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Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (Volume 2) (James Gurney Art) Paperback – November 30, 2010
| James Gurney (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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James Gurney, New York Times best-selling author and artist of the Dinotopia series, follows Imaginative Realism with his second art-instruction book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. A researched study on two of art's most fundamental themes, Color and Light bridges the gap between abstract theory and practical knowledge. Beginning with a survey of underappreciated masters who perfected the use of color and light, the book examines how light reveals form, the properties of color and pigments, and the wide variety of atmospheric effects. Gurney cuts though the confusing and contradictory dogma about color, testing it in the light of science and observation. A glossary, pigment index, and bibliography complete what will ultimately become an indispensible tool for any artist.
This book is the second in a series based on his blog, gurneyjourney.com. His first in the series, Imaginative Realism, was widely acclaimed in the fantastical art world, and was ranked the #1 Bestseller on the Amazon list for art instruction.
"James Gurney's new book, Color and Light, cleverly bridges the gap between artistic observation and scientific explanation. Not only does he eloquently describe all the effects of color and light an artist might encounter, but he thrills us with his striking paintings in the process." --Armand Cabrera, Artist
- Print length224 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAndrews McMeel Publishing
- Publication dateNovember 30, 2010
- Dimensions9 x 0.6 x 10.5 inches
- ISBN-100740797719
- ISBN-13978-0740797712
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From the Publisher
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|---|---|---|
| Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist (Volume 1) | Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara | |
| Explore more from James Gurney! |
Editorial Reviews
Review
Dinotopia author and plein-air painter Gurney offers a practical, well-organized, and informative handbook for artists of all levels. (Chronogram Magazine)
This is a terrific book, highly recommended not only for young artists but anyone with an interest in traditional art technique. (Karen Haber, Locus)
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Andrews McMeel Publishing; 13642nd edition (November 30, 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0740797719
- ISBN-13 : 978-0740797712
- Item Weight : 2.01 pounds
- Dimensions : 9 x 0.6 x 10.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Figure Drawing Guides
- #9 in Drawing Specific Objects
- #12 in Painting (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

James Gurney is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Dinotopia book series. He designed the World of Dinosaurs stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and has worked on over a dozen assignments for National Geographic magazine, painting reconstructions of Moche, Kushite, and Etruscan civilizations. He has won the Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards. Solo exhibitions of his artwork have been presented at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and currently at the Lyman Allyn Museum of Art. He has recently been named a "Grand Master" by Spectrum Fantastic Arts and a "Living Master" by the Art Renewal Center. His most recent book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, was Amazon's #1 bestselling book on painting for over 100 weeks and is based on his daily blog gurneyjourney.blogspot.com. For more information, visit www.dinotopia.com or www.jamesgurney.com
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Chapter 1 Tradition
In the first chapter, the author wastes no time and delved right into how the great masters did it in their time with the limited pigments and how they made up for the limitations with skill.
Chapter 2 Sources of Light
In the second chapter, the quick basics of light is briefly explored from direct sunlight to window light. In the later part of the chapter, James Gurney gives accurate descriptions on rare occasions where there is a hidden light source or light sources that emits from objects.
Chapter 3 Light and Form
The third chapter covers all the lighting from each direction and all the various types of shadows.
Chapter 4 Elements of Color
This is where it gets interesting. There are some articles and books on Color that are either too technical or too brief. In this chapter, we are introduced to the basics of color and there is a sub-page on the history of color wheels that is very enlightening. You must be thinking, "Color Wheels again.." but I can assure you that most of your questions about how the wheel came to be and other variations of the wheel is all covered here.
Chapter 5 Paint and Pigments
After the introduction to color, we get right into traditional paint and pigments. Here, the techniques for color mixing and pallete arrangements are introduced. You can't help but feel that the author is being very generous with his knowledge really. He also briefly covered a warm underpainting in this chapter.
Chapter 6 Color Relationships
The 6th chapter is a prelude to the coming chapter. It is basically a demonstration that color information changes depending on the adjacent colors that is placed next to that color. It is all about color relationships and how the warm and cool colors differs from each pallete.
Chapter 7 Premixing
The core of the book lies in Chapter 7. It covers the all important color picking or in the traditional sense, premixing. It teaches the reader how to restrict their color pallete in order to create more harmony in a painting.
Chapter 7 Premixing
In this chapter, gamut mapping and masks is covered with examples of how it would look like in an actual painting.
Chapter 8 Visual Perception
Next, there are some exceptions when it comes to all the rules of colors and here it is covered in the Visual Perception chapter. Tricky situations like moonlight color and color constancy is covered in depth.
Chapter 9 Surfaces and Effects
The final chapters are filled with techniques to render all other forms of effects like scattering, hair, caustics, motion blur and highlights.
Chapter 10 Atmospheric Effects
Finally, the rest of the book covers all the atmospheric effects of sunlight and certain materials like snow, water, rivers and underwater. If you are expecting to be spoon fed with palletes and sure fire methods of handling color then you are mistaken. However, after going through this book, you will be armed with an understanding of color like never before
..more at [...]
I'm 75% of the way through this book, and I feel like this book is giving me an equivalent set of tools to appreciate visual art. It's amazing. My hobby is miniature figure painting, and I was in deep, and this book has made it that much better. The brilliant bit is that I look at the world around me a see stuff in new ways all the time. Some things you need to practice, but a lot of this book is just pointing things out that you can observe all the time in the world around you.
So I'm very happy with this purchase. If you are or were an art major, maybe you don't need this book, but for us ignorant n00bs coming into an artistic hobby later in life, this book is great. The language is concise and to the point, with typically multiple excellent examples on every page spread. One has only to connect the words and the pictures and the concepts leap out.
I haven't found anything I don't like about this book. I suppose I could say that sometimes he only dips into certain concepts just to explain the part of that concept that backs up what he's trying to show you in the book. Additive vs. subtractive color mixing, for example - he explains additive but there doesn't appear to be an equivalent explanation of subtractive, or why it is called subtractive. My brain just wants to know these things! But this isn't a flaw, this is just something to note and follow up on later, which makes the learning experience, in my opinion, that much richer.
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This said, there are a lot of interesting topics that are not usually covered separately in most books. The chapters on light sources were something I found inspirational, to the extent that I found myself looking closely at the qualities of reflected light in the cityscape I have been working on.
There are sections in the book I am unsure about. The idea of gamut mapping to choose colours is an idea I find overly technical and unsympathetic and am unlikely to adopt. But generally I was delighted to find many things in this book that I had learnt by observation and to find out the scientific basis for them. It would have saved me a lot of trial and error over the decades if I had owned this book at college.
There are also a good few interesting techniques to try out that are new to me. Although I tend to premix some gouache greys before starting to paint I haven't tried premixing most of the colours for a piece before I begin. Or pre painted skies to base plein air pieces on, come to that.
This is an interesting book that I think any painter will derive some benefit from. You may not agree with everything the author advocates but it will definitely make you think. Unfortunately it is not a book for the complete beginner, unless they are willing to glean what they can and then put it away for later. But if you are already a painter it will not only confirm what you have already learnt but also give you a lot of new ideas. Definitely worth buying.
In fact the entire presentation within the book is based on compact two page explanations of each aspect he deals with giving a written explanation and illustrated with associated paintings and diagrams.
His approach is a revelation and provides a fascinating record of his thoughts and achievements in the normal and fantasy worlds that he is famous for (eg Dinotropia).
I found this to be a fascinating and informative read and would recommend it to anyone interested in art and/or fantasy art.
The book itself is nice and big (just under A4 sized) and done in a glossy paper that lets the numerous paintings within shine. There is reams of passion not only in the paintings provided by Gurney himself but also in his writing, which shows even on more mundane topics like 'pigment'. It is a very good price especially considering this quality.
I really don't know how I could gush about this book any more so if you have a serious interest in pursuing art pick this book up and use the information inside to your advantage.
My background is in observational drawing & technical drafting, but for the last few years been pretty much cartooning, all pretty much b&w or limited to largely flat tones, so I went out & read Itten, Albers, Kandinsky to better understand 'colour theory' thinking that'd help. Wrong! Interesting, but of no real help to understanding how light & colour are effected in the real world.
James Gurney's book on the otherhand is a treasure trove of explanations of how & why things look the way they do, ranging from shadows, daylight, nightlight, artificial light, reflective light, various angles of light and their effect on the scene and much much, more.
It then also talks of chroma / values / palettes / contrast in realistic terms, & throughout is heavily filled with colour examples.
There's a lot to digest, & I find myself referring to it often just to refresh my memory. Honestly, I can't recommend this book highly enough if you're looking to better understand light & colour and it's effects on the world around us, it is a real tour de force of observation & understanding on the subject, and in an extremely accessible writing style.
Buy this, you won't regret it for a moment!









