A comprehensive guide to direct painting (characterised by bold, expressive brushwork and a painterly, atmospheric surface). It covers the history of the direct methods in both Europe and America. From there, it includes detailed step-by-step lessons and discussions on drawing structure, broken and smooth brushwork and colour development.

For beginner to more advanced artists, this is a guide to figure drawing and artistic anatomy.

Offers artists a system for freeing their creative intuition. This title includes over 60 practical exercises that takes readers from basic to sophisticated techniques. Each exercise, supported by step-by-step instructions, is accessible to artists at various levels.

The Art of Comic Book Writing strips away the mysteries of this popular artform and provides real-world advice and examples for those looking to write for the comics medium. Mark Kneece provides a set of guidelines favoured by many comic book publishers and uses a unique trial and error approach to show the potential pitfalls they might encounter.

With its roots in Ancient Greece, encaustic is a wax-based painting medium, characterized by luminous colour and a lush service. This handbook reveals how to master this medium, discussing ways to achieve vibrant colour. There are examples of artwork from leading encaustic artists.

In Venetian glassmaking, slender rods of molten glass are shaped, then cut to reveal detailed patterns: flowers, geometric shapes, dancing colours. This work shows how to re-create these designs in polymer clay. It reveals the process: how to work with polymer clay, the basics of planning and creating a cane and using colour effectively.

William Maughan demonstrates how to create a realistic human likeness by using the classic and highly accurate modelling technique of chiaroscuro, developed by Leonardo daVinci during the High Renaissance.