Water Color Figure Painting

A figure artist whose work I did not know of and I suspect many others did not either is William Reginald Watkins. A number of his water color paintings are for sale on Ebay right now, though some have been sold. William Reginald Watkins was born in Manchester, England and later studied at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore Maryland. There he studied under artists such as Hans Schuler, C.W. Turner and Maxwell Miller. He was a member of the Baltimore Watercolor Club, the London Royal Society of Art, Baltimore Art Director Club, National Art Director and the Maryland Institute Alumni Board. His work was exhibited both nationally and internationally. He was best know for landscapes, snowscenes, still life, portraits, and marine paintings. These are figure studies executed to keep up his craft. There is a listing at Askart.com.

His figure studies are carefully observed and show an understanding of anatomy and the human form. Noitice the careful rendering of form and notice also the care that went into these paintings. Watercolor is a tricky medium, that is you can't go back and correct your work so the care that went into these paintings is evident in the unity of color, nothing seems overworked or out of place in the finished work.


Two ebooks on drawing the figure are available at Figure-drawings.com, Figure Painting in Watercolors, which shows the technique of British figure artists from the beginnning of the twentieth century and Lessons in Figure Painting in Watercolor which has basic lessons illustrated with prints made to resemble two stages of a water color painting in a book originally published in the 1880s.










Introduction to Painting the Nude

at Amazon.com.
Interpreting the Figure in Watercolor at Amazon.com.



Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice also at Amazon.com.




Here's a website devoted to W. R. Watkins: WR Watkins - Nude Portraits :: 1930s — 1960s

How to Draw People at Figure-Drawings.com

How to Draw Proportions at Figure-Drawings.com

Water Color Figure Sketches

One great way to explore the figure is with quick sketches in water color. Listed on Ebay right now are several representations of the technique by Nat Edson.

Notice how Mr. Edson gets at the essential form of the figure with a few quick strokes of color, followed by shadows to make the form appear in space. With a real economy of brushwork there is a convincing rendering of form. This ability to see the form in this almost abstract manner must have contributed to his long uccessful career in Comic Book Illustration.

The seller quotes a couple of biographical sources to note that he was a a comic book and sketch artist, worked in the comic industry for over forty years. His career included work on Edgar Rice Burrough's TARZAN and Disney Comic Books. He also drew for Quality, Lafayette, DC/National and Pines/Standard in the 1940s.



He painted in his leisure time, favorite subject were nudes and portraits.

His TARZAN works include: Tarzan in the Temple of Flames; Tarzan, Valley of Peril; Tarzan and the Sea Serpents; Tarzan and the Apes of Changok.

There is a biography at Lambiek.net. Another brief biography is at CALart.com.






Putting People in Your Paintings
and
Figure Painting In Watercolor
and
The Big Book of Drawing and Painting the Figure at Amazon.com.




An ebook Rendering in Water Color about basic watercolor techniques is available at Figure-drawings.com, another ebook Figure Painting in Water Colours demonstrates the technique of various well known British water color artists at the beginning of the twentieth century.

at Amazon.com. The author Emily Ball trained at Exeter College of Art, and later at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, and now runs highly successful courses in contemporary painting and drawing, as well as continuing to develop and exhibit her own work as an artist.
Drawing and Painting People: A Fresh Approach

Lessons in Figure Painting in Water Color - New Ebook

Here is a new ebook Lessons in Figure Painting in Water Color, published in 1881.

Each lesson consists of a written description of the colors used and their manner and order of application plus two color plates showing the painting in two stages of completion.
This ebook, like the other Cassell Books (A Course of Painting in Neutral Tint, A Course of Sepia Painting, and A Course of Water Colour Painting, By R. P. LEITCH) is a facsimile of an original book which was printed using a method called continuous tone printing.

The effect of the plates is similar to silkscreen printing, but printed with transparent inks. The final product closely approximates the look of an actual water color painting and gives the artist and printer great control over the look and over the finished product.

From THE LITERARY WORLD
A Fortnightly Review of Current Literature. 1881 BOSTON, 1881
"The books of which we are now to speak are of novel plan and structure, being intended as guides to children in the art of water-color painting. One is Lessons in Figure Painting , another Flower Painting; their design being to lay before beginners simple instructions in water coloring, with a variety of examples to copy. Each book is, therefore, first, a text-book, short, plain and circumstantial ; and, second, a scrap-book, with pictures inserted on blank pages which the young student is to take as models.

"The lessons in figure painting, which are the more difficult of the two, are from designs by Blanche Mac- Arthur and Jennie Moore, both of whom are medalists of the Royal Academy; and are sixteen in number. Each design is fitted with special and minute directions, which in a measure take the place of a teacher, and which will suffice for any child who has had some practice in the use of the color box. Each subject is presented in two designs, one finished, the other unfinished; thus educating the eye into the separate stages of the work, and enabling it to distinguish between what is fundamental and what is superficial. The flower designs, which compose the second of the two volumes, are by- Edward Hulme, who is perhaps the most noted English flower painter of the day ; are simpler, and of course will demand less of the young student. The usefulness of these books, reinforcing their beauty, is certain to commend them to wide circulation. "

Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits: More than 500 Color Combinations for skin, eyes, lips & hair