is a nice and PRACTICAL guideline on presently commercially available materials (including oil paints of different brands, oil sticks, oil mediums, solvents, varnishes, supports, brushes, tools, etc.. - you know, "oil materials").

This book is also a good coverage of "basic" oil techniques. These include the process of going from drawing to painting using charcoal, pastel, conte' crayon; as well as "basic" oil painting techniques such as sketching, alla prima, wet-on-wet, etc... Perhaps the most talked-about feature of the book is the chapter about glazing and scumbling. Yep, those "Old Master's techniques". To be fair, this is not the only book that covers the Old Master's techniques. However, it does provide the readers with detailed demonstrations on creating paintings using glazing techniques. In addition, a discussion on presently available TRANSPARENT oil paints (necessary for glazing) is about the most charming thing in the book.

Finally, a chapter about alkyds, oil sticks, and water-miscible oils sums up this book for readers who enjoy alternative media; along with a list of suppliers for practical purposes.

For advanced painters who enjoy more thorough discussions on oil materials and painting techniques, I suggest that they go for a more thorough (and less pictorial) title, such as "The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques" by Ralph Mayer, from which some information in this book is derived.

As for the comments about "poor" drawings and paintings in the book, I hate to admit that there is some truth to them. In my opinion, the author mainly focussed on the technique (rather than presentation) side of the issue. As a result, some of the final paintings look like "child's play". Ironically, readers sometimes see "how great the book is" just by "how great the paintings in the book are".

In terms of "the bottom line", you may "go no wrong" owning this book. If this is the first oil technique book you consider owning, then go for it. For others, it serves well as an additional title to your art library, although some may live just fine without it.

This book makes most others seem thirty years out of date. Creevy offers up-to-date information on oil paints, solvents, supports, brushes, etc. He also discusses compatible materials for mixed media work. This is NOT a step by step guide to painting specific subjects. Rather, it is an excellent tool for beginning or experienced oil painters who want to understand how their chosen medium really works.

I have quite a few oil paintings books, and I consider Bill Creevy's 'The Oil Painting Book' to be one of the best reference books in my collection. It is also an interesting and informative book on oil painting techniques, such as glazing and scumbling (truly excellent on these topics), alla prima, wiping out method, and many more.

However, I have found it to be the most useful as a reference book for oil painting materials. Its section on oil paint brands is outstanding - not only are the major brands evaluated, but also the specialty small company brands. Particularly strong is the section on oil painting mediums. To me this is such a challenging area for someone beginning oil painting. This book thoroughly defines and discusses over 18 different mediums, which provides an excellent starting point for someone learning about oil painting. Nothing beats actually experimenting with the mediums yourself, but it helps to read about them beforehand to see what kind of effects they achieve.

I highly recommend this book.

This is the most helpful book on the the market today for materials and techniques. I consider this my " art bible". I have found this book to be entirely accurate and even though I bought this book about 2 years ago, I read it over and over again. I discover new helpful hints each time. Although this book is simplified and easy to read, there is a great deal of important information that has propelled me into successfully copying the Masters and developing my own style. Thank you Bill Creevy, you have filled in the gaps for me and helped bring me personal success.

I was seriously disappointed with this book. So disappointed in fact that I am returning it to Amazon. This will be the first time I've ever returned a book to Amazon. The book does cover materials well, but where it falls short is everything else. He goes straight from materials into painting techniques. He skips color theory all together. No mention of a simple palette for beginners, warm/cold colors, mixing secondary & tertiary colors. I can't imagine a book geared towards beginners that doesn't cover this. This book is definitely not "step-by-step", many styles have no steps whatsoever. For example in Alla Prima he just shows several different paintings, and the reader has no idea how he did it. Other styles just have a few steps. None of the steps are adequate to attempt a similar painting. As one other reviewer said, his paintings are a little on the blurry side.

I picked up "Oils (Step-by-Step Art School)" by Patricia Seligman and it is simply wonderful. It has less info on materials (most of which aren't useful for a beginner anyway) and more much emphasis on color theory and detailed step-by-step examples of various styles. The color theory section is absolutely fantastic.

If you just want to read about materials and see a few paintings done in various styles, this Creevy's book is for you. But if you want to learn how to actually do these different styles, look elsewhere.

I've read or worked thru almost twenty books on oil painting while I'm waiting for my first painting class to start. This was the first one to cover modern materials - the stuff available today - and to cover glazing. The demos are step-by-step and fully explained in Alla Prima, knife techniques, rub-out painting, glazing, and even oil sticks and water miscible oils. Just an awesome text ... period. The reviewer who earlier diss'd the author for his painting style evidently doesn't have much experience creating or viewing art of any kind - not that appreciating this style requires training. On the contrary, the paintings are done in gorgeous, warm, and 'buttery' colors and the style is somewhere between realist and impressionist. I love the art and I love the book. I'm buying his pastel text, as well. This book is worth...[the money] just for the chapters on glazing alone!

I have looked for alot of books on glazing, and wish I had found this one years ago. The book explains very well all aspects of oil painting, materials, tools, mediums, you name it and in great length. The last chapters cover glazing very well. You can't go wrong with this book and doesn't matter what level your experience, you will gain from it. I've been painting for 52 years and wish I had known about this book when I was 12 years old. Well written.

This is a GREAT book!! It offers excellent technical information about everything that involves oil painting. It is written in a concise way. What I really enjoy is that although Bill Creevy explains things with a very technical approach, he always "translates" it so the reader can understand everything. I got this book 4 days ago and cannot stop reading it over and over again. Although I don't really like Mr Creevy's paintings, his technical approach is impeccable. If I had to recommend one book and only one, this would be it!!!

a unique approach, to say the least. How many other authors dealing with glazing would take the trouble to provide an entire test chart in color for the reader's perusal? In addition, the pages dealing with materials are extremely thorough. Creevy does not just 'catalogue'; he explains and evaluates. As for the comments about his own paintings, that is the man's style. Let the student of painting pursue his or her own style. The technique is what you want. You don't buy a book like this to evaluate the work of the artist. The author is trying to teach you TECHNIQUE. What's the difference if you personally don't care for his style? Go and do otherwise!

This is the book I refer to most for how to actually handle paint. If you want to know about glazing, this is the book. The author goes into that in depth, discussing transparent versus opaque paint and the various mediums and providing examples with descriptions of what he did to achieve the effects. Very good overview of paints on the market, with discussion of the composition of the various brands, and of various mediums--includes alkyds and miscibles. Weak on the discussion of brushes--names the types, but does not go into the pros and cons of the bristle material--sable, mongoose, hog bristle, etc, and there is nothing about brands of brushes. Nothing to speak of about canvas panels, though there is discussion on wood and masonite panels. The author has a pleasant, direct writing style. Overall, this is a terrific book, I refer to it often.