Portrait Painting in Watercolor [Hardcover]

Charles Reid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1989

"Where this handy, horizontal, and beautifully laid-out book treads on new ground is portraiture in aquarelle in a dashingly dramatic style". -- American Artist. In an appealing volume, Reid leads artists through 24 detailed step-by-step demonstrations on painting the portrait.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (October 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823041921
• ISBN-13: 978-0823041923
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting > Portraits

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wet and wonderful watercolor expression, July 10, 2003

By 

Beverly Bell (San Marcos, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Portrait Painting in Watercolor (Hardcover)

This is one of the most sought after books on watercolor portraiture. Reid suggests the face and still gets a likeness. He leaves something for the viewer to fill in and be a part of the painting. It takes practice and intuition to bring out the aritists innate intuitive abilities expressed on paper. Reid shows step by step how he approaches his subject. He focuses on contrast and value and immediacy to give the painting life and spontaniety. A valued book to read over and over.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Charles' best book -- but quite good none the less, July 16, 2002

By 

sir_isaac_newton (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portrait Painting in Watercolor (Hardcover)

...The book is brown, in colour and concept. Charles' book on Natural Painting is much more appealing. However this book is well written and illustrated although not colorfully. There is some interesting insight into portrait technique -- but realistically, I doubt if Charles learned to paint this way himself ... his talent is inborn and self-taught. His portraits are startling and unique in their ability to capture likenesses from a swirling mass of tone and/or color sometimes using only subtlist details of shade and highlight. The facial details that we plebians see (2 eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hair) have little to do with Charles' images -- sometimes many key features are ill defined or undefined ... however he always manages to capture the likeness. He sees in a different way -- I think he sees primarily tones (shades of gray) more than anything -- color seems to be secondary to him (this is apparent in his Natural Painting book too) -- yet he also has a unique and insightful perspective on colors, especially skin tones. A good book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Painters use tonal values, September 19, 2011

By 

J. Durling "Art Eyes" (Tampa Bay, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Portrait Painting in Watercolor (Hardcover)

It must be said that Charles Reid is very much into color values. Much of the illustration in the book is done in values with no color, using shades of grey. For a novice wanting pretty pictures--this is not the book. For a painter wishing to learn portrait painting much like better art schools teach, this is an excellent book to have on hand. It is very difficult for beginners to get value with color; a skill learned over time. The book forces the student to observe different values within color, if they follow the examples given. The best way to show form is to use values/tones of color or shades of grey. This book does not disappoint.