The Natural Way to Paint: Rendering the Figure in Watercolor Simply and Beautifully

by Charles Reid

This instructional book approaches the figure organically, showing readers how to observe its basic shapes and subtle nuances through practical exercises and lessons in the art of seeing with a painter’s eye. Step-by-step demonstrations in contour drawing teach how to capture the overall essence of the human form, then lessons in gesture drawing emphasize the body’s linear rhythms in various poses. Painting techniques progress from silhouette to three-dimensional forms through clever uses of light, shadow, color, and value.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Reference

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Charles Clark Reid

Reviews

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

The book starts with very basic drawing lessons that focus on teaching you to draw what you see instead of drawing what you think you see - very similar to Keys to Drawing and The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

The introductory lessons are great for beginners even for those who don't know how to draw. The step-by-step tutorials are easy to follow and they touch on the basics of drawing, which are useful later on for the figure drawing lessons.

There are lots of examples to try out in the book. They are simple, manageable and short. The instructions are always clear and insightful. The lessons focus on quick and loose drawings, aimed at capturing poses and gestures rather than representational likeness. It's interpretative rather than photo-realistic.

Charles Reid's style is characterized by very loose, free sketchy lines and use of spotty watercolors. That's how all his examples look in the book. The style might not be for everyone, but he has included colour mixes so you can develop your own style. You can apply the lessons learned to all sorts of figures, although the nude is primarily featured in the book.

If you're into loose watercolour figure drawings, this is a good guide to start with.

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is AWESOME. It's hard to find an artistic instruction book that seems to know what it is talking about. This one is serious and amazing. It is beautiful as well, which is a good thing for an art book.

[Pat Loughery · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the similar Charles Reid's Watercolor Solutions: Learn to Solve the Most Common Painting Problems, I found this to be more thorough, more in-depth and more focused - and probably the source for Watercolor Solutions' summaries of figure painting.

This one has very helpful teaching about mixing various skin tones, shaping the head, painting facial features, gesture drawing to pencil and directly to watercolor, and working with the figure in composition.

I read this first from my local library. Although this book is out of print and used copies are getting difficult to source, I made sure to pick up a used copy and will use it as a workbook to guide some deeper study in figure watercolor.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This phenomenal watercolorist also really knows how to convey his techniques in words. A welcome addition to the bookshelf of any watercolor painter.

[Patsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book very much. It is one I purchased after checking it out from the library many times. It is clear and helpful.