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Watson-Guptill

Portrait Painting Atelier: Old Master Techniques and Contemporary Applications

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Description

The art of portraiture approached its apex during the sixteenth century in Europe with the discovery of oil painting when the old masters developed and refined techniques that remain unsurpassed to this day. The ascendance of nonrepresentational art in the middle of the twentieth century displaced these venerable skills, especially in academic art circles. Fortunately for aspiring artists today who wish to learn the methods that allowed the Old Masters to achieve the luminous color and subtle tonalities so characteristic of their work, this knowledge has been preserved in hundreds of small traditional painting ateliers that persevered in the old ways in this country and throughout the world. Coming out of this dedicated movement, Portrait Painting Atelier is an essential resource for an art community still recovering from a time when solid instruction in art technique was unavailable in our schools. Of particular value here is a demonstration of the Old Masters’ technique of layering paint over a toned-ground surface, a process that builds from the transparent dark areas to the more densely painted lights. This method unifies the entire painting, creating a beautiful glow that illuminates skin tones and softly blends all the color tones. Readers will also find valuable instruction in paint mediums from classic oil-based to alkyd-based, the interactive principles of composition and photograph-based composition, and the anatomy of the human face and the key relationships among its features. Richly illustrated with the work of preeminent masters such as Millet, Géricault, and van Gogh, as well as some of today’s leading portrait artists—and featuring seven detailed step-by-step portrait demonstrations—Portrait Painting Atelier is the first book in many years to so comprehensively cover the concepts and techniques of traditional portraiture. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Watson-Guptill


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 9, 2010


Edition ‏ : ‎ 56726th


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 082309927X


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 76


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.61 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.49 x 0.87 x 11.3 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #64,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #16 in Art Portraits #174 in Painting (Books) #4,845 in Reference (Books)


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Old Masters - User Friendly
Format: Hardcover
There have been volumes written on the way the Old Masters approached their painting process, their techniques, the limitations of the materials at hand, and the amazing portraits they were able to produce. With the panoply of paints, equipment, mediums and surfaces that are available to the artist today, it is still not clear how we can strive to develop the beautiful, sensitive, glowing results of these Old Masters - until now. Ms. Brooker does this in a well written, 'user friendly' manner. She starts with the premise that as artists, we have to take an organized, intellectual approach to our painting (a novel concept considering what we were exposed to in the 60's and 70's). She launches us on this path of an organized thought process by addressing the basics of studio practices (organized palette = orgainzed thinking)and even includes a review of the preparation of quality surfaces and their importance to producing quality paintings (a part I found to be very useful). Ms. Brooker then addresses the use of color and pallette management, toned grounds and paint application to prepare us for the painting processes. Before diving into the hands on work of painting the portrait, she provides an abreviated look at the normally bone dry subject of facial anatomy. This is enough to whet the appetite of those who would like more detail while stasfying the basic needs of the majority of those interested in portraiture. Instead of pages on the underlying anatomy of the 4 key features of the face, she walks us through a process of observing the expressive nature of each followed by practical techniques for painting them. I found these very helpful in reassessing how I approach the painting eyes and nose. The final two sections on the process and associated demos of painting portraits, give the reader excellent examples of how one can begin to achieve result akin to those of the Old Masters. Ms. Brooker takes through the preparation of the ground, blocking-in, underpainting, paint applicaiton, finishing with the judicious use of glaze to bring forth the glowing life force we seek in our paintings. This book clearly demonstrate Ms. Brooker's thesis that a thoughtful, dare we say intellectual, approach to portraiture is essential. This, coupled with being able to take advantage of the concious choice of ground, underpainting and transparent nature of paint, will allow the reader / painter to begin the realization of the desired optical impacts we so admire in the work of the Old Masters. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2010 by J. Unbehend
    • Wonderful, full of great info
Format: Kindle
This book has wonderful descriptions of how to paint like the Masters. I have learned so much and I'm only about a third of the way through. So many full high-definition pictures that it would be worth the price just for the pictures of art. But even if there were no pictures it would still be worth the price and then some. I think this book is worth an entire semester of arts school there is so much to learn I'm so much this book will teach and easy to understand and yet with in depth descriptions of why something works and how to retrieve it on a canvas. There's a whole chapter on how to prepare a canvas directly how to build one's own canvas. Then it launches into wonderful explanations of how to achieve the type of realism and clarity and oil paints. This book is truly exceptional I was surprised way better than I expected. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2021 by Amazon Customer
    • One of the most comprehensive books on traditional indirect method of painting
Format: Hardcover
I received this book yesterday and love it. I think this will be one of those books which keep growing in value long after they have been sold out. This book is in the same class in regard to the traditional indirect methods of painting as Richard Schmid's Alla Prima in regard to direct painting. Although its focus is on portraiture the techniques and principles can be applied to figure painting and even still life. I have been studied traditional painting for two years and still find gems of advice nearly on every page. I can foresee that this book will be my companion for a long time. The book is richly illustrated but the quality of illustrations is not consistent. Most of the other artists' paintings are images of reasonable quality. Author's paintings, though, look a bit drab. I suspect not because she can't paint but because the photographer stuffed it up. This becomes evident if you look at images depicting tools, blobs of paint etc. They look equally drab. The biggest disappointment is the quality of images representing swatches for colour mixing exercises. The author seeks to demonstrate subtle nuances in tone and temperature. However the quality of images basically ruins her effort as it serves as a poor illustration for her recipes. The darks, in particular, nearly all look the same. I am sure the author did not mean it that way. Five star for the author, one for the photographer of her artwork. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2010 by Serge Rio
    • I will be referring back to this book often.
Format: Hardcover
This book is very informative...like a complete course in portrait painting. The information can be applied to oil paintings other than just portraiture. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fine tuning their skills in oil painting.
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2025 by Sue Ann Shedrick
    • A Real Help
Format: Hardcover
I have been painting for quite a few years, but I noticed my colors were a little bland. When I read the reviews on this book and decided to order, I thought it might give my work a shot in the arm. I was quite impressed with the methods the author employs. I know it will take a few months to digest and personalize eveything in this method, but I am sure it will help my painting tremendously. I am very glad that such books are published, and take my hat off to the author. If you are interested in learning the 'glazing' method of painting - especially for figurative work. this book could be what you are looking for. I highly recommend it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2011 by Fritz Da' Kat
    • GREAT RESOURCE FOR BEGINNERS
Format: Kindle
As much as I've learned from reading this book, I've come the conclusion that no matter how many books you read about drawing and painting, unless you start to draw and paint you're really going to learn much. In other words, there is no substitute for experience no matter how many good books you read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2023 by Amazon Customer
    • Meh.
Format: Hardcover
I bought this book, after reading some sample pages and reviews from others, and seeing some of the stunning portraits that are displayed within its pages. Sharon Brooker , however, did not paint any of these stunning portraits. Even the cover image is not a painting of hers, it is painted by someone named Robert Armetta. Good play on Sharon Brookers part, because if she wouldve posted one of her paintings on the cover, I certainly wouldn't have bought this book. She didn't even allude to the painting on the cover being another artist's work on the cover or inside jacket. And her paintings pale in comparison to the likes of Robert Armetta, Kate Lehman, Patricia Watwood, and Will Wilson , who's paintings adorn the pages of her book. Sharon Brookers paintings are OK at best, but look flat and dead compared to these other great painters. She seems to know what she is talking about, but this is like taking dietary advice from a huge fat person who 'seems to know what he is talking about' . How can I trust her? Again , if it was one of her paintings on the cover of the book, I wouldnt have even picked it up in a bookstore. I have learned a few things from the book though. It is also a beautifully printed book , nice glossy pages and very good quality printing. The section on paint mixing fleshtones is decent , but very short. There are a couple exercises , but it is almost like, she just gives you the idea, says 'paint mixing comes with experience' , and then you are left to figure it out on your own. She says making color charts is a labor of love and you should do them all yourself but theres really no way to check your color charts versus anything, and since you have no instructor, theres no way to know if you are doing it right or wrong. There is one or two small color chart examples in the book, I think she shouldve/couldve given up 5-6 pages to include her own color charts in the book , this way you at least can see what they are supposed to be like. I thought i would learn a ton from this book , being an intermediate painter, but I find i have learned a little. Overall this book is a pass for me, and ive already started looking for other material to read. also i bought this book 'new' from amazon and it was clearly used , bent corners and smudges on some pages. Its ok though I dont care really for $23 , and amazons customer service is fantastic and have returned other things for me without question, so i just kept it and didnt say anything. I love amazon! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2011 by Sheri M
    • It's a wonderful book for careful learning!
Format: Hardcover
Portrait Painting Atelier is a wonderful and thorough book! I kept passing it up in my searches for figure painting books, and finally made the purchase. And I'm so glad I did. I don't paint in the style of the Old Masters, but the material presented made me feel like I was being ushered into a school of thoughtful learning and approaches that I had not learned in other figure classes. It's not a book you rush through and all the chapters-such as glazing - don't interest me right now. It's a book I'll refer to over and over. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2017 by tomato

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