The Bottom Line
An extremely comprehensive guide to painting watercolour, that includes the basics, how-to demonstrations of popular subjects such as trees and skies, and step-by-step demonstrations of 11 paintings.
Pros
- Teaches techniques not just how to copy a painting
- Loads of step-by-step illustrations
- Easy-to-navigate pages done like web pages
Cons
- No audio, so have to read everything yourself
- Video needs editing to speed demonstrations up
- Very different styles in different parts of CD-ROM
Description
- PC CD-ROM requires at least a Pentium90, Windows 95, Internet Explorer4, 16MB memory, 10speed CD-ROM
- More than 250 how-to video clips.
- More than 3,000 photos illustrate the explanations of the techniques described in the text.
- More than 200 reference photos to use for your own paintings, including skies and flowers.
- Includes 11 complete paintings shown evolving step by step.
- Information can be printed, so you can take it into your studio.
- Glossary of terms, many of which are illustrated and linked to relevant parts of the CD-ROM.
Guide Review - Interactive Watercolour CD-ROM
This CD-ROM's claim to be "a complete course in watercolour painting" isn't exaggerated. It easily matches the most comprehensive book on watercolour painting, with the added advantage of video clips to make the demonstrations come to life (although these should've been edited to remove the time it takes for the artist to reload his brush). The text is very comprehensive, covering the essential techniques, then moving on to "doodles" demonstrating these in basic subjects such as trees or clouds, and discussing aspects such as composition and perspective. The emphasis is on giving you the foundation skills you need to make your own paintings, rather than showing "This is how to produce a masterpiece - or two - in an hour".
