Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors

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Summary: Color Theory Demystified
Review: Betty Edwards, the author of Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain, has ventured into the world of color and painting with Color. Edwards demystifies color theory and brings it within grasp of just about any artist or designer. If you have had problems understanding just what makes up a harmonious color palette, then this book will help you solve that problem.

The book starts out at by explaining the basic vocabulary and works its way up to what makes a harmonious color arrangement. It achieves this with a number of exercises that are designed to give the student firsthand experience with mixing color and picking a palette. Though this book is written for painters, designers will get a lot of use out of it. In fact, I was able to do almost all the exercises digitally and got a good bit of benefit from doing so. I am a painter as well as a graphic designer, so I will be doing the exercises twice (once digitally and once with oils), but even if you are solely a graphic designer, this book will be of great benefit for you if you do not have a good foundation in color theory.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the numerous side bar quotes from famous artists and designers. We hear from the likes of Goethe to Itten. Though the quotes are not really needed for the text, it is certainly interesting to hear some of the greats talk about color.

The book's sub-title includes the word "mastering," but I do not think you will be a master of color after having read this book. However, you will have a firm foundation in color theory and will be pointed in the right direction to reach that goal if you put in the effort. So if you have always been mystified by color theory or never have gotten around to studying it, then this book is for you. You will come away from reading this book with a firm understanding of color and what makes good color design.

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Summary: A MUST-HAVE BOOK FOR ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, EVERYONE!
Review: Finally, a book that unravels the mysteries of color in a clear, readable, interesting way. We would expect no less from the author of the best-selling Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. This is the perfect complement (pun intended).

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Summary: The book on practical color theory!
Review: I learned to draw about 15 years ago from Betty Edward's classic DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN. I went from having what I thought of as no talent to producing portraits people actually have offered to buy! For years I've stayed with pencil, however, never quite understanding color. No more-- this book is the perfect bridge from drawing to painting. If you have some knowlege of monochrome drawing and want to make the leap to full color painting this is THE book for you. If you don't think you can draw, read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain first before tackling this one. Both are simply outstanding.

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Summary: Color at last!
Review: I read my first book by Dr. Edwards -"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"- in 1994, when living in U.S.A. Since then the book has been always a few inches from my hand. I really enjoyed reading the book, as well as doing the pertinent excercises. In doing so, I gained a first hand experience in drawing what I was seeing. In a few words, an excellent piece of work. In fact, not long time ago I bought the "New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "Drawing on the Artist Within".

On the other hand, and since I love color, I was always missing a good book dealing with this important issue. Well, here it is! One of the best books I've ever read regarding this complex subject. Well written, richly illustrated, brightly colored, the kind of book you know at once was done by an expert. The book drives you along a smooth path of learning, going from simple excercises to more complex works -e.g. armonizing whole paintings-. The book is really impressive regarding the color insight you gain by reading and doing the excercises. I think it would be useful both for beginners and professionals as well. Simply said, a jewel worth getting as soon as possible!

After reading and working with three of her books, I think the only one Dr. Edwards had yet to write -hopefully- is a book dealing with drawing and painting imaginary subjects. Maybe a major issue at present but who knows, maybe sometime in the future ...

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Summary: Good in Theory
Review: I was surprised to see in all the rave reviews this book has received that no one has mentioned the practical problems of actually finding acrylic paints in the colors she tells you to buy. I searched on three continents and was unable to find any supplier that carried all of them. The only manufacturer who actually makes a "cobalt violet" is Golden Acrylics - I ordered this paint with relief only to find out that it was completely different from the color swatch in her book and doesn't work at all in color mixing. Same for "permanent green" which is always light or dark - not specified by her - and which in the case of Golden Acrylics does not mix correctly. I assume she'll eventually come out with her own line of Acrylics for use with this book, but for now good luck. It's absolutely unworkable without the basic materials, and what are they?

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Summary: Learn Color Here
Review: If you paint and use color, or just want to appreciate color in painting, this is the book. What makes Betty Edwards a wonderful teacher is her ability to question what she is doing as a teacher and then find ways to introduce new ways to study the material so as to bring the essence of the lessons home to the student. In this book she explains that her students were not grasping the essence of color and how to render it effectively. After some thought she developed new lessons that explained to the students how to understand and use color. These lessons are now brought to us in the form of this tomb.

I have executed the lessons, and they work. Even though I have been painting for 10 years I learned a lot from this book and doing the exercises. Doing the exercises is key, but they are very straight forward to do and one can learn even in "failure" (I had to do a couple of them more than once).

So there you have it. This is an instructional book that works in that it communicates to the reader (student) lessons about color and color usage that are invaluable. The lessons are clear and the results of doing the lessons are an increased understanding of art and color.

Highly recommended.