Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color

by Simon Jennings

Book Overview

Developed by the same team that created Artist's Manual and Art Class , both top-selling art reference books, Artist's Color Manual is the ultimate guide to color for visual artists. Whether they work in oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, or inks, artists of all stripes will find information and ideas flowing from every profusely illustrated page. Renowned art instructor Simon Jennings begins with a basic introduction to color...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081184143X
• ISBN13: 9780811841436
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

A find!

For the first time in my search for a book on color (art technique in general), I have found one that effectively balances text and images. I am a visual learner, and I find profoundly tedious any book on art that hits me with long blocks of text. Simon Jennings does two things for those of us who want to see more than they want to read about color and still learn facts: 1. He packs his book with excellent pictures. Even the small ones are crisp enough and their colors accurate enough to be useful. 2. The entire book is formatted in a succession of narrow columns, newspaper style. The text is divided in short segments starting with a title, and most segments are illustrated by at least one picture. The text is as clear and informative as the pictures. The feeling is that of a picture book with elaborate captions. You may browse though the book, find a picture that corresponds to a question you may have. You only need to read the "caption" to get the answer. You may also get to the info using the index or the "table of contents" (equally illustrated) preceding each chapter. I loved this book so much that I also bought Simon Jennings's New Artist's Manual, which is laid out in a very similar way.

Choosing Media -

For beginning painters this can ofen be confusing. "Artist Color Manual" explains how to select the different mediums for oils and watercolors, acrylics, pastels and colored pencil. Gouache and egg tempera may not be quiet as common but are included. This book offers helpful hints of how this or that medium will be used in the traditional way. I highly recommend it to my art students, beginners and advanced alike as a must have reference book.

Great

Great basic book on color for any new artist or person who buys gifts for an artist.

Much better than "Art Class" - a MUST for artists w/poor memory

For those of us who actually want to learn something new, something you probably didn't learn in undergrad. Excellent refrence book for specific pigments and the results when mixed with others. For example, I forgot that when mixing Cadmium Red w/a blue results in a "brownish" viloet hue. Instead using Alizeran Crimson creates a much more desireble violet. Not only does this book dispell myths, include historical birthings of pigments, give acurate detailed information about each color (including variations w/in each family)...it also has a chapter on "Creative Directions". This is a really great chapter giving inspiration for branching out w/your work. I'm an art teacher, and artist myself. I don't have to the time I'd like to keep my own journals of pigments and mixed colors...it just isn't practical for me...too much to do, too little time. This book is amazing, perfect for the 3 second memory I have and much better than leafing through an ENORMOUS reference book just to remember which red to use when making violet (was it Alizeran Crimson or Cadmium Red)... However, if you're just starting out in painting or you're looking for a sequence for a "curriculum" get the "New Artist's Manual...". It is basically this book and "Art Class" combined. Wish I had bought that one first.

AMAZING

Excellent! Well organized with great side comments, this book is really a journal for color. From its significance, invention and evolution into what we know today, this book is full of color information that is fun to learn. Jennings gives you a true education in color appreciation complete with nuance, historical facts and lots of pictures. Easy to reference, it is a great addition to any library. I have been looking for a book like this for a long time. Much thanks to the author.