Watercolor Your Way meets you right where you are with watercolor. Whether you’re dipping your toe in, cannon-balling in, or honing your craft—this book is for you.
Written and illustrated by artist Sarah Cray, co-founder of the art education platform Let’s Make Art, Watercolor Your Way is designed to inform and guide you at your current skill level.
Each of four chapters focuses on different techniques and supplies, building on each other so you can bring your watercolor art to the next level. Instead of presenting everything about paints, color mixing, and techniques all at once, it’s offered in four small installments, with frequently asked questions, pro tips, and projects geared toward where you are on your artistic path, so you can get to the fun part—creating with watercolor—faster! For Those Just Starting Out. Focuses on just three fundamental shape, the wet-on-wet technique, and primary colors. Building Confidence and Skill. Spotlights creating value and form with watercolor. Finessing and Enhancing. Centers on adding detailed lines and backgrounds, and adjusting values by hue. Finding Your Style. Presents a process of how to develop a style that’s uniquely yours. With Watercolor Your Way, you can explore watercolor the way you’ve always wanted to, with expert instruction on a wide range of exciting techniques, themes, and color palettes that fit your needs as an artist.
As someone who has been dabbling in watercolor for years, it’s rare that I come across a book that I really want to work through, cover to cover. However, this book is so full of good explanations and examples, that I will be doing just that.
Once again, Quarto has brought us another exceptionally illustrated book on painting. It not only teaches you the basics (wet on wet technique, color pallet, brushes you'll need), but also demonstrates how to draw leaf shapes and other things in nature, one of my favorite things to paint. As a bonus, there are even traceables near the end, and a list of resources. This book should be on every artist's bookshelf!
Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Quarry for an advance review copy. I've already pre-ordered the paperback version for my reference library.