Painting Portraits in Acrylic: A practical guide to contemporary portraiture

I loved this book. His technique, which he so richly shares with the student reader, is an inspiration. It makes me want to paint like that. His way with colors is magic.

If you are already familiar with acrylics and want to improve your technique, this is a useful book. The author is a portrait painter who has developed a very specific style that makes best use of acrylic's attributes. He breaks this technique down step by step so that you can follow it and adapt it to your own painting. There are tons of excellent photos so you can see exactly what he is writing about.More: I paint with oil and acrylic. I started out with acrylic, but then when I began to use oil I got hooked because oil gives you so much more latitude to rework, reglaze, layer, blend and so on. When I switch back to acrylic, I get frustrated by the short working time, especially in the summer, and the poor blending and glazing in acrylic. This book helped me to approach acrylic from a completely different perspective and now I like it again. The author's technique is to use very bold, contrasting or complementary colors, and to paint almost like a patchwork or texture. No blending, no glazing, no transparent color. Just hit it and move on. Then you return for another layer with contrasting color on top. Often you can mix several colors of the paint right on the brush. The cumulative effect is powerful because the contrasting color patches are vibrant with energy. They make the painting much more alive and interesting than it would be if you attempt to glaze with acrylics and mimic oil paint. To me, this is how acrylic paint should be used.

I brought this thinking my painting would be much easier. Not. I’m going to have to keep practicing

I am currently reading this book and I can’t wait to put some of the new techniques that it has taught me into practice.

My daughter has been actively painting using acrylics for years. She has developed quite well for literally being self-taught. So, I wanted to provide her with something that would help her to continue in her growth. She loves it!

I don’t paint. In my 40+ yrs, I’ve panted only a handful of pieces that I am not embarrassed to hang on my walls. But a few months ago I got inspired by a photo of my grandpa who passed away long time ago and wanted to paint it. Here is the result. Needs some final touches but I like it. The book was a quick guide and very helpful. Now I am inspired to continue practicing.

This book was everything I wanted. Out of the box approach. Stimulating my creativity to try different brushes, different way of adding paint to my brush. I am delighted and inspired!

The book was hard to follow

I bought this for my husband who has started painting portraits in acrylic and he found it very interesting and he has learned so much about how to paint and use colours, where to start, and how to improve his style. Well worth every penny!

This is just what I have needed, a practical guide book with very educational illustrations! Printed in excellent paper material!

A lovely book very comprehensive as I’m trying out portraiture for the first time and teaching myself via this book. Getting decent results already so Thankyou xNot a step by step but clearly laid out and informative.

intéressant correspond parfaitement à ce que je recherchais, a savoir une vision moderne du portrait. explications techniques très pertinentes.plusieurs démonstrations pas à pas.bon achat

Hice mi pedido hace cuatro meses y medio y aún no lo recibo. He mandado varios correos y siempre me dicen que espere más tiempo. Sigo sin recibir mi libro que pedí desde hace 7 meses a Keenys Bookshop. Pésimo servicio.