Watercolourist's Guide to Painting Buildings

This guide to painting buildings in watercolours explores a range of subjects from a small shed to a large street scene. It covers basic and specialized techniques including how to create texture and achieve realistic light and shade. Other topics include perspective, proportion and colour.
The new HarperCollins "Learn To Draw" series contains more than a dozen slim, inexpensive volumes, each devoted to a single genre. Cook's book on buildings is a good introduction to basic drawing tools and materials, with brief demonstrations and tips. The volume suffers from the smallness of many of the illustrations and the resulting loss of detail. An earlier effort by Michael Woods, The Complete Drawing Course: How You Can Master All the Techniques of Drawing in Just 25 Minutes (Batsford, 1995) is broader in scope and a better value. For those who want to renderbuildings in watercolor, Taylor's book is an unequivocal success. A member of the Society of Architectural Illustrators, Taylor has created a sumptuous work, rich in detailed images, and, moreover, complete with a brilliant text. For readers who wonder how a particular shadow is splashed over a stucco wall or how to get small panes in sunlight to look like real glass, Taylor reveals the color values and techniques necessary. Highly recommended, for beginning or advanced artists.