Painting the Secret World of Nature

Rating:
Summary: Painting the Secret World of Nature
Review: For the realist artist this book is great! Altho' Mr. Agnew's main interest is in painting exotic animals and places, many of his technics can be used for other realistic painting. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: You won't learn to airbrush from this book, but--nice pix!
Review: Gorgeous nature artwork. The frog is exceptional. Agnew's rendering of translucent animal skin, dewdrops and leaves is miraculous, but you won't learn how exactly to airbrush those types of things. How the works get from roughed-in ideas to detailed airbrushed plant foliage is NOT well-documented here. If you want to learn how to do detailed airbrushing, this is not the book for you. But if you want to be inspired by some great technique and learn some of it (for example, how to do translucent effects) this book is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Painting the Secret World of Nature
Review: In my experience, the majority of instructional books on realist painting of nature are by people who are have surprisingly little ability to paint the natural world realistically. Most books of any lasting worth deal primarily with drawing, and the majority of those were written before 1920. This one is modern, both in sensibility and method, and deals with painting with acrylics.

I guess it is not surprising that someone who can paint with such precision and clarity can also provide clear instruction. Perhaps I've run across a fair amount of what is covered in this book in various other books, magazine articles, etc. Still, the quality of the associated art in those other sources often did not inspire great confidence, the usable portion often had to be sifted out from a lot of plain rubbish, and worst of all the very fact of it being so scattered made it almost impossible to get a clear overview of the entire painting process. In this book the artwork inspires confidence, and the painting process is explained precisely and illustrated with excellent photographs. Drawing skills are not covered in any depth at all, as alluded to by the title.

John Agnew's book mostly covers two subjects: the painting process as a whole and specific painting techniques for various subjects. I often read reviewers who complain that a particular art instruction book is too "philosophical" and not "practical" enough. This book is strongly weighted toward the "practical" and should please those who want useful technique from the start. That said, I think that the disdain for so-called "philosophical" can be unfair. Most of the deeper things in the craft of painting and illustration can only be conveyed (if at all) through writing that is philosophical in tone. My sense is that the author wanted to add some of his deeper reflections but was restrained by the publisher. He managed to sneak a few in nonetheless. I wish there had been more. I also wish that the mural of his that graces the cover of the first edition of _The Dinosauria_ had been included in this book.

This is one to buy hardbound.

Rating:
Summary: Tangible art
Review: There are many good books on nature; there are many good books on art; there are many good instruction manuals. John Agnew's "Painting the secret world of nature" is a rare book that excels in all three of these.

Beginners as well as experienced artists will find this book both technically helpful and aesthetically pleasing. Its clear-cut instructions and step-by-step illustrations, showing the process of creating and elaborating a visually striking image, will help a practicing artist to improve the technique of realistic painting.

All professional artists have their own trade secrets; few are willing to share them; even fewer are able to do it in a way that makes sense to others. John Agnew's book is the one that does it superbly.

Rating:
Summary: Tangible art
Review: There are many good books on nature; there are many good books on art; there are many good instruction manuals. John Agnew's "Painting the secret world of nature" is a rare book that excels in all three of these.

Beginners as well as experienced artists will find this book both technically helpful and aesthetically pleasing. Its clear-cut instructions and step-by-step illustrations, showing the process of creating and elaborating a visually striking image, will help a practicing artist to improve the technique of realistic painting.

All professional artists have their own trade secrets; few are willing to share them; even fewer are able to do it in a way that makes sense to others. John Agnew's book is the one that does it superbly.