Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works

	Title: Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World Purchase Item Manufacturer: Nature Works List Price: $25.95 Our Price: $19.99
Customer Reviews:
Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works A book that delivers
I've looked at a lot of art instruction books, wondering if they'd perform as promised. This profusely illustrated book is the best I've seen! The first thing you notice when you leaf through Illustrating Nature ~ Right-brain Art in a Left-brain World is that Irene Brady has skillfully constructed exercises to lead you by the hand at your own pace down her well-marked trail to professional illustration. For instance, the book begins by explaining that artistic skills are natural to most of us and that to open the door all you need is the key - then she hands you the key. Starting with right-brain exercises to help you access your creative skills, she then shows you how to really look at things, noticing and comparing shapes and angles. The next step is to convey that information to your hand and the paper - and amazingly, out comes a picture you'll be amazed you could create. While beginners can get started with this book, all artists can jump in at their own skill level and proceed from there to a stage of excellence they've only dreamed of. There are exercises to advance the artist's skill in such different areas as shading; use of pencil, pen, and computer; organizing and designing an illustration; field sketching (and taking notes about the subject); and a multitude of procedures and tips, both large and small, that go into creating beautiful, professional results. The heavily illustrated instructions for each exercise are clear, concise, and lead the artist from elemental to complex in easy increments. The appendix outlines steps to guide your art into a career in a wide array of professional fields. If you've ever thought you might like to jumpstart, improve, or hone your artistic skills to a fine point, this book is an excellent choice.
Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World
Irene Brady is an expert, biologically accurate nature artist, but that doesn't stop her from creating (and teaching others to create) lively, interesting nature art. I am very impressed by her book, Illustrating Nature, Right-brain Art in a Left-brain World. From the construction of a leaf or a wing to the hairs in an ear and the fur on the body, Brady leads you to analyze the structure of plant or animal parts. Then she skillfully helps you understand techniques to illustrate these features. You learn how to pay attention to the details and illustrate the entire organism in a realistic and delightful manner. Brady wisely encourages the developing artist to use computer graphics as part of their toolkit. She also provides an appendix with many design ideas for book and magazine layout and design and promotional graphics, brochures and the like for museums and nature centers. This is a superb book for classroom use and the individual learner. I would have given my eyeteeth for this book as a child. Maybe there is hope for me yet! Nancy Field Nature Publisher, Author and Wildlife Biologist Dog-Eared Publications Author of several titles, including Discovering Sharks and Rays, the winner of a 2004 Ben Franklin Award for Best Juvenile-Young Adult Nonfiction
Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works Right Brain rediscovered
Rebeccasreads highly recommends ILLUSTRATING NATURE as an important tool for every budding artist (no matter their age) with an eye for a career in illustration, scientific or otherwise, as well as an extraordinary assistance for elders wanting to keep their brains in tip-top shape! If you're a bit confused by all this Left Brain/Right Brain stuff, then Irene Brady ably guides you in discovering just what your Left Brain does, & what your magical Right Brain can do. Amazing stuff, folks! ILLUSTRATING NATURE is a superbly inter-active book -- you are in for an adventure in creating fascinating, realistic images. ILLUSTRATING NATURE is a textbook you will keep coming back to, as your skill progresses - highly recommended for home schooling, elder art classes & anyone of any age who loves to draw.
Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works Excellent choice for learning to draw nature
A great deal of this art instructional book deals with trying to see things and draw using the artistic side of the brain instead of the analytical left side. Subjects covered include sketching, texture, tone, line art, drawing techniques, design and layout, drawing fur, eyes, and other parts of animals, and botanical drawing. The appendixes include multiple projects, field sketchbook and portfolio creation, and career tips if you want to pursue illustration as a career. In addition to the common techniques you typically find in an art instructional book there are dozens and dozens of field notes specific to nature illustration work in the field. These make the book a best choice for anyone who wants to engage in nature illustration. Illustrating Nature is recommended for drawing in general and highly recommended for nature drawing techniques.
Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World by Nature Works Book Description
Illustrating Nature ~ Right-brain Art in a Left-brain World is the secret doorway to realistic drawing – open this book and find the kind of instruction that you’ve always wanted. Even if nature isn’t your all-time hot interest, the bountiful illustrations, generous tips, and step-by-step tutorials focusing on natural objects you can find anywhere, anytime, will give you a jump-start on any other type of subject you choose, from still-life compositions to action figures to landscapes. This book sets you off on a trail of adventure ~ and who knows where it will lead! Dive into this book to discover how you can make your pencil do what you tell it to do. Use your new-found skills to improve your paintings, sketch in your field journal, design and illustrate your own business or greeting cards, or create a home school curriculum for your kids – whatever you desire. This book is for all ages – from college students, teens, and art-loving younger kids, to adults looking for a new career or simply wanting to develop their creative skills. Written by an award-winning children’s nature book author and college-level instructor in scientific illustration, the text is superbly crafted to make sense to the creative person of any age. Here are some of the amazing things you can do with this book: Improve the connections between your creative right brain and your organized left brain to create a stunning working partnership. You’ll be astonished at the things you can do. Discover techniques of observing a subject, so that you can transmit instructions through your hand and pencil to the paper with accuracy, speed and style. Learn how to sketch living, moving animals using multiple working sketches and additive techniques to achieve vibrant finished drawings. Explore tricks that will enable you to draw fur, scales, wood, feathers, wrinkles, hair fuzz, and other textures found in nature and elsewhere. See shadows and shading the way the professional artist does, and learn how to give your drawings three-dimensional depth with shadows and highlights. Even children can learn how to do this. Master the mysteries of design to create handsome and interesting drawings, displays, and posters ~ anything you want. Learn how to use a computer graphics program to improve your artwork in ways that would be difficult or impossible by hand. Work your way through a hands-on, step-by-step computer scan of your artwork, including guidelines for combining graphic files with text to produce publishable artwork. Understand techniques and ways to critique, fine-tune and improve your own art when you don’t have an unbiased expert or teacher to help you out. Find a whole new artistic consciousness within yourself ~and a great deal more ~ in this sturdy book with a stay-open binding, designed for easy use.