Top Secrets for Beautiful Pastel Paintings Richard McKinley has been a professional artist for over 35 years. Factor in nearly as many years of teaching experience, and that adds up to a whole lot of know-how to share. In Pastel Pointers, he lays it all out: information on tools, materials, color, composition, landscape elements, finishes and more. Compiles the best of McKinley's popular Pastel Pointers blog and Pastel Journal columns Covers frequently asked questions ("How do I achieve natural-looking greens?") and simple solutions to common problems, such as excess pigment buildup Includes a chapter on "The Business of Pastels"—tips for framing, shipping, preparing for gallery shows, and otherwise representing your work in a professional manner This book covers everything from the fundamentals to get you going (how to lay out your palette, create an underpainting, evoke luminous effects) to inspirations that will keep you growing (plein air painting, working in a series, keeping a painting journal). Whether you're a beginner or an experienced painter anxious to explore the expressive possibilities of pastel, this is your guide to making the most of the medium.

Top Secrets for Beautiful Pastel Paintings Richard McKinley has been a professional artist for over 35 years. Factor in nearly as many years of teaching experience, and that adds up to a whole lot of know-how to share. In Pastel Pointers, he lays it all out: information on tools, materials, color, composition, landscape elements, finishes and more. • Compiles the best of McKinley's popular Pastel Pointers blog and Pastel Journal columns • Covers frequently asked questions ("How do I achieve natural-looking greens?") and simple solutions to common problems, such as excess pigment buildup • Includes a chapter on "The Business of Pastels"—tips for framing, shipping, preparing for gallery shows, and otherwise representing your work in a professional manner This book covers everything from the fundamentals to get you going (how to lay out your palette, create an underpainting, evoke luminous effects) to inspirations that will keep you growing (plein air painting, working in a series, keeping a painting journal). Whether you're a beginner or an experienced painter anxious to explore the expressive possibilities of pastel, this is your guide to making the most of the medium.

The Landscape Paintings of Richard McKinley invites you to experience the artist's life work and lessons learned. In this impressive yet intimate collection of 100 breathtaking pastel and oil landscape paintings, McKinley takes you along as he tackles his favorite subjects--the the vistas of the Pacific Northwest, the California coastline, fall in Taos, New Mexico, and many others--while sharing the anecdotes, techniques and feelings behind each work. This volume is, in essence, three books in one: A salute to the beauty of our earth. Scenes (many completed en plein air) range from McKinley's home state of Oregon, to the arid deserts of Arizona, to Minnesota's lakes and France's Provence region. The personal journey of one artist. His walks through the woods. His race with light. The people and places that have inspired him along the way. The landscape-painting workshop of a lifetime. It's packed with expert insights on everything from working on location and the importance of preparatory sketches, to using underpainting, capturing light effects, and knowing when to stop. A compelling read for artists and art-lovers alike, every page resonates with McKinley's love of his craft, lifetime of know-how and knack for helping other artists discover their own original views of the world.

LEARNING HOW TO CAPTURE SUCH QUALITY HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER!Inside you'll find guidelines for rendering accurate skin tones in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil and pastel. You'll begin with a review of the five essential painting elements (drawing, value, color, composition and edges), then learn how light and color influence the appearance of skin tones. Best-selling artist Chris Saper provides the advice and examples that make every lesson and technique easy to understandâ€"immediately improving the quality of your work. You'll discover how to: • Paint the four major skin color groups (Caucasian, African American, Asian, and Hispanic) • Refine these colors into dozens of possible variations within each group • Select your palette and mix hues for clean, beautiful colors • Determine the color and temperature of light that falls on your subject • Paint direct and indirect sunlight, artificial light and highlights of light • Master the four elements that determine color in shadow • Use photographic references when you can't paint directly from life You'll also find seven step-by-step demonstrations and an appendix of sample color charts for each major skin type under a range of lighting variations. It's all you need to bring your portraits to life!

Perfect for the beginning plastic modeler who wants to learn more advanced techniques, this photo-driven guide includes an introduction to airbrushing and sections on brush painting, spray painting, weathering, and applying finishes.

As artists, we have choices. There are very few rules that apply across the board. We can create highly realistic paintings, or perhaps more expressive paintings, or paintings that have very little basis in reality, including those that are totally non-representational. We can record color as we see it or as we’d like it to be. As pastel artists, we have even more choices. We can use a wide variety of pastels, strokes, surfaces, and techniques to create many different looks. The choices we make form the framework of our individual style, our signature as artists. Any subscriber to The Pastel Journal realizes how varied the medium of pastel can be. For the experienced artist, these articles are stimulating, offering possible ways to experiment with alternative approaches. For the beginner, the panoply of choices can be overwhelming. Painting is primarily an intuitive process. But intuition is gained through study and experience. Part of my impetus in writing this book has been to create a more structured approach to help those fairly new to the medium understand its many possibilities. The book is aimed at all levels of pastel artists. Beginners will find a wealth of helpful information and intermediate artists will gain insight into how to take their work to another level and develop a style. Many advanced artists teach pastel; the organization of ideas and the exercises included should be of assistance. I offer a variety of suggested approaches and sometimes make up terminology to describe my experiences with the medium. The instructions in the book are based on my preferences and the guidance that I offer my students. The diversity of styles and techniques evident in the paintings of contributing artists should make it clear, however, that there are many ways to successfully work in pastel. Having acknowledged the many possibilities, I want to note a few musts. Representational paintings must be well-drawn. Poor drawing skills cannot be overcome with lovely color or great technique. Likewise, paintings must have strong compositions, regardless of whether they are realistic, abstracted, or non-representational. Values must be properly interpreted to produce strong compositions and to use pastel to its full effect. And finally, pastel paintings must sing! Whether the applications are light and airy, or rich and painterly, it should be clear that the artist is in control of the medium and is using it to produce his or her desired look. For years I have resisted suggestions that I write a book. As a landscape painter, I knew that there were more authoritative books already available. And the growing popularity of pastel has led to so many resources, including online blogs, a biennial convention, and the wonderful Pastel Journal, mentioned above. What could I add to this? My personal training in pastel has been from weeklong landscape workshops with some of the leading pastel painters in the country. As a teacher in a community college, I am not teaching a particular style nor focusing on specific subject matter. Some of my students work with the landscape, but others do portraits or figurative work, while others prefer still life, or work abstractly. In dealing with this mixture, I’ve realized that there are different ways to approach one’s use of color, and this formed my first idea for creating a book. Furthermore, as a teacher, I’ve spent time experimenting with different surfaces, pastel brands, and techniques in order to make suggestions to students to help them find the look they want to achieve. I do not teach students to paint the way I do, but instead, try to share my experience and help them develop their own individual style.

[NOTE: This book covers Painter 12] As Painter reaches a milestone twentieth anniversary, The Painter Wow! Book, now in its tenth edition, continues to be an inspiration to Painter fans everywhere, novice and pros alike. Author and renowned artist Cher Threinen-Pendarvis uses her clear, instructive approach to get beginners up to speed and provides more advanced users with additional insight on a variety of cool, creative, and productive techniques. New to this edition is coverage of Painter’s latest tools and the completely redesigned interface, including new media library management, the new Navigator panel and new Clone Source panel, enhanced workspace features, new Real Wet Watercolor and Real Wet Oil painting media, Symmetry features including Kaleidoscope and Mirror painting modes, improved support for Photoshop users, and much more. This invaluable resource for professionals and artists at all levels offers: Numerous full-color images and illustrative techniques throughout, created by renowned Painter artists worldwide Insider knowledge of Painter’s tools, brushes, functions, and preferences from the creator of hundreds of Corel’s brushes Step-by-step instructions for creating artwork in a wide range of industries including commercial illustration and design, photography, fine arts, multimedia, and entertainment A CD-ROM containing stock photos, video clips, a study guide for instructors, unique custom brushes, plus papers, patterns, and other Wow! goodies built by Cher herself [NOTE: This book covers Painter 12] All of Peachpit's eBooks contain the same content as the print edition. You will find a link in the last few pages of your eBook that directs you to the media files. Helpful tips: - If you are able to search the book, search for "Where are the lesson files?" - Go to the very last page of the book and scroll backwards. - You will need a web-enabled device or computer in order to access the media files that accompany this ebook. Entering the URL supplied into a computer with web access will allow you to get to the files. - Depending on your device, it is possible that your display settings will cut off part of the URL. To make sure this is not the case, try reducing your font size and turning your device to a landscape view. This should cause the full URL to appear.