Online Painting Ebooks & Reviews: 2010

Oil Paintings

In oil painting, one has to paint with pigments that are bound with a medium of dry oil. Varnishes made out of linseed oil and boiled with either pine resin or frankincense, are often used. Different types of oils are used for rendering various properties to the oil paint. Also appropriate usage of different oils in the same painting can improve the clarity and quality of the same. Traditional style of oil painting involves the sketching of the subject first on to the canvass with a charcoal or thinned paint as the first layer and increasing the oil content for each successive or additional layer. Otherwise, there is a danger of peeling and cracking of the final painting. Cold wax, resin and varnishes are some of the main media used for oil painting. By using them in appropriate ways, one can improve both clarity and quality of the same. Usually paint brushes, pallet knives and rags and used for shifting the paint to the painting surface.

The main advantage of using oil painting is that it becomes easier for the artist to alter the texture, color or appearance of the figure owing to the wetness of oil paint. Above all, the artist also has the option of removing the entire layer of painting and starting afresh by using a rag and some turpentine as long as the painting is wet. Oil painting dries by oxidation and hence needs to be re-varnished only in six months to a year. Art conservators prefer the oil painting to dry completely only after sixty to eighty years.

Following are the free oil paintings online ebooks and pdf tutorials available in web.

Reverse Glass Paintings

The art of applying paint to a portion of glass, by revolving the glass and then seeing the image through the glass is called reverse glass painting. This painting, generally used for sacral paintings from middle ages itself, found its renaissance at Italy. It can be painted both in the realistic and abstract forms. Realistic painting is more challenging that the later one as one is more prone to commit mistakes in the former. Natural light further helps in increasing the beauty of reverse glass painting. This form of painting needs a tactical approach as it involves portrayal of image on the reverse side of the glass. Further decoration is given by using gold leaves and semi precious stones.

Following are the free Glass Paintings online ebooks and pdf tutorials available in world wide web.

Water Color Painting

Water color painting emanates from pigments suspended in a water soluble vehicle. The commonly used materials for water color painting are paper, papyrus, bark papers, plastics, vellam or leather, fabric, wood and canvass. Its main ingredients are a)Pigments that may be synthetic or natural, organic or mineral, b)Arabic gum for holding the pigment in delay and setting up the pigment to the painting surface, c) Additives like glycerin or gel, honey, as preservatives and d)Solvent, the substance used for diluting the paint and which evaporates when the paint hardens.

Any painting medium using water as solvent comes under the broad category of water media. When water soluble complex carbohydrates are used as a binder, the corresponding painting is termed water color painting. Binders of various types are being used such as water soluble acrylic resin, natural gum Arabic, etc. Water color painting involves a tactical approach for anticipating and controlling the behavior of water. It is not easy to correct a mistake in water color painting and hence has to be done with great caution. Even though a common practice is to use brushes for water color painting, other implements such as sprayers, scrapers, sponges, etc are also being experimented with. There are some prejudices pertaining to the non usage of white paint and black paint and the usage of only transparent or primary color mixtures from time immemorial. In spite of this, there are some superb paintings that do not follow the above mentioned prejudices. An important aspect of water color painting is that the various materials that are used in the same are easily available.

Following are the water color painting pdf and online ebooks available in web.

Mural Paintings

Any piece of art work painted directly on any form of large permanent surface is termed “Mural”. Mural paintings are of different types, namely,

Tempara painting where the art work can be first completed in the canvass and later be attached to the wall or ceiling.
Trompe-l’oeil painting which has experienced lot of changes over the time.
Fresco painting from the Italian word which is applied on plaster, on walls or ceilings.
Secco painting done on dry plaster, etc.

Following are the few mural paintings online ebooks and pdf tutorials available in world wide web.

Portrait Paintings

Portraying the visual appearance of the subject is the main aspect of portrait painting. Here the subject can be any medium sized thing under the sun. Drawing one’s own portrait is called a self portrait. Portraying human anatomy needs great skill and requires a tactical approach towards portrait painting.

Following are the few portrait painting tutorials, online ebooks and pdf articles found on web.

Landscape Paintings

Landscape art involves a coherent composition of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers etc. The art of landscape drawing has two main traditions namely, one involving detailed landscape such as sky and weather and the other not involving a detailed landscape. As a spectacular landscape instigates intense emotions in the minds of an observer, the same intense emotions can be generated in the minds of an artist drawing a spectacular landscape. In order to retain the same intense emotions one has to be selective taking case to include only the strong elements. Also one should have the imagination skill of rearranging the elements in the landscape and last but not the least to paint less detail in the background thereby taking case to make the foreground more spectacular. Proper mixing of colors also adds to the beauty of the landscape art. No doubt beauty lies in the eyes of the observer.

Following are the landscape paintings online ebooks or pdf tutorials available in web.

Figure Paintings

Figure painting, a form of visual arts, mainly depends on a live model that is either made or partly or fully clothed. Peter Paul Rubens, Edger Degas and Edward Manet are some of the world renowned figure painters. Figure drawing is mainly used to draw the human body in its different profile and position using pencil, charcoal and other drawing gadgets. Where as “life drawing” is usually drawn from the observation of a live model. Figure drawing can be converted to figure painting if pigment is used. The human figure can be drawn in various ways such as drawing based on live models from some reference material or from one’s own imagination. On one hand, owing to the expressiveness involved in the mode of drawing based on the artists imagination, this form of painting can be lauded and on the other hand can meet with rebuke of the artist fails to give life to his imagination. Some artists give preference to the interplay of light and dark values on the surfaces of the body while others give preference to an anatomical approach. Hence the study of human anatomy is highly essential for this painting.

Following are the few figure painting pdf and online ebooks available in web.

Shan Shui Paintings

Shan Shui is a Chinese painting pertaining to the scenery or natural landscapes. This type of traditional painting which arose to eminence during the fifth century, involves paintings of large landscapes such as mountains, waterfalls and often rivers. Shan Sui painting follows a specific conversion of structure, method and purpose, giving importance to the artist’s philosophical perspective about nature rather than to painting real object. Shan shui painting has three main ingredients namely, the presence of a twisted pathway, leading to a threshold and last but not least leading to the heart which is the sole focal point of the painting and hence renders a definite meaning for the painting. Shan Shui painting is really a feast for our mind.

Following are the shan shui painting ebooks available in pdf and html format.

Madhubani Paintings

The Madhubani painting or Mithila painting can be dated back to the Ramayana era when King Janaka commissioned artists to mark the wedding of his daughter Sita to Lord Rama. Madhubani painting is traditionally done on newly plastered mud wall of huts. At present, it also adorns on cloth, hand made paper and canvas. The usage of two dimensional imaging, obtaining colors from plants, following the traditional pattern of themes woven around Hindu deities Rama, Krishna, Durga, Shiva, Saraswathy, Lakshmy etc has helped Madhubani painting to preserve its unique style even now. Established objects like the sun, the moon and also religious plants like Thulsi also find their unique place in most of the Madhubani painting. Another special feature of Madhubani painting is that one cannot find even a small empty space in the painting. The gaps are filled by painting of flowers, animals, birds and even geometric designs. The raw material used for this type of painting such as bamboo sticks, cotton vegetable etc can be easily located in the villages. Various vegetables are used for obtaining various colors. For example, black color is prepared from the blend of soot and cow dung, yellow color from turmeric, pollen, lime, milk of banyan leaves, blue color from indigo, red color from kusum flower juice or red sandal wood, green color from wood apple tree leaves, white color from rice powder, orange from palasha flowers etc., are mainly used in this type of painting. Due to its unique colors and style, Madhubani or Mithila painting is recognized world wide.

Following are the madhubani painting ebooks or tutorials available in world wide web.

Tanjore Paintings

The Tanjore painting, mostly prevalent in Thanjavur dates back to about 1600AD. The exterior richness, treatment of vibrant colors and solid composition has helped Tanjore painting to become one of the renowned arts of painting. Thanks to the Nayak’s who introduces this exceptional and unique art form. The themes of Tanjore painting mainly consist of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and saints drawn out from Hindu mythology. Another name for Tanjore painting is “Palagai padam” as it is mostly drawn on concrete wood board.

The procedure of creating a Tanjore painting engrosses several phases, such as making of opening sketch of the figure on a cloth pasted over a wooden base, mixing of chalk powder or zinc oxide with water soluble adhesive, usage of a mild abrasive decorating the drawing with Jaipur semi precious stones, laces and pasting of gold foils etc. Last but not the least; dyes are used to increase the richness of Tanjore painting. In order to ensure long durability, high quality gold foil is used. Tanjore painting are essentially of three types mainly based on their finish such as Classic, Antique style and Embossed. The usage of bold colors, striking backgrounds and high glitter gold foil makes the Classic finish look different from the antique style, where the gold’s glitter is extra somber with more delicate colors and lucid background. In order to bring more depth to the painting, the classic finish is more super embossed to bring out the embossed finishing touch. The style of drawing of Tanjore painting is unique in that all the figures are static housed in the center of the board and inside beautifully decorated arches or curtains. Tanjore paintings are mostly of Krishna depicting his eyes as broad as almond, with blue outer lines and finally providing with light blue of body color with light shading. One decorating the basic drawings with precious and semi-precious stones and by giving a three dimensional effect with the relief work, Tanjore painting has earned a name of its own when compare with other types of painting works. Tanjore paintings are available at different sizes and as a result find their places in the pooja rooms in residence, arcades in major hotels and lobbies in corporate offices. They are mainly given as gifts during special occasions.

Following are the tanjore painting ebooks and pdf tutorials found on web.

Mughal Paintings

The Mughal Emperors, who ruled India during the late 16th to 18th centuries contributed a different variety of painting with Persian inspiration called Mughal painting. Mughal emperor Humayun contributed a lot for this painting, as he brought two famous Persian artists during his return to India after his expel and adorned in his court. But this painting reached the zenith of its glory during the reign of Emperor Akbar. The two Persian artists, who adorned Emperor Akbar’s court made many masterpiece paintings based on our epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha and also on Persian epics. They were also successful in portraying landscapes, animal stories and portraits. These two Persian artists trained a lot of people who contributed a lot for the development of this art. Notable artists who are responsible for the development of this art during the Mughal period are Mir Syid Ali and Abdus Samad the Persian artists who introduced and adorned the court of Humayon as well as Akbar, then Miskin, Baswan Lal, Daswanth and Kesu Das -remarkable painters during the reign of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. But unfortunately during the first half of the eighteenth century Mughal trained artists, for their fame moved to Rajput Courts. During the reign of Aurangazeb this rich art form started declining and during the reign of Shah Alam II this art form completely declined.

Fortunately, now some artists in Rajasthan mainly at Jaipur have understood the importance of this particular style of South Asian painting and they have started efforts to develop this extravagant art. Though, the new works on mughal paintings are only imitations of the original works we can be happy as efforts have started to develop this art. Thanks to the new artists who are striving hard to develop some classical methods for this mughal painting so as to make it a billion dollar art form. Let us pray and hope that this art form passes from generation to generation and develop as a unique art form.

Following are the free mughal painting ebooks or pdf tutorials available in world wide web.

Digital paintings

Digital painting an old wine in a new bottle, and a blend of computer technology, a digitizing tablet, stylus and software, is slowly replacing the old and traditional form of painting. Unlike other forms of digital art, digital painting is directly created on the computer, minimizing the use of physical media through various brushes and paint effects. The role of the digital painting program is the digital brush that is digitally styled to represent various traditional styles such as oil, acrylic, pastel, charcoal pen etc. The freedom of choosing ones one brush style by using a combination of textures and shape very much helps in bridging the gap between traditional and digital painting. The production art industry solely depends on the digital painting form by using software such as Corel, Painter, Abode, Photoshop, Art Rage, GIMP, Open Canvas etc. Impressionism, realism and water color are three of the widely used form of digital painting. In spite of providing an easy platform for the artist whereby the artist can work with ease in a mess free environment, some die hard followers of traditional art painting are of the view that the digital painting is void of true character that is unique to every physically made object. In traditional painting, the nonlinear profess is predominant in that an artist has the freedom of arranging his painting in layers that can be edited independently. The lack of physicality and surface differences further limits the ability of digital painting. But the availability of certain features such as a virtual palette consisting of millions of colors, almost any size of canvas or media, the ability to take back mistakes and a multitude of two dimension and three dimension effect tools makes the digital painting technology a strong contender to that of the traditional painting.

Following are the free digital paintings ebooks or pdf tutorials available in world wide web.

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Following are the Ebooks and Articles about various paintings and artists.

Online Painting Ebooks & Reviews