Artist's Toolbox: Painting Tools & Materials

Book excerpt: Discover the essential tools, materials, and techniques needed to get started in painting. The Artist's Toolbox series provides easy-to-use reference guides for beginning and aspiring artists. While many instructional art books gloss over important concepts, focusing instead on how to simply replicate a piece of art, the Artist's Toolbox series breaks down the whats, whens, whys, and hows of each relevant tool or technique, clearly demonstrating its purpose and how to employ it to achieve desired effects. In Painting Tools & Materials, artists will discover the important differences in brush styles, sizes, shapes, and types; how each brush is used to create different types of strokes; and how different types of brushes interact with various paints and supports. Artists will learn how to properly load brushes with paint, how to shape brushes to create specific strokes and effects, when to choose synthetic-hair over natural-hair, and much more. Experienced art instructors focus on the key concepts and practical aspects of working with specific tools, materials, and mediums to impart a complete understanding for those seeking to learn the fundamentals of painting.