Painting in Watercolor: The Indispensable Guide

There are so many books available on the subject of watercolor painting that one can get bewildered as to which one is "best" for you. Simply put, no one book is the "best" because of the complexity of the subject. Watercolor is a wonderful and yet sometimes awfully difficult medium. Therefor the painter needs all the help he or she can get on the demonstration of the basics. One needs a book on this subject to be clear and unambiguous, particularly for the beginner or the painter who has dabbled in watercolor but wants to go to the next step. In that capacity this book is excellent!I often add a watercolor book to my collection purely because of the painting examples that are included. The text may be boring, poorly written or even useless but the watercolor illustrations can make it worthwhile having. The examples in this book by both the author and other artists achieve that. The demonstration illustrations are clear and the selection of other artist's works are varied enough to show the reader a great variety of approaches to watercolor painting.

Watched hours upon hours of videos before getting this book and it teaches possibly everything a person needs to learn about watercolors. I could have saved a lot of time — ha!. Beautiful large color pages and easy to read. It’s a book for keeping to go back and reference from time to time.

I can't remember the last time I wrote a product review (I know, free-rider problem), but I was so impressed with this book, I felt I needed to write something.I have bought almost 15 of the best, most-rated watercolor books on technique just to see which one would best suit me. This one by far is the best. It has high-quality glossy pages, beautiful cover, rich and vibrant illustrations, easy-to-follow step-by-step guide, and so much more. The layout and template of each page is so, so neat; it's almost like a magazine. If a single page of this book gets bent, I will be so sad. That's how much I treasure this book. AMAZING!

I read the reviews. I’m fact i heard mention of this volume in a pan of another artist who actually Wrote a 30 day course to learn how to start to get to know this medium. It is a wonderful encyclopedic compendium of watercolor technique performed by well practiced artists. Absolute inspiration for you to get going.However if you are just beginning, or picking up this medium after having painted in another, the first couple of chapters will be a nice to “know where you might be going”. This is a nice book for your personal library, but it is NOT instructional. There are maybe a handful of step by step examples… but they are not tutorials meant to be followed start to finish. They are commentary on a blend or a color mix. For example the portrait in the photo attached is not showing how to paint the portrait… it is about composition, lighting, approach, etc. All valuable if you have never taken an art class or specifically a portrait class. Think of this as “survey of watercolor “.In the end there is value here. Thumbing through it over coffee inspired me to keep going with Jenna Rainie’s “essential” 30 day technique class in a book.David Webb’s book has value as everyone needs the perspective of a 30 year veteran to really get a grasp on what to expect after only 30 days of paint to paper. And this is a helpful kind of “all the things I wish someone had mentioned early on” compendium.This is for beginners if you are seeking an understanding of everything you have yet to learn, but that cannot be gained without tons and tons of practice.

Very nice book. We've been using it for sketching ideas when we can't make it to nature / outoors and it's been great.

Great art book. Great service.

This book has lots of information about watercolor painting!! Chapter One is about the paints, papers, and the supplies needed. Chapter Two goes into various techniques used: flat wash, gradated wash, wet on wet, etc. Chapter Three is all about composition, placing elements and drawing the viewer's eye. Chapter Four gives examples of various textures and forms, including portraits. And Chapter Five shows how different artists approach their work. The massive amount of beautiful examples in the book are inspiring and sprinkled throughout the book are little exercises you can try. This is probably the best book on watercolor painting that I have. So glad I bought it!!

I found this to be one of the best books on watercolor painting available. It gives a thorough, step-by-step instruction on painting with watercolor. There are simple, basic examples and tutorials that build up your painting skills. These tutorials progress in a logical fashion building the students confidence and skill in handling watercolors. It is a joy to use and author David Webb not only uses his brilliant watercolor paintings as examples but he showcases other watercolor artists as well. Worth the price!