*NOTE: Ignore the "search inside" listed on the pics, that doesn't work here, but it does on Amazon where I got the pics from.
All these books deal mostly with painting with acrylic paints in mostly abstract ways, but could easily be used with any type of painting.
The first one is called Celebrate Your Creative Self: Over 25 exercises to unleash the artist within by Mary Todd Beam.This is wonderful, it gives great tips and tricks and creative prompts to help jump start your creative thought process. Beautiful illustrations and artwork. It shows you how to create great textures and helps you understand the paints properties and how to get the most out of them. It's hard cover spiral bound so it lays flat while you work with it. Great for being able to leave it open to reference as you work.
This book was recommended to me by Kristy Christopherson and that girl has never ever steered me wrong, this book is brilliant!! This one is also hard cover spiral bound. It gives you hints and tips and techniques for painting on everything from paper to metal to glass. Great tutorial type photos and step by step instructions. I'm big on textures and so is this book. Another thing that this book does that I find greatly beneficial is it goes over the different types of mediums you can use with your acrylics from colored pencils to gel mediums. It also touches on using transfers with your acrylics. This one is by far my favorite. Some of the kewlest things I've ever seen done w/ acrylic paints are in this book.
The 3rd and final book I bought myself is called The Artists Muse: unlock the door to your creativity by Betsy Dillard Stroud.
This is probably my least favorite book of the 3, however, it's still a great book! The only reason that I would say it's my least favorite is because it is more advanced than I am. However, they give you great artistic prompts and challenges that I could easily adapt to my level. I has a few great tutorials in it, one in particular that has me pretty jazzed is called Pour Through Filters and I can't wait to try this one. Another neat thing about this book is that it comes w/ different Creativity Cards to help give you prompts to stretch your imagination and "unlock your creativity".
So there you have it, 3 books that I highly recommend, if you've been interested in dabbling in acrylics or if you already do I suggest you take a gander at these books if they have them at your local bookstore. I do most of my book shopping on Amazon.com, quick shipping and great prices!!! Oh and the customer reviews are a great resource for finding just what you're looking for!
1 comment:
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this info - I got a bookstore gift card for Xmas and its burning a hole in my wallet. Of course, as I'm writing this I realize that I have books from last year I haven't experimented with yet. Oh, well, born to create - FORCED TO WORK!!
Post a Comment