Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

A complete course for the can't-wait-to-get-started beginner!Got the urge to draw? What are you waiting for?! Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3 with Grant Fuller's Start Sketching & Drawing Now! Packed full of easy and fun techniques, readers will learn to create accurate and expressive likenesses of people, animals, landscapes, and objects. Suddenly rendering even something as mundane as an electrical plug will become an adventure in seeing-and as you'l...

You won't believe the incredible drawings you can create using common pencils and the special techniques illustrated in this book. These methods are so easy that anyone-from doodler to advanced artist-can master them in minutes! Step by step, you'll learn how to capture the look of metal, glass, weathered wood, skin, hair and other textures. Two detailed start-to-finish demonstrations show you how to use these textures to create drawings that look so real they seem to leap right off the pa...

Advice & information for choosing, designing & building a greenhouse or potting shed Few outdoor structures are as rich with romance and promise as greenhouses and potting sheds. Inspired gardeners appreciate them for their utility as well as their charm. Even homeowners who are not avid gardeners enjoy the unique ability of these structures to lend a taste of English countryside to any property. Greenhouses & Garden Sheds contains hundreds of beautiful photographs featuring the finest exa...

Artist Craig Nelson covers all the basics of composition. From perspective to proportion, you will discover the keys to unlocking the secrets needed to improve your skills and create outstanding works of art.

Working Wood, Not Machining ItIf you're more interested in working with wood rather than machining it, you will be relieved to learn that expensive powered machinery isn't required to build furniture. You can also forget the dust masks, face shields and hearing protection since many of the safety concerns related to woodworking-the use of power tools-are eliminated. In this book, you'll learn to set up a hand-tool woodworking shop, then discover the toolset, practi...

Ignite your passion for jewelryTorch-Fired Enamel Jewelry combines beading and wire-working techniques with theintense beauty of torch-fired enameled beads. Metal becomes your canvas as you learn the basics of enameling with a torch, then dive into 22 exquisite pieces, ranging from quirky “cattywampus” earrings to ethereal pendants to delicate multi-stranded necklaces. Find out how easy it is to create unique and colorful enamel pieces in this innovative, comprehen...

A step-by-step guide to building a lifestyle based on independence, security, and sustainability—includes color photos.Build your way to a more self-sufficient lifestyle with step-by-step projects for backup and supplementary utilities—including independent water, heat, and electricity—growing and storing food, raising small livestock, beekeeping, and more. Many of the projects require basic materials available at your everyday home center, but this book also provid...

Open this book as an absolute beginner, and come away as a proud portrait artist.Mark and Mary Willenbrink's Absolute Beginner books have helped thousands of novices tap into their inner artists. In this book, Mark and Mary help the beginning artist take on portraits, showing that absolutely anyone can draw faces. Their encouraging, easy-to-follow instruction style makes learning fun—you'll be amazed by how quickly you achieve impressive results.

Teach yourself the lost arts of blacksmithing, tool design, and tool repair.Design, forge, and fix your own tools, hardware, and household accessories with master craftsman and teacher Alexander G. Weygers. The Complete Modern Blacksmith contains clear, step-by-step instructions and hundreds of the author’s own detailed drawings, bringing scores of time-honored techniques to modern artisans – experienced craftsmen and beginners alike.This unique re...

A must-have reference for anyone who draws!This is your complete guide to drawing-packed with everything you need to know about materials, techniques and drawing styles. Learn the secrets to rendering any subject, and quickly find the answers to common problems and questions so that you can get back to the drawing board. Secrets of Drawing, Start to Finish is a handy, one-stop reference that beginners and experienced artists simply can't be without.

No projects offer more aesthetic or financial satisfaction than DIY masonry and stonework projects. Homeowners can routinely save thousands of dollars in labor costs by buying and installing materials that are now readily available for routine purchase. This book includes traditional techniques for laying concrete adapted to the special needs of ordinary homeowners, but also features cutting edge materials and techniques, such as tumbled concrete pavers, acid-etching for colored concrete s...