Reddit mentions: The best arts study & teaching books

The best thing you can do is get a few books/e-books or like Kissnellie suggests online guides.

I suggest Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life , I also like Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists by Sheppard.

Basically just draw all of the images over and over again, they are like maps to the human body. Sure they won't be exact for every person - but getting an idea of how it looks will help you shape it better. Drawing figures (and anything) is about understanding it and yadda yadda.

Draw from life, gesture often from pixelovely, and Posemaniacs

If you practice for a while, you'll get a good understanding of the human figure pretty well :D

I might have some anatomy e-books if you're interested - drop me a message. I am currently taking a life drawing class, so it's all good fun if I can help others =3

Hi! I'm exclusively homeschooling my eleven year old and supplementing kindergarten with my five year old preschooler because she's ready and really enjoys doing it.

We are working our way through the first box of BOB books. We read them in bed together before breakfast and she keeps a learning journal (like her brothers) where she gets to fill in a shape when she completes a new book. She's doing really well so far and really likes that special alone time with Mom.

We read a new picture book from the library at while everyone has breakfast. Every one (including Dad) loves this. New favorites have been NOW and [MOST PEOPLE] (https://www.amazon.com/Most-People-Michael-Leannah/dp/0884485544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540497351&sr=8-1&keywords=most+people).

I have been doing the fall science experiments in Janet Van Cleave's SCIENCE AROUND THE YEAR. The pinecone experiment was a ton of fun (though I think I was more into it than my kids).

We all love ART LAB FOR LITTLE KIDS. We've done four projects and I'm going to buy a copy of the book after my library check-out expires.

For Math I'm relying on the Kahn Academy Kids app. It's a treat for her still so I keep 'til after dinner. She picks a game then I pick a game.

We're at the library at least twice a week for either a library sponsored activity (like maker space) or a stem-themed story hour. In past weeks we've built bridges (for Billy Goats Gruff) and catapults (The Marshmallow Incident.)

We just finished Charlotte's Web as our bedtime read and started on Bunnicula for Halloween. It's been great fun to see the places where I can apply the same material to kindergartner and a fifth grader. It's really wonderful to have them have a shared experience of the material and then help them process it in age appropriate ways.

Here comes a wall of text so brace yourselves.

First, stone carving is awesome, it is what I do and it is like an addiction. No better material to sculpt with IMHO. There is something to be said from learning autodidactically (I was originally self taught but have done some formal training), but you also don't need to waste time re-inventing the wheel. So do some research, but don't be afraid to break the "rules as you get a feel for things.

Soap stone carving is very different from other stone, as the tools and techniques are completely different. I started with limestone, and now work in Marble and Granite. Be fore warned, unless you have a quarry nearby, soapstone is very expensive($2-$3/lbs). If you decide you like carving after a couple of test sculptures in soapstone, I suggest that you find out what is quarried in your area, and see about getting material from the scrap pile (often way cheaper for material).

The set you have will give you a basic ability to work on very soft stone. I would need to see a better picture of the blunt end of the tool but it is likely either for burnishing(rubbing) or possibly for cutting rounded grooves(a rondel chisel but I am not sure)

If you plan to do any detail work, then you will likely want to use a rotary tool(Dremel or similar) to speed the process.

The book suggested by Artistic programmer is likely a decent choice, Milt Liebson also has a video by the same name(I think) that was available from my public library(VHS) check that out.

Liebson is a direct carver, this means he usually starts a sculpture with little to no pre-design this works for some, not for others. Classically, sculptors would build clay or plaster maquettes(models) and then work the design into the stone. Personally, I do a little of both types of carving, often starting with a nebulous image, and refining it based on what I find in the stone.

I would also recommend the following books:

Sculpture in Stone

Contemporary Stone Sculpture

Last but not least for the love of all that you hold dear be concious of the health hazards!!! Wear a dust mask, some stones contain asbestos, or silica or other harmful minerals. work in a well ventilated space, and wear safety goggles.

TL:DR Carving is awesome, check the books, break the rules and WEAR THE DAMN SAFETY EQUIPMENT!!!

I'll take your downvotes, you people who didn't even bother to respond.

Here's a copy/paste of my previous responses, which were generally well received.

You'll need to grasp the basics first, and there is nothing more fundamental to a mechanical wristwatch than the escapement. It's a bit technical, but I highly recommend The Watch Escapement by Henry Fried. It's a bargain under 20 dollars, though I have seen it for less on occasion.

For just about everything else, I highly recommend Watchmaking by George Daniels I know it seems pricy at 60 bucks, but I assure you that it is a tome well worth having. Daniels was and is, in my interactions with other watchmakers, considered a bit of a controversial genius.

Now, as for non-print learning media, The Watch Repair Channel is pretty great for repair instruction on vintage and modern watches as well as basic education on the parts and functioning of mechanical watches in general. As far as the artistry goes, I highly recommend both R. W. Smith's Channel ( He was apprenticed to George Daniels. ), and Steffen Pahlow's Channel, as both are master craftsmen in their own right.

Start with this video. It should give you a basic understanding. "How a watch works" presented by the Hamilton Watch Company. I don't recommend getting the Daniels' book until later. Rather, you should probably start with something like [this. This is part of the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking training manual]

Don't start drawing thinking you have to create something beautiful or highly refined. This will leave you always frustrated and feeling unaccomplished. Just allow yourself to freely draw, not concerned with the outcome. Learn to enjoy the action of drawing, and then after that, set goals for yourself.


Here are some easy tips/exercises you can do:

Find Draftsmen you like and emulate their works. The best way to increase the quality of your work is to look at high quality work and strive toward it.

Draw for twenty minutes a day. Anything. Trees, chairs, your cup of coffee, your desk, whatever.

allow drawing to be fun. My girlfriend and I play a game where the one person writes down a word (say "cat") and then the other person has to draw the word using the first letter (C).

If you want some books on drawing, I've found this book and this book helpful for reference with human anatomy.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

This one is pre-printed in the fabric, but you can also use a transfer that irons on and washes out or a pen to draw on directly that washes out.

If you’re new I definitely recommend seeing what books your library offers on the subject, it helped me feel comfortable with the process before diving right in. I liked this book I borrowed from the library. It had great instructions and pictures which I found really helpful as a beginner as well as this.

In addition to the suggestions already given below:

George Daniels not only wrote Watchmaking which is considered highly influential among independent watchmakers but also The Art of Breguet which is a guide through an extensive private collection of Bregeut timepieces and is considered the most important work about Breguet - with accompanying high resolution photos and expert analysis.

Daniels also penned The Practical Watch Escapement as a visual aid when he was trying to sell his co-axial escapement to Swiss manufacturers. It's a good book that describes many different kinds of escapements and their history of development.

While you're at it you might as well pick up Daniels' autobiography entitled All in Good Time: Reflections of a Watchmaker although it's horological importance is rather minute.

If horological theory is your interest then The Theory of Horology is the textbook for watchmaking courses in the United States and elsewhere.

Nowadays, most watches are made using machines to cut out the parts and then they are refined from there. It gives you an idea of how they are made, but doubtful you'll find one where watches are completely made by hand. That said, the Watchmaking Art (Parts 1 & 2) is a good look at the process. Books, George Daniel's Watchmaking is a must. Blogs, haven't really heard of any that go in depth with history, most are about current models and not too intriguing to someone more historically inclined. Hoping someone can prove me wrong on that one because I'd be interested as well.

Hope that helps! :)

I'm interested in PhDs in the arts too! Sounds like you're from the UK - I'm in the States and practice-based PhDs in the arts haven't caught on here, at least for visual arts. The university that I work at offers a Doctor in Musical Arts (DMA?) and a PhD in Digital & Experimental Arts (with a focus on music) and a third research degree in music, however. I'm unsure how research- or practice-oriented those programs are.

I'm looking at things from a visual arts perspective, so I'm unsure of how useful this info will be, but three books that I found helpful are Artists with PhDs, Artist Scholar, and Should I Go To Grad School. That last one is probably going to be of the most interest to you. It's a collection of short essays written by people who have gone through graduate programs, with a focus on the MFA and Humanities PhD. As with most literature on graduate degrees in the humanities, it's sobering - but it also has a lot of interesting anecdotal accounts.

Edit: This book is on my reading list but I'm not very familiar with its content - it may be of interest to you as well - Experimental Systems: Future Knowledge in Artistic Research

If you want students to reflect on their own art making process and experience, then I would suggest looking at what people are doing with choice-based art education or Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB) since they tend to concentrate of idea development and reflection. You can probably find a lot of handouts specifically for the 8 Studio Habits of Mind which TAB tends to structure around.

Here are some resources: Book on choice-based education, Studio Thinking 2 which covers the 8 studio habits, and TAB yahoo group which has a very supportive community.

Remember that literacy development involves four domains: listening and reading which are input based, and writing and speaking which are output based. Equal attention should be given to each domain, because without one, you can't have the other. Believe in the arts ability to support development in all fields, but don't let other subjects take away the qualities that make art wonderful.

Good luck!

Side note: Why not collaborate with their English teacher and have the students develop a story in their class, and then you can open up a variety of mediums and techniques so the students can visualize their narrative? Just an idea...

You'd probably have better luck in /r/WatchHorology.

In my own experience, a good way to start working with watches and ease into watchmaking is to modify stock watches — if you haven't already looked into watch modding, you should definitely start there. It gives you the benefit of starting your watch build with a full set of parts and substituting only what you decide to change. Most people start by modding Seiko 5's, which are cheap, have extremely reliable automatic movements and many aftermarket parts, and are widely available. Additionally, there are very lengthy guides (e.g. 1, 2) available freely on the internet.

Check out the work of /u/crappysurfer, who started out modding Seikos and is about to launch his first collection, the Orion.

EDIT: Also check out George Daniels' book, Watchmaking. It is very thorough, and it should address most of your questions.

There are websites with lesson plans; one that I have encountered is the Art of Education,

Look through every art textbook you encounter for ideas; I like the Visual Experience,

You could buy a book with art lessons; There are some great lessons in the Complete Painting and Drawing Handbook, and another good book is 200 Projects to Strengthen Your Art Skills,

Subscribe to an art teacher magazine; SchoolArts magazine is an awesome resource,

Most -- if not all -- art museums have education departments; call your local art museums and see what they have to offer, and

Finally, shadow an art teacher; call some local high schools, and contact some art teachers; hang out in their classrooms, and pick their brains.

I bought this book (although an earlier edition), at a Scholastic book fair back in 1999: https://www.amazon.com/DK-Art-School-Introduction-Techniques/dp/0789451514
It was $25 -- a HUGE fortune, in 11-year-old dollars, but I absolutely had to have it.

I haven't really read it in a while, but it was the driving force between countless art projects in middle and high school, and I still remember every page. I'm a software engineer now, but it's survived about 10 moves, I brought it across the country with me to college, and it's probably my oldest possession (not in terms of "age" but in terms of "how long I've owned it")

Man. I never really thought about that before. I should probably read that book again... Book fairs were the best.

Color Theory. Composition. Negative space

Master those three, in any order - but not at the same time - and you've got a decent base. Add drawing and you've got a starting point.

Color Theory

Books:

• https://www.amazon.com/Color-Betty-Edwards-Course-Mastering/dp/1585421995/
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Interaction-Color-Anniversary-Josef-Albers/dp/0300179359/
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Lives-Color-Kassia-Clair-ebook/dp/B01MSCJNN8
  
  Study them, don't just read them. Study 1 chapter per day, then apply what you've leaned.
  
  > or any exercises that might help?
  
  YES, all those books have "exercises". Moreover, it's not about picking colors, it's about picking a palette.
  
  Start. Start by learning and applying and exercising. yes it will be awkward, yes you'll make mistakes. You'll get better with time.
  
  Plot twist: with time you'll develop your own "signature" palette.

Timezone Watch School is a start.

That, plus George Daniels 'Watchmakimg' would be a good start if you want to go the DIY route.

Look up Roland Murphy, Keaton Myrick, and anyone from the AHCI for inspiration.

If you want to go to a proper school, Lititz Technicum, IOSW in Dallas, OSU's program, North Seattle Community College, and Paris Texas are all programs to look into (though they focus more on repair as opposed to fabrication).


Good luck!

I recommend doing a bit of research on George Daniels if you've never heard of him. His book is a bit expensive, but Daniels was known for constructing entire watches by himself, and was respected as one of the best in the world. His book basically explains how to build a watch from scratch. However, to my knowledge he only worked with wristwatches.

Just about everyone is going to recommend Watchmaking by George Daniels as it is widely regarded as one of the best and most informative reads on watchmaking and horology. I'd say that is the best read to get you started, after that there are plenty of others.

It's going to be difficult your first year. But go with the flow. Don't compare yourself to Instagram teachers or try to achieve perfection right away. It takes time. I didn't feel like I know what I was doing until about year 4-5. I would sometimes have to adapt my lessons to make them easier for some of my middle school students because they never had an art class in elementary so don't think you're not doing great just because the work doesn't look like it should be posted on Pinterest.

Classroom management is one of the more difficult things to master but again....it just takes time and a willingness to adapt to the culture of your class/school/community. A book I always read over the summer before starting school again is Classroom Management for Art, Music, and PE by Michael Linsen (I'll link it below).

Start with the basics, the elements, and treat them like ingredients to a recipe. Try and connect your lessons to what the kids are into or what they're experiencing in the other classes. You got this! And don't EVER be afraid to ask a veteran teacher for help/mentorship. Even if they're not teaching art you can learn a lot from core classes and can adapt them to your classroom. Everyone was a first year teacher at some point.

YOU GOT THIS!!!!

the book I mentioned before ( Classroom Management for Art, Music, and PE Teachers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0615993265/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_fPGkDb3RMTHRC)

So one thing you can experiment is instead of giving yourself a lot of time to get the gesture just right, time yourself and ELECRTOFY your speed. It will basically put you into a panic and you will have to draw as fast as humanly possible. It's sort of stressful at first, but it gets across the speed of gesture drawing an translates it into flow.

Here are a few gestures I did some years ago with some students. The time was one minute. You can see that I'm not even putting down forms at that point, just action lines in some cases. That's how you need to see the figure in a gesture, a series of landmarks and suggestions.

Learn anatomy from books, there are several good ones. This one is my favorite. Copy the more critical drawings, do studies on the relation of parts, read all the information in the book.

Good luck! Keep it up.

I think, in general, art education has moved away from materials/technique based education and more into developing 'enduring understandings' about art. As with most content areas right now, there is a focus on the common skills and artistic habits that your students need to develop. I would start by reviewing the National Core Arts Standards, and reading studio thinking.

Also, I personally believe it is very important to incorporate contemporary artists, and artworks that reflect issues which may of be of interest to the students you serve. The Art21 website is a great resource for this.

If I may make a suggestion... pick up the book Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, by Jessica Abel and Matt Maden, and go through it with a couple of friends. It's less focused on "how to draw" and more on "how to make comics". I've been going through this, and it's been a blast making comics with my friends. I've learned a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Words-Writing-Pictures-Graphic/dp/1596431318

Take a look at this book. You WILL learn the fundamentals of any medium you want no matter where you go to school. When they say that the professors get out of your way - that is a good thing, you can do what you want and are free to investigate what YOU are interested in.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Art-Cannot-Be-Taught/dp/0252069501

>So there are some ideas to get you started. As for education, horological theory and that kind of thing, the textbook that is used in many of the American watchmaking schools is The Theory of Horology - it might be a little overkill but there's some decent information in there.


I didn't knew that this book (the only one we had to buy as student in designing watch movement) was translated in English ! Nice to know...

You can browse this amazing list of mechanical movement with pics to find out who made what.

And if you want to know how to make a traditional watch, here is The Book (George Daniels - Watchmaking), but it's more technical stuff.

If you want to go deeper in watchmaking theory, this one, but it's only in French...

I like this book.

Air dry clay projects

I second the warn/cool idea. I had mine do 9x12 warm and cool, then weave them together.

smoosh prints

block printing/collograph (or styrofoam prints)

fruit prints

sgraffito (color the page super hard with crayons, cover with black tempera that has a little liquid soap added, scratch through the black)

3D letters (a favorite)

light sensitive prints

single line drawings

positive/neagtive projects

For books?

The Wristwatch Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Mechanical Wristwatches https://www.amazon.com/dp/185149829X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_cfYvyb57KNM20

Probably the best reference for understand watches.

For watchmaking and understanding the art...

Watchmaking https://www.amazon.com/dp/0856677043/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_FmYvybRK27DGS

Depends on how you want to approach it. The traditional way is documented in this book. If you want to see it demonstrated, this is a clockmaking video, but the fundamental techniques are similar. This touches on what the approach looks like if you use CNC machines.

excellent book by the world famous watchmaker George Daniels: Watchmaking

Read Daniels' Watchmaking. It'll teach you everything you need to know to machine a watch by hand, and in the process what you'll need to know to draw one up.

If you're dead-set on CNCing it (which makes sense in today's day and age) you can google "micromachining shops" - there are at least a few in each metro area.

Work on your anatomy, in 2d first. I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Complete-Guide-Artists-Dover/dp/0486272796

Everyone who wants to know EXACTLY how and why this works needs to find a copy of Watchmaking by George Daniels, amazon.

This is THE book on watchmaking, the guy who wrote it invented the first new escapement in 100 years. The book is worth the read even if you will never cut a gear in your life, it's a lifetime of work distilled to 300 pages.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0856677043/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_gb?ie=UTF8

I have seen people design and build watches from scratch using this as entirely an inspiration, a guide, and a reference. It is not an easy read, and it is full on, but you know it is by the best... You will need to invest in some tooling, but it will discuss what you need in there...

If you want to connect to the Arts in science theme there resources such as

Art in Chemistry, Chemistry in Art

The Palette of Color Series about The Chemistry of various Dyes

Maybe this will help

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Art-Lois-Fichner-Rathus/dp/0155066110

How about a classic book on watchmaking: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0856677043

George Daniels' "Watchmaking": https://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043

(non-affiliate link!)

Watchmaking https://www.amazon.com/dp/0856677043/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zy96AbKN8XGKW

You're going to need this: https://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043

http://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415374238&sr=8-1&keywords=watchmaking

But holy 75 dollars, batman

You can start with this: http://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043