The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing

Techniques and Materials

The professional artist and the amateur are confronted by the same question: Am I getting the best out of the colours, the brushes, the surfaces which I use? Do the techniques which I employ, the materials I choose, express my talents to the full? The range of materials and equipment available to the artist has greatly increased in recent years, whether the chosen medium is water-colours or oils. gouache or tempera, pastels or acrylics. So has the choice of drawing tools, papers and print-making equipment. Now, a panel of working artists have combined their knowledge and experience in this unique, highly-illustrated manual. Each of the principal contributors is a recognized practitioner in his own field, and the panel was assembled by Colin Hayes, Reader in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. The Contributing Editors have taken as their examples a wide range of Old Masters and contemporary paintings, and the techniques used in these works have been explained with step-by-step photography.