The Chinese Brush Painting Bible: Over 200 Motifs with Step by Step Illustrated Instructions (Volume 17) (Artist's Bibles, 17) Hardcover – July 31, 2011

This book is amazing. I would write a longer review, but I need to go paint! What a great value! Highly recommend to anyone who sucks at watercolor. You don't suck! You just didn't start the right way! There are still tremendous language barriers to learning this kind of painting; fortunately this book has good English and really does help explain what you need to know. Beautiful and relaxing. Love love love thank you

Beautifully illustrated comprehensive book on Chinese Brush painting. The book tells supplies needed, types of brushes everything. It tells you how to hold the brush and use it to make different strokes. It contains hundreds of pages of different elements to draw and a page that shows you how to replicate the elements. This is one of my favorite books. I bought a used spiral book and it looks brand new. LOVE it

I have 2 of these books because I used the first one in an art calss and it was so loved that it became well loved and a bit frazzled, so I was delighted to find a source to get another. The colors are crisp and clear and even a novice can make the images. I had never "brush painted"before. I made several pieces from the easily interpreted instructions and they were so well done that I could sell tehm to make money to buy more supplies for my art class of teenagers at a local youth center. My friend had them professionally framed! I really was impressed thatteenagers loved this book so that they would come in daily just to draw a different animal, vegetable or flower in the "style". They enjoyed this more than the "tattoo" images they like so much. I have also applied the technique in my silk painting class. The ladies of all ages flocked to buy this book. I have many books on the Chinese Brush painting techniques and this is the most diverse, lovely and neccessary one I own. It is a true bargain. Artists in acrylic, oil and watecolr have also "HAD TO HAVE this book!

Easy to follow and thorough not all exercises are easy to execute. I suppose that will come with practice and experience. Was very happy with the way the book was packed and sent to us on time by the vendor. It is in great condition.

This book starts out with an introduction of the art with some interesting historical information.It then proceeds to introduce the reader to the various materials and tools used in Chinese brush painting and then offers instruction on how to hold and load the brush . It continues with illustrating how to make certain types of strokes that are important in order to reproduce the subjects found in the book. It offers information using Chinese colors and how to load a brush to produce certain effects. It also offers some limited information on styles, washes, calligraphy, seals, backing and framing. It then continues to the "Motif Directory" and selector. The selector is helpful in giving tiny pictures of the motifs and the page number in which to find them. It has a large selection of motifs with basic information on how to reproduce each one. I think the book can be useful to the beginner as well as the beginning-intermediate student wishing to expand their subject matter in their paintings.

When I was growing up, I had inherited a book from my grandmother, and an inkstone. The book showed all the motifs of Chinese art, and all the writing was in Chinese, but you knew it was a step by step instruction. My favorite pictures to copy with my crayons and pencils back then were the mountain scenes, and those beautiful scenes of karst mountains with rivers flowing between them have haunted my dreams. Sadly I lost this book when I was in college. When I was in Japan this year, I found an inkstone set, and I wanted to get something like my grandmother's book. HEre was the answer, only this time in English, so i could understand everything.There is so much material to work with!I have used this book with my traditional materials (ink & inkstone, brush), and I also have used Akashiya brush-pens from Japan and Akashiya Sai brush-markers. The latter two things I have only found in Japan but they are very helpful for practicing the strokes without using up precious ink.

This book was recommended as "the only book you need" to learn Chinese painting, and I see why. The introduction is beautiful, elegant, simple, but feels complete, with importance placed on calm minds, posture, etc... I'm excited to work my way through, even if it takes years. And this looks complete enough to last years. Hundreds of examples with techniques are given. The layout is beautiful. The cover alone is so pretty, and I like the convenient size, and clear print. I also like the binding, with rings, so you can have one page open on your desk without the need for a bookholder or an extra hand. Having this complete guide on my desk, with brush, ink and paper is giving me all the confidence I need to get started.

One would be skeptical about any title including the word "bible", unless of course you actually "religiously" learn all the techniques from this book. I quasi successfully drew the frog using the app Kung Fu Brush without initially investing heavily on the brushes, ink, and paper. Then with the techniques I learned, I also drew the red chili pepper from my mom's kitchen. The third example, was a custom brush that allows me to draw bamboo and leaves with simple and elegant strokes. All 3 were done digitally, in less than 5 minutes each. Now I am buying from Amazon the art supplies, including 2 blank scrolls, and ready to pray for a successful work. So, if it is NOT a reason for being a "must have" for all students and professional artists, what is?