Includes index.

Knowing your materials -- Beginning steps -- Theme: selection and composition -- Light and atmosphere -- Color drawing -- Step by step.

From achieving those first professional strokes to mastering composition, lighting, and color to finishing beautiful still lifes, portraits, and landscapes, here, in one volume, is a course that covers every basic skill as well as more challenging lessons for the developing artist. Inspiring and instructive images fill the pages, vividly revealing the intricacies of each technique. The artist's journey begins with the tools of the trade, and here is complete coverage on using graphite, charcoal, chalks, colored pencils, and pastels, as well as information on papers and liquid techniques. There's advice on how to gain pencil control, select a theme, draw with grids, achieve harmony in composition, and balance the image. Exercises teach shading and tone contrasts and volume effects stumping and contouring and depth effects. Find out how to mix and work with color, and do hatching, optical effects, scratching, and graffito. The series of guided drawings includes a charcoal of a nude figure, a landscape on gray tone paper, an interior using a white-on-white technique, a still life with chiaroscuro, an interior patio in wash, and many others you'll be proud to show.

Originally published in Spain in 2002 under the title: Fundamentos del dibujo artístico.