Must Read Art Book Recommendations For Artists

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Here are a few of my art book recommendations for April to transform your creative practice. Some of these books I’ve had since 2014 and I consider them to be staples in my studio.

1500 Color Mixing Recipes: for oil acrylic & watercolor by William F. Powell

This is my most used book for skin tones. Even if I don't have the exact color, I can match it pretty close with recipes in this book. You'll have color recipes for landscapes, eye color, hair color, value recipes, and more.

The Creature Garden by Harry & Zanna Goldhawk

If you like whimsical wildlife then this book is for you. It’s a drawing guide for anyone who wants to capture an illustrative, playful style. The tutorials are simple and easy to follow.

I like to use books like this to inspire new ideas. Sometimes I’ll follow the exercises, other times I’ll just open the book and have it there as a guide.

The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws

If you want to start drawing birds, this is it. It has start-to-finish tutorials, different angles, anatomy breakdowns, and more. You can see Law's love for birds. I've only done a few exercises and I love my sketches already.

Getting the shape of the body and proportions are the hardest for me. This book is good at starting with simple shapes for beginners.

Figure It Out! Human Proportions by Christopher Hart

I've had this book for the longest. Even though my figures are stylized it's always good to have a reference with the correct proportions. There are so many tips and examples too, I recommend all of his anatomy books.

Do you own any of these? If so, let me know your recommendations in the comments. Share this post with your friends on Pinterest!

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