We know that you’ve got a bit of a wild side, that why we’ve got some fabulous deals on wonderfully inspirational wildlife photography books with our 10% off deal live until 12 Dec. Wonderful prices on books with great pictures of lions and tigers and…yes, there are a few robins as well.
You can even get a great bargain on the book for the London Natural History Museum exhibition that everyone is talking about the Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 21. We’re talking 160 pages of up close and personal beautiful imagery and just£18 this week until 12 Dec, it’s difficult not to
In honour of the mayhem that is ‘Black Friday’ we’ve got a ma-husive 50% off sale on ALL of our David and Charles Books. That includes great works on painting, photography and drawing. There are almost 200 items in the sale, but here are some of our top picks. Sale ends Sunday 27 November, so get in quick!
Claudia Nice is nice, so nice she’s willing to share all (well some) of her top tips for drawing and painting all different types of trees in her book, Drawing and Painting Trees in the Landscape. Whether you’re out in the wild or sketching from photos, this bestseller has all the step by step instructions you’ll need to get every leaf, branch and twig just the way you want it.
Winter is most definitely upon us and as the nights draw in and the days grow cold it’s ever so tempting to slump in to the sofa and hibernate until the daffs come out in March. But it’s undeniable that the early morning frost, icicles, and low lying sun can bring a whole new dimension to the most everyday of surroundings. Bare branched trees offer rare opportunities to capture wildlife in the fold, weather pushes the rivers to their brinks and a single snow flurry can completely transform any landscape into a veritable feast of imagery for keen photographers.
Guy Edwardes' Snow Drops
1. 100 Ways to Take Better Nature & Wildlife Photographs
If you are looking for a book packed with acrylic painting tips then the book Terry’s Top Tips for Acrylic Artists by Terry Harrison will offer some great tuition with 115 great tips from one of today’s professional acrylic artists working today.
As an artist who paints using acrylics, I often cast my eye over the books that land on my desk as part of my day job. One such book is Terry’s Top Tips for Acrylic Artists, an acrylic painting techniques book packed with some great tips and techniques.
This acrylic painting technique book is from Search Press, known for their range of informative art instruction books. Like others in the series this is a smallish pocket book that you could easily take with you if painting outside. At 160mm x 215mm x 17mm thick with a spiral bind and in hardback, this is a handy book to have around. The spiral binding allows you to lie the book completely flat without the pages wanting to fold back over and close. This is great when trying to paint and want your hands free. The hardback cover means this book can the knocks and bumps without the corners of the covers turning up, a pet hate of mine.
Joe Francis Dowden free tips - read the full post to view the free tips.
As the days grow longer and spring starts to warm up the days it’s time to think about getting out and about, drawing and painting. Joe Francis Dowden’s book, The Landscape Painter’s Essential Handbook, is packed with 50 projects on how to paint beautiful landscapes in watercolour.
To celebrate spring being just around the corner and giving us more chance to get out and paint, below is the first of a few new free projects.
Joe Francis Dowden shows us some great tips on how to paint a shingle beach. As Joe mentions in his opening line for these tips, “A million pebbles on a beach, jumbled one on top of the other, all different colours, all in perspective”, if you are like me you will be thinking where do I start, but these great tips will guide you in the right direction.
The Ideal gift for the budding art student in your family or a little treat for yourself! This high quality Derwent wooden box, made from Maple, is really neat and compact. Opened out the box lies flat, displaying all 24 colours clearly. Contains 24 pencils including Graphic and Watersoluble Sketching Pencils and the unique Tinted Charcoal and Graphitint Pencils.
The Windsor & Newton Artist Water Colour Bamboo Set
First impressions of the Winsor & Newton Artist Water Colour Bamboo Set is one of suprise as the set itself appears more sturdy and of a better build quality than I had expected. The weight of the watercolour box hints at to the quality materials inside, which is what you would expect from a brand such as Winsor & Newton.
As an artist myself I really like these box sets, as they give you all your require, in one place, and a unit to store them in.
If you’re like me, sometimes you just can’t wait to get your hands on the latest book, dvd or game. With this in mind, I wanted to highlight Artist Network TV, a great resource for the artist with demonstrations, tips and general know-how from some great artists.
ArtistsNetwork.tv was launched in 2008 to provide online instructional videos from leading contemporary artists. The videos are streamed to ArtistsNetwork.tv members so that they can be viewed 24/7 from any computer with a high-speed Internet connection without requiring software downloads.
The site allows you to preview a lot of demonstration clips before you buy and there are a lot of categories covering subjects from Dragons to landscapes. The previews make for some brief but great viewing and you can pick up some great inspiration from just watching the previews.
The new book from Impact, Other Worlds by Tom Kidd is now available at RUBooks. An inspirational 192 page book packed with great fantasy art, both pencil and full colour.
Bizarre terrains, enhanced forests, futuristic metropolise, ornate palaces are some of the places where adventure dwells and where Tom Kidd, fantasy artist takes you on the pages of this book. In this fun and fiercely original book celebrated fantasy artist Tom Kidd, you’ll learn how to set the scene for epic tales of adventure and to see the world around you with fresh eyes. (take a look at some of the internal pages below)
Watch this space for a review on Angelic Visions, a new instructional art book coming to RUBooks soon but in the mean time, take a look at this great video clip of the artist, Angela Sasser, in action.
Learn step-by-step how to create bodies, heads, limbs, wings and details, including flowing clothing and background elements and a whole lot more in Watercolour, ink and pencil. Beautiful final projects will inspire you to push the limits of your imaginations. Step-by-step processes are the focus of this book from simple poses and views to more complex scenes. You will find sidebar feature tips, frequently asked questions, solutions to common mistakes, information about angels and more.
