Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors

Millions of people have learned to draw using the methods of Dr. Betty Edwards’s bestseller The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Now, much as artists progress from drawing to painting, Edwards moves from black-and-white into color. This much-awaited new guide distills the enormous existing knowledge about color theory into a practical method of working with color to produce harmonious combinations.

Using techniques tested and honed in her five-day intensive color workshops, Edwards provides a basic understanding of how to see color, how to use it, and-for those involved in art, painting, or design-how to mix and combine hues. Including more than 125 color images and exercises that move from simple to challenging, this volume explains how to:

see what is really there rather than what you “know” in your mind about colored objects

perceive how light affects color, and how colors affect one another

manipulate hue, value, and intensity of color and transform colors into their opposites

balance color in still-life, landscape, figure, and portrait painting

understand the psychology of color

harmonize color in your surroundings

While we recognize and treasure the beautiful use of color, reproducing what we see can be a challenge. Accessibly unweaving color’s complexity, this must-have primer is destined to be an instant classic.

Tarcher