Customer Reviews

Painting Watercolor Portraits That Glow

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jan Kunz has written a thoughtful, well-organized, presentation on how to paint watercolor portraits. Her realistic style of painting still manages to be expressive due to her emphasis on careful planning of how the image will be painted beforehand, allowing the artist's brush to put in correct values and hues with freedom and control at the same time. It's where I look whenever I get in trouble painting a portrait.

This is the one portrait book I would recommend for artists at ANY level of expertise and for all media., but especially for watercolor artists.

One of the last things I wanted to learn in painting watercolor was painting portraits because quite honestly, I didn't care for it mainly because I didn't know how. But after reading this book, I no longer feel apprehensive about painting portraits. Jan Kunz's book is a terrific instructional guide on how to start, as well as what colors to use and where to use them. The book even includes some step-by-step samples based on real-life models Ms. Kunz has used that you can start off first as a guide.

For beginners, this is a very good book to use to get started.

I've seen copies of this book priced at over $100. Before you spend that kind of money, be aware that:
What I consider the most valuable advice in this book on portraits is repeated in Painting Beautiful Watercolors from Photographs, also buy Jan Kunz, and available at a much more reasonable price.
Roberta Carter Clark's How to Paint Living Portraits, which covers oil and watercolor, and charcoal, is a better book over all. Two examples are, how to paint hair, and a much clearer presentation of value in painting. Clark's book even has a better index.
I'm not saying Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow isn't worth looking at, but borrow it from the library, and make sure before you shell out $100 to buy one.

This is a well written book with detailed step by step illustrations of the watercolor portrait process. This is one of the better books I have read on the subject.

Excellent teaching resource. As a beginning watercolorist I find it very informative and leads you step by step through the process. It is an addition to my art library.

This book was a joy to read. In it Jan Kunz gives a very basic and easy method of tackeling watercolors in order to interpret peoples' portraits. She takes you step by step with many examples and shows you how to make a value chart. She uses a whole array of different colors for each study. Example:....she may use blues, reds, greens, in one study while using yellow-oranges, lavenders, browns, and pink in another. She shows you how to use photographs by dissecting the face or drawing the shapes of light and dark on the face. She even shows you how to use a photograph that doesn't come out good, by that I mean doesn't have natural shading, Jan shows you how to do that also. This book will become you painting bible once you read it.

I bought this book a few months ago and have followed several of her exercises with great success. It has taught me so much about how to use color to make the face take shape and shine with personality that I am now able to paint my own subjects in a way that I like. This book was invaluable to me!

I really appreciated finding this book, due to my new interest in learning to paint portraits. Very helpful, detailed, step by step description, with excellent illustrations.

Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow is an excellent instuctional book. The instructions were clear and easy to understand. I have never painted a portrait before and was able to complete 5 very satisfying products.