PAINTING: A YOUNG ARTIST'S GUIDE

Aspiring artists learn how to develop and hone painting skills with these practical tips on everything from mixing color to sketching out-of-doors.

Grade 4-6-A brilliant visual introduction to painting with a minimal text. Some topics highlighted are: tools, principles of color, sketching, ideas, pattern, rhythm and movement, technique and texture, and portraiture. Each entry is afforded only two lavishly illustrated pages, which limits the book to a checklist of principles. Excellent-quality, clear, full-color illustrations of objects, places, and paintings by masters and by children are included. The text sparks the imagination and should lead young, inquiring artists to books of greater depth. It will also be helpful to art teachers to illustrate their lessons.
Barbara Peklo Abrahams, Oneida City Schools, Manlius, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

More than 30 renowned works of art, from cave paintings to an expressionist canvas by Mark Rothko, as well as diagrams, charts and photographs, combine to form a comprehensive and engaging introduction to the act of painting. The clear, vivacious text covers such matters as equipment, technique, composition, color and the importance of imagination. Pictures of real-life objects, such as Monet's palette and little piles of ground pigments, share crowded but ingeniously organized pages with informatively captioned masterworks, many by or of women. Exercises for trying out ideas noted in the text are simple and should inspire self-confidence, as should the authors' gently encouraging tone. Practical advice about wearing aprons, cleaning brushes and using newspapers to protect surfaces shows unusual respect for youngsters' sense of responsibility. Not only the means but the joy of painting resounds throughout this dynamic book--a real achievement. Ages 7-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In oversize (10''x13'') format, information and inspiration for young painters: kinds of paint, how colors are mixed, tools, creating the illusion of light, volume, or movement, perspective, composition, pattern, texture, and more. Each topical spread includes reproductions of fine paintings; photos of subjects and of hand-held tools at work; and, often, paintings by children experimenting with similar aims and effects and intriguing suggestions for similar exercises. The text is comprised of the usual DK scattering of captions, hints, instructions, and scraps of information; the format works better than in much of their museum exhibit-style nonfiction--the clutter is under control on these busy spreads, but the eye is still distracted from site to site while the mind craves sequential development of ideas. Still, an attractive book, rich in concepts, practical tips, and provocative ideas for artists of any age. Index. (Nonfiction. 8+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 4-8. Like other Dorling Kindersley offerings, this first entry in the Young Artist series has stellar graphics showcased in a crisp, oversize format. Superior, though small, reproductions of works by the impressive likes of Boccaccio, Velazquez, van Gogh, and Rothko are used to explain such basics as the painter's palette and tools as well as for lucid discussions about such fundamental visual elements and design principles as color, shape, pattern, texture, rhythm, and spatial order. Emphasizing a hands-on approach through illustrated step-by-step directions, this attractive book should prove a gold mine for the promotion of visual literacy, and it will also attract budding Andy Warhols. It has been produced in conjunction with the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and similar books on sculpture, architecture, and engraving are eagerly anticipated. Julie Corsaro