What Every Artist Needs to Know About: Paints and Colors

by David Pyle

The author informs the reader about the history of colour, how paints and colours are made, pigment characteristics, permanence and stability, and how to choose and use the best materials. There is also information on how pigments perform in different media - acrylics, oils, and water colour.

Genres: Art

144 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carol Tensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The complete title of this books is What Every Artist Needs to Know About Paint and Color, a far reaching, rather encompassing premise for a 128 page illustrated book. Pyle gives some interesting historical background on paint and some general information about pigments. I would have liked some more specific information about individual pigment. As I write this, Norton Simon is mounting an exhibit showcasing the early synthetic blues that entered the art world in the 18th and 19th century. Opening next week.

Books such as this go out of date in five or ten years. This one is no exception. My problem with this book is Pyle's self-admitted bias toward Windsor Newton products. No surprise here, he works for them. I wish he had talked about some of the other well thought of brands, instead of giving a watered-down overview of brushes and papers, Golden acrylic is becoming the gold standard for many of us (pardon the pun), and Daniel Smith puts out fine paints as well. I guess I need to break down and get Victoria Findlay's books on color.

On a personal note, I was glad to see Helen Frankenthaler's work featured.

[Elizabeth Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for every artist. David covers the history of colors and their meanings in ancient cultures. He carefully goes over binders, substrates and the types of paints and colors that works well together and how various tools work. He also covers computer graphics. There is something for everyone in this book, I highly recommend this as a reference book.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope it's not too dated (2000), but it was nice to read a book on artist materials after all these years. A favorite area for me back in the mid '80s.

Very well written, by a professional in the field. I highly recommend this book.