Imaginary Characters: Mixed-Media Painting Techniques for Figures and Faces
Original price was: $24.99.$23.40Current price is: $23.40.
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In this book, you’re the storyteller and the artist and you’re on a quest to bring the soulful characters, mythical creatures and magical landscapes of your imagination to life through mixed-media art. You’ll tap into your creative voice to fuse together lush dreamscapes, imaginary characters and found objects to build enchanting scenes, whimsical figures and expressive faces out of layers of acrylic, collage, watercolor and more. Learn the techniques necessary to create one-of-a-kind mixed-media masterpieces.
On your journey, you’ll discover:
• Five skills to uncover your unique creative voice.
• A magical drawing method. Easily find your characters’ bodies and faces hidden in random shapes on painted backgrounds; it’s like seeing animals in the clouds.
• Imaginative warm-up exercises. Learn tips for creating a character reference library, secrets for drawing unusual faces, how to develop a color palette and advice on how to play with proportion, light and shading.
• More than 30 exciting mixed-media projects using watercolor, vintage photographs, gouache, pencil, fabric, ink and much more to bring your imaginary characters to life on everything from woodblocks and paintings to fabric collages and paper dolls.
• How to paint without a plan. Trust your intuition to create something out of nothing.
• Inspirational quotes about creativity from famous artists and thinkers.
Embrace your curiosity and see what happens!
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156 reviews for Imaginary Characters: Mixed-Media Painting Techniques for Figures and Faces
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Original price was: $24.99.$23.40Current price is: $23.40.
Cinderellatmidnight –
Estaba en duda, desde hace tiempo, de si comprar o no este libro. El estilo de ilustración de Karen O’Brien no es el típico que me atrae, pero justamente por eso me tenía como hechizada. Es muy distinto a todo lo que se suele ver por ahí (ilustraciones de muñequitas hermosas y bellas, muy bien proporcionadas, etc.). Éste estilo es totalmente diferente e incluso tiene algo de “animal”. Es muy fantasioso y por eso acabé dándole una oportunidad.
Me gusta que parte del libro sea tutorial paso a paso de cómo realizar algunas de las técnicas e incluso hay un tutorial de cómo realizar sus caras fantasiosas. Nada con muchísimo detalle, todo sea dicho, pero hay un perfecto equilibrio entre texto (del que hay mucho en el libro) y los tutoriales que explican algunos de los detalles de sus trabajos (cada capítulo tiene un tutorial paso a paso). En general estoy satisfecha. No me esperaba que me gustaría tanto. Ha sido una buena compra. Le daré buen uso porque tiene técnicas muy chulas y originales.
rosemary –
on occasion I look for inspiration for my art work and this book caught my eye. I wanted something a bit different from what I am doing currently so this one has been added to my library.
I enjoy the whimsical look and the author gives me an easy, appealing new way to play until I hit upon just the right new piece of work coming from inside of me.
R.LAW –
This is a lovely book. Nice quality paper and pictures. I was attracted to this book because I liked the artist’s style. I think the suggestions are very helpful. Nice to see a list of materials that would help the buyer get great results. Very fun. 🙂
Lori R –
This book is filled with insightful tips and mixed media project ideas. If you’re trying to discover more about your own personal style as a mixed media artist, the ideas and information O’Brien shares will enhance your understanding of your own artistic voice.
ayla –
J’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre! En anglais il est malgré tout très accessible et les pas à pas bien photographiés ce qui fait qu’on peut suivre même sans maîtriser la langue! Un livre inspirant, des techniques innovantes (du moins pour moi!)qui permettent de libérer l’imagination et sortir un peu des sentiers battus!
Isamilagro68 –
Je viens tout juste de recevoir le livre de Mme O’Brien et je suis agréablement surprise par la beauté des images et les nombreuses techniques pas à pas. Merci de me faire voyager de votre merveilleux monde imaginaire.
Isabel
mosaic –
I’m joining all the five-star reviewers here! I’ve just received this book and only had time to quickly flip through it – I immediately found a couple of interesting techniques that I haven’t seen anywhere else. This book contains clear, step-by-step instructions for a number of techniques and projects. I sometimes feel art book authors can be a bit secretive with their processes – showing off their artwork, rather than showing you how they did it – maybe because they want you to take their classes instead, which would be so much more expensive than just buying the book. The author of this book generously shares some of her best techniques. This was very much an impulse buy for me, but I’m so happy that I went through with it!
Jeffrey A. Barbour –
Clear and to the point instruction, highly imaginable, and inspiring. Wish the font size was a bit bigger or bolder on some of the instructions, but that isn’t a slam, just personal preference. It is all I was hoping for and more.
Kass Hall –
This book is a wonderful introduction to a range of illustration and mixed media techniques. Karen O’Brien’s art is whimsical and visually interesting and engaging, and sitting and looking through it simply for the pictures is worth the money – the fantastic techniques are a bonus. I will be inspired by this book for quite a while to come!
Ashley Lee –
This is a good book. The author’s style is different from what I normally like to paint and she pointed me in new directions – specifically she seems to do a lot of spontaneous character drawings. Many of her projects involve creating random backgrounds and then looking at the shapes available to see what parts can be made into a character. For example she has an exercise where she draws a circle and 3 lines which she used to create a figure. It is interesting to see how she takes a random shape that sorta looks like it could be something and then refine it into a recognizable person (or animal or whatever). I also liked how she tends to make characters that are interesting but not necessarily pretty. She has a good ability to put expression on her characters’ faces which is something I struggle with. I liked the little story she told through out the book too. I was happy with this purchase.
Aimeerenee –
No issues with p&p
What can I say this book is beautiful, inspiring and makes you want to start creating immediately ! I can’t to give it to my niece for Christmas she’ll love it.
Think I’ll definitely be getting myself a copy.
A Muse Me –
Not quite what I thought it would be but lots of information here. I’m sure anyone can learn something from this approach to character art.
Illtakepink –
This is a fantastic book for anyone wanting to explore alternative methods of drawing. The artist stretches far outside of the box of cutsie girls and mermaids and unlocks a world of new possibilities. It is so cleverly written that it is hard to put up! Beautiful art, amazing book!