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Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring and Informative
Review: I found Alex's encouragement to find you own style and a very insightful analysis of his style to be quite informative. I enjoyed his descriptions of how his pictures were designed and more importantly what worked and didn't work. The principles that he discussed on simplicity, value, color, movement, paper-doll and silhouette relatioships, design approaches, etc. were very helpful in trying to understand and improve my own crude attempts at painting. Alex must be a very fine teacher, as his narrative was concise and very on topic through out the book.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Informative
Review: I found Alex's encouragement to find you own style and a very insightful analysis of his style to be quite informative. I enjoyed his descriptions of how his pictures were designed and more importantly what worked and didn't work. The principles that he discussed on simplicity, value, color, movement, paper-doll and silhouette relatioships, design approaches, etc. were very helpful in trying to understand and improve my own crude attempts at painting. Alex must be a very fine teacher, as his narrative was concise and very on topic through out the book.
Rating:
Summary: Alex Powers, MY HERO
Review: I have been reading and re-reading this book since December 1997. I have always had the desire to paint but never picked up a paintbrush because realistic painting did not leave me inspired to follow. The painting style that Alex Powers has in his work is what I have been searching for all my life. In writing about his personal style he encourages his readers to find their own style. I picked this book up several different times over a two week period before I finally bought it. I would love to attend a class that he teaches.
Rating:
Summary: Alex Powers, MY HERO
Review: I have been reading and re-reading this book since December 1997. I have always had the desire to paint but never picked up a paintbrush because realistic painting did not leave me inspired to follow. The painting style that Alex Powers has in his work is what I have been searching for all my life. In writing about his personal style he encourages his readers to find their own style. I picked this book up several different times over a two week period before I finally bought it. I would love to attend a class that he teaches.
Rating: 
Summary: Other reviewers must be family members - book is worthless
Review: There are a lot of really bad books on portrait painting, and this is definitely one of them. If Amazon was giving this book away, I would not want one. There is really no instruction to speak of in this book. The style is also pretty boring, and lifeless. The type of uninspired, realism, and bad painting so typical of American Artist magazine.
Instead buy any of the Charles Reid books, but his Natural way to paint is the best for portrait painting.
...Okay, maybe I have been a little harsh. If you took this book, and stacked it up with some other bad art books, you could angle your watercolor board, and paint in the style of Charles Reid. So, I guess it isn't worthless, just not very good.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This book is one of the indispensable ones - you have got to have it! Don't let the painting on the cover put you off (I think it is one of the weakest paintings!) Between the covers, where it counts, this book is great.Powers has the incredible ability to paint something perfectly while making it look like it took him a few minutes. His vision is unique. To some, his work may appear messy or unfinished, but for me this is a genius at work. His paintings look simple, but it's what he leaves out that often makes his work utterly remarkable. His concise and easy-to-understand notes on facial proportions and his analysis of elements of his technique, such as composition, design, colour, line, and shape, make for fascinating reading. Seeing the mark of the artist has always been compelling for me. Here I see it in every painting. I often refer to Powers' methods to teach my art workshops for adult students. This is my desert island book - the book with which I would choose to be marooned. If there were a six-star rating, this book would get it. Why are you still reading? BUY IT! NOW!
Rating:
Summary: The power behind portrait techniques
Review: This is such an immensely informative book with an incredible range of effective techniques and written in such an inspirational way. The next step must be to attend an Alex Powers workshop - anybody out there that can help me?
Rating:
Summary: The power behind portrait techniques
Review: This is such an immensely informative book with an incredible range of effective techniques and written in such an inspirational way. The next step must be to attend an Alex Powers workshop - anybody out there that can help me?
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