Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner

Rate this book
Based on the author’s successful courses and workshops, Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner really does start at the beginning, helping new painters find "what works" while providing information on all the necessary tools, tips, and techniques they’ll need to create a representational painting.

The chapters follow a progressive sequence that teaches basic skills through practical, accessible exercises–how to handle a brush, achieve the right paint consistency, mix color, and create dimension–building a solid foundation that readers can rely on as painting projects grow more challenging.

A special feature is the artwork and commentary of real students, which helps beginners set realistic goals and shows them how other artists at the same level of experience have worked through inevitable setbacks to achieve success.

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2009

5 people are currently reading
116 people want to read

About the author

Claire Watson Garcia

4 books4 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
31 (29%)
4 stars
36 (34%)
3 stars
31 (29%)
2 stars
4 (3%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Kacey.
163 reviews9 followers
Read
March 10, 2019
Some useful exercises for the not-absolute beginner, but wish it could include more images of references masters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Prakriti.
3 reviews24 followers
March 21, 2020
Being a self-taught amateur painter, I picked up this book to learn what entails learning how to paint. The book did a satisfactory job in covering aspects of painting holistically, but the real value of the book can only be felt once the content is put into practice by the reader. For me, I found the notes on self-doubt and criticism, and knowing when to walk away from a painting most helpful and was impressed the author chose to cover these topics.
Profile Image for David Braly.
233 reviews
January 30, 2019
Excellent

"Based on the author’s successful courses and workshops, Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner really does start at the beginning, helping new painters find "what works" while providing information on all the necessary tools, tips, and techniques they’ll need to create a representational painting.

The chapters follow a progressive sequence that teaches basic skills through practical, accessible exercises–how to handle a brush, achieve the right paint consistency, mix color, and create dimension–building a solid foundation that readers can rely on as painting projects grow more challenging.

A special feature is the artwork and commentary of real students, which helps beginners set realistic goals and shows them how other artists at the same level of experience have worked through inevitable setbacks to achieve success. "
5 reviews
June 2, 2016
This book is tittled Painting for the Absolute Beginner by Claire Watson. It is about painting. It talks about drawing frames, skin tones of people, the color wheel, and how to change color in different ways. I would reccomend this book to a creative artist of any kind. I would also reccomend this book to a person with a little experience . Also whoever that paints and wants to learn more.
98 reviews
March 27, 2016
Good basic painting book for beginners. Includes a lot of good basic information along with exercises so you can "paint along". This author also teaches workshops, and I suspect that this information is more easily absorbed in her workshops than by a book but I still found this useful.
Profile Image for Marilyn.
1,319 reviews
March 22, 2010
Good advice and tricks of the trade--the chapters on skin tones and portraiture were especially helpful.
Profile Image for Lisa.
732 reviews4 followers
March 26, 2014
Disliked this book. Some usefulness on painting the figure and nudes but didnt catch my interest.
Profile Image for Heather.
988 reviews31 followers
August 23, 2016
Really good instructions on how to mix colours, create shadows and washes, and fix mistakes. None of the projects really appealed to me though.
Profile Image for Jill.
28 reviews
April 28, 2016
Like it says, instructions for the very basic beginner
Profile Image for luvimoli.
36 reviews
April 16, 2017
This is like a having a gentle, knowledgeable Art teacher right at the reach of your bookshelf. It teaches painting basics with plenty of examples, student works and with a gradual approach in subjects. Hard to top, in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.