If You're Bored With WATERCOLOUR Read This Book

by Veronica Ballart Lilja

Are you bored of painting tasteful landscapes, light seascapes and delicate still-lifes? Or are you labouring under the misconception that that is simply all watercolour is good for? Maybe you're so bored of looking at watercolour paintings that you've never even tried it!

Whether you're at the beginning of your artistic journey, stuck in a rut and in desperate need of some inspiration or simply looking to improve your skills with watercolour, this book is sure to awaken your creativity. Stimulate your artistic minds and open your paint boxes to a whole new realm of possibility, using things like bleach, salt and combs - yes, the thing you'd ordinarily use to brush your hair with - to create exciting results.Professional fashion illustrator Veronica Ballart Lilja shares a wealth of new techniques based on her years of working with the medium that will open up watercolour for beginners, and encourage experts to stray from their more traditional methods. Jam packed with fresh ideas, adventurous tips and techniques, detailed theory and engaging exercises, this book allows you to develop and practise your skills in a free and expressive way.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 4, 2017

Reviews

[Kate Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veronica Ballart Lilja is a professional fashion illustrator (and this comes across strongly in her detailed sketches included in her book) but she must love the medium of watercolours to include so many of her own beautiful paintings in her book: If You’re Bored With Watercolour, Read This Book. She suggests that if you’re bored of painting landscapes and still life that there are many different techniques which can change your painting experience. She describes the effects of using household items such as hair combs, salt and bleach to change how the watercolour sets onto the paper to create new results. Although some of her tips and techniques are standard and which I’ve heard umpteen times before, her sketches and paintings alongside it really make this book something incredible. I loved her idea that if your watercolour doesn’t turn out how you desired, that you can always cut it up to use it as collage pieces instead of binning the whole piece. Although the inspiration included wasn’t the most inspiring, Lilja’s own designs really are beautiful and this book is worth a read just to see them.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this. Inspiring. Love the use of silhouettes.

[Esopion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very colorful step-by-step watercolor illustration book with a variety of ideas! I really liked how vibrant the colors are printed in this book and it is excellent quality. I do think the title could've been named differently.

[Lanae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the cover of this book. Loved the name. Even love some of the art inside of the book.

The book itself? Not really loving it. I feel like the whole book could have been covered in a chapter or two. Most of the tips are too beginner for those who are already bored with watercolor and not advanced enough for those who the book seems to be targeting.

Did you know that you can mix watercolor pencils and watercolor paints? No? Then this book is for you. If that seems obvious to you, then you probably will not benefit much, if at all, from this book.

I'd gladly recommend the author's art and kind of wish this were just a book of that.

I'm a total beginner artist and don't feel like I benefitted at all from this book. Seen it all before either on the tips and tricks inserts that art supplies provide with their products, or in the intro chapters about supplies in other art books.



Disclaimer: I was provided this book through the Amazon Vine program for review purposes.

[Deb Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good basic book which describes materials which aren’t just restricted to traditional watercolour pans of paint. I don’t think the title is quite right, given that it is a book aimed at beginners and what beginner is bored with a medium before they’ve started?

Having said that, it is a more modern take on using various watercolour media and has a more forgiving tone - nothing is ‘wrong’. If you don’t like your attempts at texture, cut them up and make collage.

The book assumes a level of drawing ability which many beginner artists might not have, or, at least, not the confidence to ‘just draw a figure in clothes and only paint the skin’. There are tutorials which range from very easy to quite difficult and lots of ideas to try on top of those. Not a long book, but plenty to go on.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Den här boken var betydligt mer "rätt" för mig än de tidigare 4-5 akvarellböckerna med naturmåleri som jag bläddrat igenom. Den är visserligen inte lika grundlig när det gäller att visa de olika stegen i måleriet och den går inte heller igenom alla grundtekniker som kan vara bra att kunna innan man provar på eventuella övningar från boken. Men som sagt, har man läst en grundligare bok eller kollat en 10-minuters genomgång på Youtube i förväg kan man i princip ge sig på denna bok utan några problem.

[Jennilyn (Thiboult) Nevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so good ideas and exercises is here that could get you to push yourself a bit, get out of a rut, or find a new technique/tool you enjoy!