The Big List of Artist Resources

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The following is a list of art instruction and resource websites for artists, from around the Internet. This list is by no means complete. I will be adding to it as I find more websites. If you know of any other sites not listed here please send me an email and I will review the website and possibly add it to this list. Thanks.

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By Medium:	By Subject:	Other Resources:
Acrylic Painting	Animals & Wildlife	Art Supplies, Books, Videos
Drawing & Sketching	Landscape & Plein Air	Art Discussion Forums
Colored Pencil
Oil Painting
Pastels
Pen & Ink
Watercolor

By Medium:
Acrylic Painting
Creative Spotlite	Here you will find free step by step acrylic painting lessons by experienced artists, acrylic painting tips and articles, quality acrylic painting supplies and a great selection of acrylic painting instruction books & videos.
Expert Village	Free acrylic painting videos from the popular site Expert Village.
Elin Pendleton	Daily Paintings, painting lessons and instructional DVD’s by Elin Pendleton, AAEA, WAOW
How to Draw and Paint	Nice selection of free acrylic painting lessons and videos by artist Bob Davies.
Frank Clarke’s SimplyPainting.com	Another very cool site with free lessons and videos. This site also has a store where you can purchase books, videos, dvd’s and kits.
Drawing
Draw Figures and Faces Like the Masters	“Learn the little-known secrets to Mastering the Human Form Through Figure Drawing techniques never before seen!”
http://www.drawspace.com/	Great site with many free drawing lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced.
“THE PRACTICE & SCIENCE OF DRAWING” By : HAROLD SPEED	Free online book covering many aspects of drawing.
Learning How To Draw	Free lessons on everything from perspective to portraiture by artist John Hagan.
Karmatoons Inc.	Drawing for classical animation.
Drawing Coach	Many free drawing lessons on a variety of topics including cartoon drawing, video lessons and more.
About.com	Drawing lessons and tips from the popular site About.com
The Draw Squad	Free drawing lessons. The Draw Squad also has a video series on drawing available for sale from their website.
http://www.learn-to-draw.com/	Free drawing lessons by artist Kirk Bjorndahl
Diane Wright Fine Art	Free drawing tutorials by the very talented artist Diane Wright.
Mike Sibley Fine Art	Wonderful website by the verty talented artist Mike Sibley. Includes free tips, work shops, books and more.
http://www.toadhollowstudio.com/	Drawing Lessons and Online Classes by Carol Rosinski
Colored Pencil
Creative Spotlite	Free step by step colored pencil lessons by experienced artists, quality colored pencil supplies, a great selection of instruction books and colored pencil instruction videos by some of the nations most talented artists.
http://www.cpsa.org/	The colored pencil society of America.
About.com	Colored pencil lessons and tips from the popular site About.com
http://www.elfwood.com	Colored pencil techniques from Elfwood Tutorials
Colored Pencil Points	Free colored pencil tips as well as information on supplies, color theory and more.
http://www.portrait-artist.org	Colored Pencil Portrait Tutorial
http://coloredpencil.freeforums.org/	Colored Pencil Discussion Forums
Ann Kullberg	Colored pencil website from the very talented artist Ann Kullberg offering lessons, books and workshops.
Oil Painting
Creative Spotlite	Free step by step oil painting lessons & demonstrations by experienced artists, oil painting tips and articles, quality oil painting supplies, great selection of oil painting instruction books.
Karin Wells: http://www.KarinWells.BlogSpot.com Portraits: http://www.KarinWells.com Landscapes: http://www.Oilpnt.com	Grab a cup of virtual coffee and stop by my Painting Studio to see what’s happening. Also come visit my Portrait & Landscape Galleries.
Oil Painting Classes on DVD with Walt Burger	Nice selection of instructional DVD’s by artist Walt Burger.
Bill Martin’s Guide To Oil Painting	Great guide to oil painting. This website takes you step by step through creating your own painting including the materials you will need to get started.
Learn to Oil Paint with Darell Crow	Popular oil painting site with Artist Darell Crow offering a free 2 hour oil painting DVD.
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross	Website of the late Bob Ross. Bob Ross made the wet on wet painting technique very popular on his tv show. His site offers many resources for artists on a variety of different topics.
About.com	Lots of great tips and lessons on oil painting from the popular site About.com.
Seekingcenter.com	Awesome website by the very talented Artist Jim Thomas. Jim offers many free step by step oil painting demonstrations. Highly recommended.
Pastels
Creative Spotlite	Free step by step pastel painting & drawing lessons, pastel articles & tips, pastel art supplies and a great selection of pastel art instruction books.
The Pastel Journal	Website for the Pastel Journal Magazine.
About.com	Pastel lessons and tips from the popular website About.com
Pastel Society of America	Pastel Society of America
Pastel Artists Canada	Pastel gallery that represents approximately 200 pastel artists. This site also has tips and tutorials for pastel artists.
Nancy Doyle Fine Art	Website of artist Nancy Doyle. This website offers a variety of resources including free art lessons and art history.
MidAmerica Pastel Society	MidAmerica Pastel Society
Chicago Pastel Painters	Chicago Pastel Painters
The Connecticut Pastel Society	The Connecticut Pastel Society
Pen & Ink
Creative Spotlite	Free lessons and other resources on pen and ink.
PEN DRAWING BOOK	Free online book with over 5 chapters of lessons with illustrations.
Homeschoolarts	A few free pen and ink lessons.
About.com	Pen and Ink drawing lessons from the popular site About.com
Watercolor
Creative Spotlite	Free step by step watercolor painting lessons by experienced artists, watercolor painting tips and articles, quality watercolor painting supplies, great selection of watercolor painting instruction books.
Susie Short Studio	Great website by Watercolor Artist and Workshop Instructor Susie Short. Lots of great watercolor tips and DVD’s and Videos.
WATERCOLORPAINTING.com	Great site with many free lessons covering everything from how to hold a brush to advanced watercolor techniques.
John Lovett Watercolor	Wonderful site from professional Australian artist John Lovett. Free painting lessons as well as an excellent selection of DVD and CD learning products.
Frank Clarke’s SimplyPainting.com	Another very cool site with free lessons and videos. This site also has a store where you can purchase books, videos, dvd’s and kits.
http://www.handprint.com	Very good guide to watercolor painting including free tips on brushes and paints, watercolor techniques, and more.
Fountain Studio	Great site by artist Ellen Fountain with a section containing watercolor lessons and tips. Fountain studio also has a section where you can purchase videos, workshops, one on one training and more.
Expert Village	Free watercolor instruction videos from the popular site Expert Village.
Larrys Art	Free watercolor lessons and tips by artist Larry Weiss
By Subject
Animals & Wildlife
Creative Spotlite	Free step by step animal and wildlife painting lessons and other great resources.
Learn How to Paint Wildlife and Animals	Website of the very talented wildlife artist, Jason Morgan. Jason offers free step by step demos as well as an instructional cd and ebook you can purchase to learn how to paint wildlife from your home.
Sue Dickinson Wildlife Art	Website of the very talented wildlife Artist Sue Dickinson. Sue has original paintings and prints for sale as well as free step by step demos.
Landscapes & Plein Air
Creative Spotlite	Free landscape painting lessons by experienced artists, landscape & plein air painting supplies and a great selection of landscape & plein air books.
About.com	Landscape painting tips from the popular website About.com
Pleinair Workshops	A guide to outdoor painting workshops in the U.S. and abroad.
http://www.cpaps.org/	Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society
http://www.whiskeytownpleinair.com/	Whiskeytown Plein Air Painters of Northern California
http://www.pap-se.com/	Plein Air Painters of The Southeast
http://www.pleinairpaintersofutah.com	PLEIN AIR PAINTERS of UTAH
http://www.michiganpleinair.com/artist/	Michigan Plein-Air Painters
http://www.pleinairecottageartists.com/	The Plein Air Cottage Artists
http://www.pleinairflorida.org/	Plein Air Florida
http://www.pleinairpaintouts.com/	Plein Air Paint-Outs offers a comprehensive guide to plein air painting organizations all over the world.
http://www.pleinairaustin.org/	Plein Air Austin
http://www.pleinairartistscolorado.com/	Plein Air Artists of Colorado (PAAC)
http://www.pleinairpaintersoregon.org/	Plein Air Painters of Oregon
http://pleinairpaintersofga.com/index.html	Plein Air Painters of Georgia
http://www.p-a-p-a.com/	Plein Air Painters of America
http://www.pleinairopen.com/	The Plein Air Painters’ U.S. Open is a yearly event that celebrates plein air painting. It is an open competition offering awards and exhibitions.
http://www.pleinairpaintersofhawaii.com/	Plein Air Painters of Hawaii
http://ohiopleinairsociety.com/	The Ohio Plein Air Society (OPAS)
http://www.pleinairpaintersofidaho.org/	Plein Air Painters of Idaho (PAPI)
http://www.pleinairpaintersofutah.com/index.html	PLEIN AIR PAINTERS of UTAH
http://www.pleinairamerica.com/	Website for the public television show “Plein Air, Painting the American Landscape”
Art Discussion Forums
Creative Spotlite
Wet Canvas
ConceptArt
Artspan Forums
http://coloredpencil.freeforums.org/
ArtPapa.com
Art Supplies, Books, Videos
Art Supplies
MisterArt.com Discount Art & Craft Supplies
Dick Blick Art Materials
Daniel Smith Artist Materials
Cheap Joes Art Stuff
Artsuppliesonline.com
Rex Art
Jerry’s Artarama
Art Instruction Videos
Creative Spotlite
ArtVideo
Liliedahl Video Productions and Sales
http://www.art-video.com/
Art Instruction Books
Creative Spotlite Book Store
Magazines
Click here to Save on Art Magazines!

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Technique of Watercolor Painting: WC07 PLANNING

Technique of Watercolor Painting: WC07 PLANNING
By John Blenkin

Plan or not to Plan? The outcome of the painting will be vitally affected by the decision to either plan the work or starting head down without any idea how the painting will finish.

It is not a matter of preference but of personality. To a great extent the subject will decide the issue. A painting of a building a design a specific place - a record painting a commissioned painting will usually lead the painter into an approach where pre-planning naturally results.

In this type of work pre-planning will reduce errors and the target idea will more likely to be realized. Any measured work - enlarging - portraiture anything technical animal bird or plant illustrations are usually best planned beforehand. Professional work to deadline is a pre-planning must.

In general where the subject of the painting has to conform to the requirements or standards of others or to a specified known standard for a fee by a certain date it is best to pre-plan.

In this context the painter will no doubt feel less creative but the painter must have the technique and professional approach to match demands.

This is especially true for the watercolor painter as reduced errors means fewer destructive demands on the paper ground and less repainting over previously washed out work. Please note that a professional buyer will approve the work by viewing it as it were dead without glass - mount and frame.

Overpainting dulls the light reflecting back through the pigment. Without overpainting the work looks fresher and the craft of it looks easier and under greater control in your hands as a result to the painter’s credit.

There are probably three main valid approaches to painting in any medium!

PRE-PLANNED
MAINSTREAM
FREE CREATIVE

Each one of these is strictly valid in pure painting terms because the approach is determined by the nature of the project. The end dictates the way forward.

In passing it is wise to note that with watercolor painting on paper each painting should first be covered by a blue tint all over wash. This blue tint wash kills the red inherent in white watercolor paper. Even the whitest watercolor paper will be improved by this slight blue wash. The tint should be so light that it seems to be pointless doing it. Use a blue that has no red in it.

PRE-PLANNED

These paintings do not appear to be particularly creative - they are! This is a good way to acquire the essential geometry involved in transposing small images from one surface and enlarged onto to another. The process comes in handy too when paintings of imagination need a structure to bring them to fruition.

Planning is not only the best option for some types of painting but also perhaps the only option. Graphic works for publication on short time scales are the norm in the printing industry. These works have to be planned and even the way of achieving the desired result be decided in a flash. There is no waiting around for days mulling over the philosophy of the issue because others are waiting to make money out of the work you are commissioned to paint.

Often the idea of a painting changes during the work. If this happens too often more thought should be given before committing time an effort to your projects. Careful planning brings focus and therefore clarity to the final painting and this is conveyed unconsciously in the quality of the work.

For the general painter a coordinated grid method is used to transform a small image into an enlarged exact scale drawing to become a guide for a larger watercolor painting.

This system uses a very light pencil grid of convenient unit size drawn on the watercolor paper. The image ultimately to be painted on it is added in outline either by hand or ruled or both. This outline drawing provides an exact line where the different colors are to be applied as a wash or as a series of watercolor detail areas.

Soft pencil drawn grid lines when erased later will leave immovable smudge marks. Too hard a pencil will scribe into the paper surface and show up later as dark colored lines. It is best to use a very hard pencil frequently sharpened to a very fine point. Practice before starting the work.

The grid lines help to judge if the relationship between the features in the original image are matched on the larger drawing and is a correct to scale transfer. This must be assured before any watercolor is added otherwise it will be necessary to start the work again.

The size of the grid spaces drawn for the original image is determined by the complexity of the detail.

The vertical grid LINES are lettered across from the top left corner beginning at A and continued through the alphabet to the end of the top vertical grid line.

The first top horizontal grid line starts at the top left hand corner and is denoted 0. As the first vertical grid line too starts from the top left hand corner and it too is denoted A the top left hand corner of the grid is denoted by coordinates A0. From the top left corner the grid continues horizontally A0 B0 C0 D0 and so on. Vertically from the top left corner the grid down the left hand side is denoted A0 A1 A2 A3 and so on. Any point of the grid can now be defined by looking at its position in relation to the top and left hand sideline coordinates.

It is better and easier to make a square grid. This avoids errors in transfer. Also a square grid of whole numbers makes it easier to fix interpolations within the grid space.

Any straight or curved line or shape will be seen in relation to the allocated numbered and lettered coordinated gridlines.

The same grid to a larger scale is drawn on the watercolor paper ground to the larger size. If the original measurements and grid size have been carefully judged a simple increase to the new grid size from the original is all that needs to be done.

There is no need to draw all the gridlines - in sky areas for instance where there is no exact detail to be transferred only draw the position of the gridlines at the edge with their letters.

Remove the grid lines and unwanted marks from the paper with a putty rubber before painting. If the lines have been finely drawn on the paper surface they can be easily removed without damage to the paper.

The above method is ideal for painting a large picture from a small photograph. I use a thin piece of glass sheet over the photograph on which to draw a thin inked-in grid direct using a technical pen. To protect the ink from rubbing off apply back adhesive transparent film. This is like sheet grade invisible tape. Protect the edge of the glass with paper drafting tape. This is lipped over the face of the glass and back of the photo up to but not touching the grid lines on the face. The coordinates top and sides are marked in ink on the tape.

This method is ideal for Architectural building renderings and perspectives still life portraits lots of mechanical drawing subjects such as cars large paintings of birds. The preparatory outline work is part of the technique. It is not a necessary evil to be got through as quick as possible. It is an enjoyable part of the whole process.

MAINSTREAM

This general type of painting is based on a combination of feeling - reason and logic to inspire the painting. It is the way most painting is realized a jumble of many things brought together with a subject finally emerging from unrelated ideas having titles added later to justify their political correctness.

Get to know the language and vocabulary of painting. This includes color balance - color temperatures and the various forms of perspective such as in the use of line tone and color. Paintings need to be subjected to intellectual checks during painting by assessing the balance of colored areas of the painting in percentage terms of brightness and average tonal value. Understand the meaning of balance between areas of the painting in terms of its effect as seen by the viewer at normal medium and close distance and in relation to the inner perspective construction of the work.

The avoidance of black and white is very important in watercolor painting but it is important too to know if and when the any rule can be broken. The tonal balance of areas of the painting is vital and how high and low tonal density of colors both warm and cool affects balance. Another issue is the use of color of plane surfaces when these appear both in and out of shade. Further it is useful to know how to direct the attention to the focal point of the picture by each aspect of technique. It is important too to know how to use a range of colors sympathetic to each other to avoid unwanted inexplicable tensions in the picture .All of these have to be automatically applied within a working discipline of Technique.

These disciplines are necessary to produce any type of painting. The medium of watercolor painting shows any deficiency in technique rather more than any other painting medium. Those whose technique is complete and dependable can ignore technique if by doing this they gain extra power in their work.

FREE CREATIVE

Free creative work allows its justification to emerge as it were by itself. Here the painter must break loose from ego to free the mind from its blocks and limitations for the painting to be ready to be painted by someone or something other than the painter. The picture flows into the painter and onto the ground from surrounding energies.

The best way to do this is to bring the mind to a point. Remember to relax - not to tense up or prejudge anything or anyone in any way. There should be no sense of what the painting is or should be about. Sense the moment. Mix the paint and let it flow as and where it will.

Paint whatever the energy in the arm guides you paint.

If you are really free and devoid of achieving or prejudging or critical of what you are doing you will be completely and utterly refreshed when you are through. Pure creation never tires or depresses but restores.

Paintings are truly finished after the Title Signature Date and Picture Sequence Number have been added.

My very best wishes.

John Blenkin is a retired architect and is now a watercolor painter and article writer. His interests are wide covering both technical and philosophical subjects. He also writes online articles on the technique of watercolor painting.

http://www.freefolios.com/
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