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Explore a world of swirling brushstrokes, starry night skies, and colorful landscapes in this entertaining and accessible introduction to one of the most famous artists in history – Vincent Van Gogh.
In Van Gogh: Make Your Own Masterpiece, aspiring artists will discover the key techniques and themes that make Van Gogh’s work so distinctive and complete 14 fun exercises to practice some of the master’s methods, including:
- Experimenting with complimentary colors
- Mastering the art of self-portraits
- Creating a tabletop still life
Introduction
Post-Impressionism: Use bold, simple colors and shapes to capture a sound, smell or feeling as you sketch a scene from your day.
Night Skies: Create your own night sky scene using a technique called ‘sgraffito’—add a thick layer of blue on top of the yellow page, then scratch away at it to reveal the stars underneath.
Still Life: Use Van Gogh’s perspective frame to copy a picture inspired by one of his most famous paintings.
Japonaiserie: Produce your own Japonaiserie by adding strong, clear outlines to the landscape provided and coloring it using a few bold colors.
Swirls and Curls: Use Van Gogh’s swirling technique to add a background pattern to a series of dancing figures.
Working Quickly: Use the reference images as inspiration to create your own tabletop still life in less than five minutes.
Pointillism: Use dots to color a stripy hot-air balloon, a breezy sailboat, a beautiful butterfly, and a striking fall tree.
Complementary Colors: Try drawing shapes in blue and yellow to see if you can find their complementary colors, then color in the flowers using your favorite combinations.
Mark Maker: Use charcoal or a soft pencil to complete drawings of a swishy-tailed, long-haired dog, a windmill with rotating blades, an explosive firework, and a glowing crescent moon.
Seeing Things Differently: Choose a tiny detail of your view out of the window and fill the pages with your unique representation of it.
Self-Portraits: Look in the mirror, then fill the frames with two versions of your own self-portrait.
Paul Gauguin: Draw a tropical, desert island scene using clear outlines and bright, unrealistic colors.
Painting with Words: Write a letter to someone you know, describing a place you’ve visited, then illustrate your description with fun sketches or doodles.
Expressionism: Color the sunflowers without thinking about how they should look. Instead, choose shades that reflect how you feel right now.
Timeline