Paint Lively, Expressive Watercolor Portraits Ready to unlock the secrets of watercolor? With the masterful instruction of Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks, success is within your reach. In this beginner-friendly guide, Carrie and Rick shares their 30-plus years of experience as artists and instructors to give you the tools and techniques for painting lively, realistic watercolor portraits you can be proud of. Detailed step-by-step demonstrations and lots of tips and sidebars help you avoid mistakes, stay loose and have fun. In addition to complete information on supplies and materials, each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of watercolor portrait painting, visually teaching you how to: Handle watercolors with confidence using washes, masking, underpainting and a "less-is-more" approach Map out great compositions by using grids, transferring the drawing, choosing colors and applying masking in the right places Convey light and dark values with precision and impact for striking, lifelike portraits Paint beautiful hair in all styles, colors and textures by building tones gradually Avoid common watercolor missteps (and learn to fix the ones you couldn't help) by following a whole chapter of advice just for those "oops" moments Gain the confidence to "step out of your comfort zone" and work to establish your own distinct and expressive painting style Leave your frustration and fear of watercolor in the past. With Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks you have all the guidance you need to paint the faces you love with skill and style. Get started today! "I want you to have every secret, every tool, every technique, every shortcut, and every success in your painting. I want you to feel that you've found your true artistic style and expression with this medium." —bestselling author and artist, Carrie Stuart Parks

Draw amazingly accurate portraits starting today! Even if you're an absolute beginner, you can render strikingly realistic faces and self-portraits! Instructor and FBI-trained artist Carrie Stuart Parks makes it simple with foolproof step-by-step instructions that are fun and easy to follow. You'll quickly begin to: • Master proportions and map facial features accurately • Study shapes within a composition and draw them realistically • Use value, light and shading to add life and depth to any portrait • Render tricky details, including eyes, noses, mouths and hair Proven, hands-on exercises and before-and-after examples from Parks' students ensure instant success! It's all the guidance and inspiration you need to draw realistic faces with precision, confidence and style!

Provides step-by-step instructions on how to paint portraits in watercolor, including information about tools and materials.

Techniques for creating life-like portraiture with pastels. Contains eight step by step demonstrations which feature a variety of ages, complexions and expressions. Teaches how to build form and realistic features, the types of marks and textures produced by different papers, and palettes for creating an array of skin tones and hair colourings.

"I started to get comments on the glow, the color and the life my paintings had... I suddenly realized I didn't mix colors—I mingled them. It was an epiphany." Popular workshop instructor Anne Abgott shares all the tips, techniques and color choices behind her remarkable paintings filled with color and light. Make the most of both the "water" and the "color" of this exciting medium by directly mingling color on paper! In sixteen step-by-step painting demonstrations she teaches you the secrets to achieving beautiful glowing color and rich, dynamic shadows. You'll find advice on: Which paints mingle and which ones don't Flooding the paper with pigment to flood it with light Creating great compositions from reference photos How to create dramatic, colorful shadows Secrets to mingling glowing yellows, passionate reds, glorious greens, beautiful blues, dazzling violets and sparkling grays (even silver!) See for yourself. Be more daring. Express your creativity using Anne's fast and fun mingling techniques—fill your paintings with color and light!

Anyone can draw - including you! Learn to draw today, even if you've never drawn before! Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks, FBI-trained composite artists and drawing instructors, have taught thousands of people of all ages and skill levels how to turn out impressive realistic drawings. Discover how to: • Train your brain to re-create what you see through observation • Accurately capture main shapes and important details • Make your drawings incredibly lifelike with shading and blending • Identify and fix the parts of a drawing that look inaccurate With concise, memorable lessons and foolproof step-by-step instruction, this book makes learning to draw easy - and fun! Before you know it, you'll be creating picture-perfect illustrations of animals, still-lifes, people, landscapes and more. So if you think you can't draw, think again. Surprise yourself and others with your own spectacular drawings today!"With concise, memorable lessons and foolproof step-by-step instruction, this book makes learning to draw easy - and fun! Before you know it, you'll be creating picture-perfect illustrations of animals, still-lifes, people, landscapes and more. So if you think you can't draw, think again. Surprise yourself and others with your own spectacular drawings today!

Draw amazingly accurate portraits starting today! Even if you're an absolute beginner, you can render strikingly realistic faces and self-portraits! Instructor and FBI-trained artist Carrie Stuart Parks makes it simple with foolproof step-by-step instructions that are fun and easy to follow. You'll quickly begin to: • Master proportions and map facial features accurately • Study shapes within a composition and draw them realistically • Use value, light and shading to add life and depth to any portrait • Render tricky details, including eyes, noses, mouths and hair Proven, hands-on exercises and before-and-after examples from Parks' students ensure instant success! It's all the guidance and inspiration you need to draw realistic faces with precision, confidence and style!

It's the first thing anyone looks at when there's a figure in a painting: the details of the human head and face. There's far more to creating an accurate portrait than meets the eye, and that's exactly what this extremely focused, richly visual guide teaches artists.

When you become a better designer and colorist, you become a better painter. Painting doesn't have to be complicated to be good. In fact, it shouldn't be. Artist and best-selling author Linda Kemp (Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines) bypasses all the complexities of design and color to focus on a fresh, simplified strategy for success that features negative painting--a method that uses the space around your subject to help define it. Improve your painting step by step with projects and exercises that will help your work stand out from the crowd. With Simplifying Design & Color for Artists, you'll learn: • Strategies for creating simple yet effective compositions, focusing on the relationship between shape, space, and color. • Useful tips on color--how to simplify it, mix your own, and work with value, hue and intensity. • Techniques for designing with shape: size and edge, layering, and building dimension and movement. • 18 step-by-step projects in watercolor and acrylic. The approach may be simple, but your art will be spectacular!

Overcome your creative blocks and fears and start painting with confidence with Your Year in Art: Watercolor! Filled with weekly art challenges, step-by-step watercolor lessons, helpful tips and techniques, and gorgeous artwork, this follow-up to the drawing-focused Your Year in Art is a must-have for any watercolor artist. Written and illustrated by Kristin Van Leuven, owner of the popular online art shop Hello Lovely People and author of Modern Watercolor (Walter Foster Publishing), Your Year in Art: Watercolor seeks to motivate and inspire. The book is divided into weekly art challenges and prompts that cover appealing themes like florals, birds, and portraits, as well as inspirational ideas for painting patterns, holiday decorations, scenery, and so much more. Lessons and prompts are guided but invite personalization so you can build your skills while celebrating your own unique style. If you're a beginning artist, you might feel intimidated by watercolor, a medium that doesn't allow for many errors. However, Kristin Van Leuven makes watercolor fun and approachable with her easy-to-follow tips and free-flowing, expressive style. With her guidance, you'll learn to embrace imperfection and use the lessons as inspiration, rather than something to imitate exactly. With Your Year in Art: Watercolor, develop your own painting style and express yourself using watercolor!