Art Head Start

No art school? Art skills home study ebook


You can make better art. I can help you do that.

‘Art Head Start’ is a $19.95 home study art design training ebook.

There are at least 3 parts to making art.

  1. Conscious art expertise, art skills and design methods
  2. Semi-conscious emotional and story telling skill
  3. Unconscious spiritual or soulful quality

With my art lessons ebook you'll learn the how-to, the why-to and the when-to of art and design. You'll get the Visual Communication basics you need to make art that IS something, not just ABOUT something.

You'll learn things about evoking emotion visually and telling a compelling visual story. I touch on spirit and soul in your images, on growing your natural creativity and on nurturing your nature.

Your new understanding of art principles will bring you more confidence and better images. You'll know just what to do next, how to do it and why. Perhaps you'll even learn the subtle skill of letting your images "tell you" how they want to be expressed.
“Rigorous but laid-back, it is wonderfully instructive and interesting.”
—Bob Stites, Art Instructor, Osher Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology

Learn Visual Communication

Why my art lesson ebook?
 
  • Learn art at home
  • Or boost art school art lessons
  • Learn by exploring visual effects
  • Know light, color, texture, form
  • Better art through visual principles
  • Grow your unique personal vision
  • Prepare for making digital art
  • I'm a digital artist myself
  • A former instructor at a fine art college
  • An accomplished writer
  • And an instructional materials expert
  • A Life-long student of light and color
  • 'Art Head Start' is an excellent art teacher resource
  • Over 180 of my custom illustrations and 150 pages

Use these buttons to sample my home study art topics yourself

Click on any button once to open, again to close

In this simple quiz, identify at least 8 visual methods used to enhance this image.

Metal Maiden - by Tony Hayes
This fine Sci-Fi digital image is used by permission of artist Tony Hayes.
Take the Quiz

Don't want to overwhelm you, so I've shown only the top 2 levels of headings here.
In the actual ebook, there are two additional levels of art lesson contents below these.

~ Contents ~

READING TIPS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

What’s covered and why?
What it is
What’s not covered?
Who should read it?
What visual styles are included?

LEARNING TIPS

Don’t confuse this with school
Read it more than once
Practice and patience
Be project oriented


Wisdom

PART 1 – THE BASICS

CHAPTER 1 - A GRAMMAR OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION

You - the visual communicator
We start with visual grammar
My visual grammar
Visual grammar use

CHAPTER 2 - EXPLORING THE IMAGE ELEMENTS

Symbolism
Image Elements and their visual effects
The Image Elements in detail

2A. LIGHT AND COLOR

Our medium
Light - Electromagnetic Energy and Waves
Light effects - How light behaves in the world
Color, reflection and absorption – the most common light effects
The Color Wheel, your ‘Color Compass’
Colors together - Color Schemes

2B. ELEMENT 1 - PIXELS

Lots of dots
Pixel confusion

2C. ELEMENT 2 - LINES

Lines
Digital Lines - Vectors

2D. ELEMENT 3 - SHAPES

Shapes as both 2D and 3D
Shapes - Properties

2E. ELEMENT 4 - FORMS

Form from Shape
Edge contour for depth
Texture and form

2F. ELEMENT 5 - OBJECTS

Objects as your subjects

2G. ELEMENT 6 – SCENES

Scenes - your top level
Scene Depth effects
Figure/Ground - Traditional and Contemporary

PART 2 – PUT YOUR UNDERSTANDING TO WORK

WISDOM

CHAPTER 1 – THE NEW WAY OF MAKING 2D IMAGES

Overview - 3D modeling to make 2D images
Advantages of 3D modeling for 2D graphics
3D scene to 2D image workflow

CHAPTER 2 – SCENE PERSPECTIVE

Simulated camera Lenses

CHAPTER 3 – LIGHTING YOUR IMAGES

Why create your own custom lighting?
Light Rendering Basics
Light Rendering Methods
Lighting Render Bells and Whistles
Realism in lighting
Lighting Tips
Common lighting errors
Lighting for realism
More Ways to Improve your scene Lighting

CHAPTER 4 - IMAGE COMPOSITION

Introducing Composition
Analyzing a composition
More on composition

CHAPTER 5 – ATTAINING REALISM

Why bother?
Realism - common mistakes

CHAPTER 6 – ADDING DRAMA

Visual icons
POV (Point-of-View)
Symmetry
Gesture
Color drama
Fake media and perception errors
Drama lighting
Weather, time and mood
Color scheme for your whole image

CHAPTER 7 – THE IMAGE PROJECT PROCESS

First get a concept
Sketch it
Connect inside and out
Plan
Grow your sketch into a prototype image
When you have trouble
Think you’re done? Then it’s time to polish
Final render, another 'final' render, another…
Present it!

CHAPTER 8 – ON SEEING

Looking is not enough

CHAPTER 9 – SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS AND A THEORY

Signature and copyright are not art
Honesty and trickery in art
Digital Postwork
My art theory of ‘hooks and layers’

PART 3 – RESOURCES

TESTED AND RECOMMENDED TOOLS

SOFTWARE

2D Image Editors:
Image Databases:
3D Modelers:
Scene Generators/Assemblers/Renderers/Animators:
Web Editors:
Utilities:

HARDWARE

Stereo Glasses:
Display Calibrators:
Display Cards:

RECOMMENDED WORKFLOWS

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Images:
Models:
Stock Photo Resources:

ONLINE RESOURCES

Art and Art History:


Physics:
Vision:
Psychology of imagery:
Computer Graphics:
Lighting:
Math:

GLOSSARY

Here's a free sample chapter from 'Art Head Start', in PDF format.
Most folks have the free Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - but you can download it below.

Get the Adobe Acrobat Reader
To help you learn art theory, 'Art Head Start' has over 180 of my hand-made images.
     
  Light, Color and Lighting
Basics of object lighting		 The Additive Color System
Digital 'Additive Color' System
  
  Lighting for realism    
   
1 4
How pigments color light by 'subtraction'
Light beams bent by refraction - Like wheels on an axle
entering a medium of different density. Entering at an angle slows one wheel first, bending the path.
   
3 2
Light with transparent objects 'Light and transparent objects' - Legend diagram
   
5
More sample illustrations, shown in a "scrapbook" format
   
Testimonials from past 'Art Head Start' buyers
[These are completely unsolicited comments from paying buyers. None received free items or money. I had no prior knowledge of their comments until I say them published online, at which point I contacted them for permission to use their unedited comments. I changed only the text formatting and bolding and added the signature lines.]

“Jim Coe's ebook 'Art Head Start' is devoted to visual communication - but I got it because it has the best coverage to be found on color (see for yourself by trying his Free Sample Chapter and his Color Wheel and Color Tree info pages). Now that 'Art Head Start' is mine, I'm learning things I didn't think I'd want to know.”

“Rigorous but laid-back, it is wonderfully instructive and interesting.”

         —Bob Stites, Art Instructor, Osher Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology

“EXCELLENT! I don't know why this is called a tutorial. It's a big book, like you'd see in an actual college art class. It teaches you quite a bit about how to make your images more appealing to others and yourself.”

        — Sonia


“Thanks so much for taking the time to create the tutorials and then sharing them with us.
I don't have an 'art background' so your ebook was/is a great way to jumpstart my knowledge..”

“THANK YOU!”

      — HeavyRay


“All I can say is THANK YOU so very much.”

“I got the tutorial this morning and I have already started reading it. It is superbly written and so detailed.”

“I have always been clueless about what adjustments to make to achieve the scenes I wish to. My analytical mind wanted an explanation of these processes. Software manuals just do not explain any of the processes in depth.”

“I am so glad you took the time to write your tutorial for beginners (or stupid long time users). I wish I would have had this tutorial when I first started. I have nothing but praise for you!”

“Many kudos to you for a wonderful work,”

      — Sharon Wilke


“Hi”
“I've just been watching some of the video tutorials" (These are our free Vue 3D tutorials available elsewhere on this site _jim coe).

“I'm a total beginner in working with Vue (and 3d apps in general) and I've found it difficult to find really good tutorials that beginners can follow.”

“Your tutorials are great! They are so easy to follow. I've learnt so much that would have probably taken me weeks (if not months) to learn on my own.”

“I'm so glad I came across them - thank you so much for making them available on the net.”

      — Evangeline


“Hey jc....
Monsoon here...”

“I've purchased your art book and I must say it's a helluva tome for beginners and experienced users alike. 10+!!”

“Well done sir!”

      — M

("Monsoon" is the online nickname of a producer of hot & popular digital products for 3D scene makers. _jim coe)


“I'm only 1/3 of the way through, but I can't begin to tell you how great this book is. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore. Concepts I thought I understood are clearer now and I am learning new things every step of the way. Plus I can always go back to it as a reference. Jim also has a good mix of text and visuals to keep you engaged. Like i said I am only 1/3 through, but I feel like I got my money's worth already.”

      — Brian


“Bought this based on the reviews, and I'm glad I did! Learned a *ton* reading through this and practicing. For a semi-newbie like me, it was perfect, and better than some print books I've wasted my money on. Covers everything you need to get going.”   :-)

      — Ed

 

More about 'Art Head Start'

I wrote Art Head Start for beginning to intermediate visual workers, based on my personal college level art instruction methods. It's a unique book - there's really nothing like it elsewhere. I know, because I searched everywhere as part of my book project research.

The later chapters are slanted toward digital art - but the principles, methods and art theory you'll learn are the foundation of any visual expression in any medium.

'Art Head Start'...

Practical advice

You'll learn not only art principles, but also practical ways to make better art. Such as how to analyze and improve:


Helping you learn

I wrote and organized the 150+ pages of 'Art Head Start' art lessons your art instruction needs in mind, if you're like I was as a struggling art student, or like many of my past students. More than 180 of my own custom images make the art design concepts clear.

Foundation for success

A successful artist goes way beyond mastering their tools. What employers and art audiences want is your unique personal creativity. They want artists who reveal their personal vision. Art isn't a factory business and they aren't interested in digital art "software operators". They want "Creatives". An understanding of Visual Communication is the solid foundation on which you can grow your unique artistic vision. Your creativity and personal vision are the only values you can bring to the art marketplace, once you know your tools and methods.

Why so inexpensive?

Experts advised me to charge $50 to $100 for an ebook with this much high quality information. And a full color printed version would have to cost that much. But I want my ebook in the hands of art students on tight budgets. I remember my days as a financially poor art student very well. Please don't judge 'Art Head Start' by its low price of $19.95.

Get your 'Art Head Start' right now

In a few minutes you can be improving your art skills, gaining understanding and confidence from this art instruction - and enjoying all the fun of creating art works that really DO work.

It's easy to download. Should you need them, detailed printable instruction are here. Most people already have the required free pdf Adobe Acrobat Reader.


No-risk 100% money-back guarantee


World class security
shopping security

  
Buy the art skills e-book with any of 7 credit cards or PayPal How secure is your order?

~ Guarantee ~

No kidding, no risk, no questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee

I'll refund your full purchase price, for a period of 8 weeks from your purchase date, if you're not totally satisfied with 'Art Head Start' for any reason - or for no reason at all.

If you want a refund within the refund period, just request one here: refunds@art-head-start.com. I'm proud of the fact that there hasn't yet been a single request for a refund during the years 'Art Head Start' has been available.

No Unfriendly Limitations

Like most ebooks, 'Art Head Start' is in Adobe PDF format. Unlike many ebooks, I don't protect it from piracy with any unfriendly Digital Rights Management software schemes. My art design ebook is protected from editing or copying, but you can now print it (earlier versions didn't allow printing).

Informative emails

When you join my email list, I'll send you very occasional info about my new writings or other learning services (I'm working on some pretty special stuff, including an online art class). I'll never share your email address nor spam you with sales hype. I use a double opt-in signup process, so you're fully protected from spam. You can easily unsubscribe, using the unsubscribe link inside each message.


Get my helpful mailings!
I promise not to share your email address or send sales hype
        _ jim coe
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If I can be of any help...

      Please feel free to contact me: jimcoe@art-head-start.com.


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