The Acrylics Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist

by Barclay Sheaks

Book Overview

An encyclopaedic reference on acrylics. With its great flexibility, acrylic paint can mimic the appearance of oils, tempera and watercolours in unique ways, and in this volume each method is pictured... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823000621
• ISBN13: 9780823000623
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.3" x 10.6"

Customer Reviews

Very thorough !

I just started using acrylics and this book has all the info one needs to get set up and started without boredom.

Very good book on painting with acrylics

As a beginning artist, I decided to start with acrylics. This book was written by a master painter whose love for art and painting really shows throughout the book. Almost all of the painting illustrations throughout the book are his own works. As a true artist, he has tried different ways of working with acrylics, and has incorporated that into this book. The bulk of the book contains descriptions of different painting techniques and there is also an introduction section that guides you through what you need to get started. I found that the way the material in this book was presented, and the author's own paintings to be quite inspirational.

Great book

This book gives a really good intro into acrylics for beginners. I've dabbled in acrylics, but the info in this book gave me the why as well as the how to different techniques. It's absolutely a beginner's book, but very thorough on the basics.

Great for the Beginning Acrylic Painter

Very informative with regard to brands of paints, brushes, mediums, and surfaces. Has recommendations for your beginning palate, brush set, etc. Expands on technique with demonstrations. REALLY like this book and glad I bought it.

Great examples, in depth backgroud info, terrific demos

This is an excellent guide to acrylic painting. It offers in depth background information as well as numerous step-by-step technique demonstrations. There are also many great example paintings throughout the book. The book starts out with an overview of nine different paint brands including their characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. It then covers mediums, varnishes, modeling paste and gesso as well as supports, grounds, brushes, knives and other tools. Other background information such as selecting a color pallet, protecting finished works and caring for tools is here as well. There are even demonstrations on stretching and priming a canvas as well as preparing panels. Basic concepts such as mixing paint, blending with both soft and hard edges, layering, scraping and spraying are covered next. Demonstrations include mixing paints on the pallet and creating a hard edge with masking tape. Color characteristics and relationships are also discussed. Acrylic painting techniques follow, starting with a discussion of how to plan a painting and draw a preliminary sketch. You will find out how to use acrylics to mimic other styles of painting such as watercolor, opaque watercolor, oil painting and egg tempera. There is further instruction on how to combine techniques, paint on a wet canvas, create a collage, work with a gel medium and make a relief painting. Using acrylics with other media and in craft applications is also explored. Brief demonstrations show how they can be used with pencil and wash, colored pencil, lithography crayon, pastels and oil pastels. There is a good list of suppliers and a detailed index. I recommend this book for acrylic painter of all levels because of its excellent coverage of both materials and a wide range of techniques.

A painter's review

This is a great book on acrylic painting whether you are a beginner or an accomplished painter, one of the best I have found, and I am quite a collector of "how to" books as I am basically a self taught painter. It includes many easy step by step lessons using the techniques used by the author to paint realistic looking pictures, or, techniques to use for any style painting you prefer. Painting in acrylics is not that easy to do because they dry so fast but the instructions in this book help you learn how to get professional looking results in a short period of time. I find this book to be user friendly and much more informative than most of the books out there on acrylic painting. And, it doesn't spend half the book talking about brushes, paper, etc. It is a technique orientated instructional book. I like this book so much I have given it to friends as a present. 5 stars!