Painting & Drawing Books

If you’re looking for recommendations for painting and drawing books, here are a few options to consider:

“The Natural Way to Draw” by Kimon Nicolaides

This classic book is often recommended to aspiring artists looking to improve their drawing skills. It emphasizes the importance of drawing from life and encourages readers to develop their observational skills.

“Color and Light” by James Gurney

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If you’re interested in painting, this book is an excellent resource for learning about color theory and using color effectively in your artwork.

“Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards

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This book is another classic that’s been popular for decades. It focuses on developing your ability to see and draw what you’re looking at rather than relying on preconceived notions or symbols.

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron

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While not specifically about painting or drawing techniques, this book is a popular resource for artists looking to overcome creative blocks and develop regular creative practice.

“Creative Illustration” by Andrew Loomis

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This book is a bit older, but it’s still a valuable resource for artists interested in illustration. It covers various topics, from figure drawing to perspective to composition.

Of course, there are many other great painting and drawing books with download links available on the web are listed here, Happy creating!

Tone Relations in Painting
Author(s): Arthur Upham Pope
Details: This pamphlet, a large portion of which is in typewritten, has been in use for several years and has been written primarily for the needs of the students in the courses in drawing and painting at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. Still, as an elementary statement of the theory of tone relations, also containing a certain amount of new contribution to the subject, it may be of use to others.

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Painted Love
Author(s): Hollis Clayson
Details: The volume illuminates not only the imagery of prostitution but also issues and problems relating to women and men in a patriarchal society. It discusses the conspicuous sexual commerce during this era and the resulting public panic about the deterioration of social life and more. It describes the system of regulating prostitutes and the subsequent rise of clandestine prostitutes, condemned for blurring social boundaries and spreading sexual licentiousness among their moral and social superiors.

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Modern painting, its tendency and meaning
Author(s): S. S. Van Dine
Details: This book inquires first into the function and psychology of all great art and endeavors to define those elements which make for genuine worth in painting. Next it attempts to explain both the primary and superficial differences between ancient and modern art and to point out, as minutely as space permits, the superiority of the new methods over the old.

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Great Masters in Painting: Rembrandt van Rijn
Author(s): Malcolm Bell
Details: Rembrandt van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.
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Line and Form
Author(s): Walter Crane
Details: The substance of the following chapters on Line and Form originally formed a series of lectures delivered to the students of the Manchester Municipal School of Art. There is no pretension to an exhaustive treatment of a subject it would be difficult enough to exhaust, and it is dealt with in a way intended to bear rather upon the practical work of an art school and to be suggestive and helpful to those face to face with the current problems of drawing and design.
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Velazquez: Masterpieces in Colour
Author(s): S. L. Bensusan
Details: Before Velazquez, even artists forgot their controversies; like Bach and Beethoven, he stood in the world of music, respected even by those who did not understand. No debate rages round him; he has marched unchallenged to the highest place in men’s regard.
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Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters
Author(s): Amy Steedman
Details: The lives and works of famous Italian painters: Giotto, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Fra Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi, Pietro Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto, Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese.
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The Book of Art for Young People
Author(s): Agnes Ethel Conway, Sir Martin Conway
Details: Early twentieth-century husband and couple partnership involving Fine Art directed at children. Lots of works of notable painters: Van Eycks, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Giorgione, Tintoret, Holbein, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velasquez, Reynolds, Turner, etc.

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A Text-Book of the History of Painting
Author(s): John C. Van Dyke
Details: This textbook gives a condensed, teachable history of painting for classroom usage in schools and universities. In talking of particular painters, it has been felt appropriate to provide a concise critical appraisal of the man and his standing among the painters of his time rather than the detailed events of his life.

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Men Without Guns; The Abbott Collection of Paintings of Army Medicine
Author(s): DeWitt MacKenzie
Details: Artwork, some realistic, some impressionistic, some drawings, some paintings, all done from life — these comprise a homage to the US Army’s medical services during the Second World War. This book preserves the memory of a vast group of men and women who worked hard so that others might live. It also honors the men who fell into the meat grinder that is battle. This novel can be highly touching and is recommended.
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Best of Farshchian
Author(s): Papak
Details: Mahmoud Farshchian (January 24, 1930-) is a globally known maestro of Persian painting and miniatures. He was born in the city of Isfahan in Iran(Persia), a place famous for its art and painters, and it was here where he started to learn art and painting. His masterpieces have been hosted by various museums and exhibitions abroad. He’s the most notable modernizer of the field of miniatures, an art form that was first formed in China and afterward extended along Persia and other Middle eastern countries.
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figure drawing – design and invention

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