You Can Paint Vibrant Watercolors in Twelve Easy Lessons Paperback – Illustrated, September 23, 2014

I had this book for about 3 weeks now. One of the pictures is my first painting when I received the book and the other is what I just paint yesterday. I follow most of the lessons and I can really see my improvements. After I have this book I also start looking at other resources I could find that Yuko Nagayama has given, like youtube. It really shows what she taught in this 12 lessons. This 12 lessons is always the basic of her painting. Especially understanding shadows, the objects and how to use color and keep the color vibrant, not overdo to create mud. I have a few other watercolor and gouache books. They are not nearly instructive as this one is. Each lesson has its own goal. I really enjoy this book and will continue follow the lessons.Note: She is using Holbein 24 color in this book. Just in case if you are thinking to buy this book and hasn't bought any watercolor paint yet. I already have Shinhan professional 30 color. I was so tore thinking if I should buy another set, but I think it works out fine. For people who already have paint, I would say stick with what you have. Besides "Opera(a really bright pink)" maybe very different from other sets, I would say the other should be pretty similar and you should be able to mix some color to get what you need.This is THE ONE and enjoy painting!!

This is probably the oddest book on watercolor I have so far. It's both detailed and somehow missing a lot of vital information that is usually included in other books. Definitely a book you can not follow alone and expect good result.In this book you will find:* Step-by-step instructions on how to sketch various objects such as a lemon, bottle, grapes.* Some guidance on which colors where used in which objects.* Some tips that are very helpful to keep in mind, such as painting the object and it's shadow as one, that colors reflect from one object onto the other, etc.What you wont find:* Guidance on choosing materials. For brushes she just suggests... using a brush.* Guidance on using watercolor as a medium. She wont tell you how to control water, avoid backruns, paint smooth gradations or troubleshoot. In fact, her own paintings contain many backruns, smudges and muddiness but are still very beautiful and lively so maybe she just does not view these classic problems as flaws at all.* Information on paint pigments. She uses non-permanent colors such as Opera and colors that are multi-pigment which may be hard to handle as a beginner.* She does not really tell you why her watercolors are vibrant, but if you follow her lessons carefully I am sure you will get beautiful results. It seems to me, her secret is not mixing colors on the palette but instead mixing on paper by charging colors and layering, but you might come to a different conclusion.

I would say that I'm an intermediate watercolor painter, and I love this book. Everyone can use more of the basics, and Nagayama presents her lessons in a very clear and straightforward manner, step by step. One reviewer criticized the author for focusing too much on observing and drawing, but I think that is one of the strengths of the book. I once asked a much more advanced painter what I could do to become better, and she said, "Learn to draw better," something I now wholeheartedly believe. Nagayama shows you how to have a strong foundation of drawing in your paintings; even though she herself may draw in detail only a couple of flowers in a bouquet, and the rest of the painting is fairly abstract, that focus on getting the drawing in shape before you paint is very important. I sat down and read this book from cover to cover (it's short), and now am excited about adding her suggestions to my painting.

This book is going to be Very Helpful for me. I like Art and plan on doing some Watercolors. Upon looking at this book- it helps you to understand the "How To do things". To sketch lightly a piece of fruit or flower and How To- Select the Right Colors to paint in. It's Very Informative.I feel it will really give me the "Confidence" to Just Jump in and Paint...because, the talent is there.The Book came in the time -suggested and is in - "Excellent " condition. I would suggest Very Highly this book to give someone who has been putting off Watercolors to "Jump at this Book." to be of Help to Them to begin Painting.

It's hard to give this a star ranking, in a way, because it largely depends on where you are as an artist: rank beginners might be more favourable. That said, I found the content very thin, very limited, and very obvious. Unless you have never thought about the modelling of objects before -- unless you are entirely new to the idea of colour blending and the idea of reflected light and colour -- well, this book is going to be an anti-climax. I bought it because it was recommended elsewhere on Amazon and I am not snobby about artistic expertise (my own experience is more on the watercolour pencil side and pastel side, rather than watercolour paints as such). But even I found this far too rudimentary: there was nothing substantive that anyone familiar with colour mixing and the basics of drawing would not know.

I was a total watercolor beginner and did a total flop on the very first apple project. I had the Holbein paints she used but it didn't matter. I jjust didn't know how to handle the water to paint ratio, and wet on wet. Now that I have a bit of experience I will be going back to try again. The author is so talented! Check out her work online. Her info on reflection and shadows was very interesting, so I want to definitely go back to that book when I am more experienced.

The artist is clearly very talented and the illustrations are great, but I don't find the instruction very helpful or clear, particularly with the painting side. However, there are some useful tips on drawing that make this slim volume mostly worthwhile.

Very useful book. I am novice in watercolors and I found lessons easy and well explained. Just love it.

Very useful lessons. Tips nobody else taught me.

I'm totally in love with her style of painting. Therefore didn't think much before buying the book. If you love her work and want to learn more about it then the book is a must. It is a precise and complete guide to watercolor. She explained not only how to to use watercolor but also how to observe an object and draw. Step by step instructions with pictures , selection of color, how to work with light and Shadow is very well explained in simple words. A great guide to loose watercolor and a must have for all who love this form. Sharing the index which will give you more information.

Just to note, this book doesn't have a ton of examples, but they are quite detailed. The descriptions and processes were clear enough, that even a complete beginner like me would be able to understand. It's straight to the point and there's not a whole lot of writing from the artist like some other instructional books.There are pictures to show each "stage" of the artwork, but I think this style of teaching may probably not suit everyone. I personally liked it though and found it useful.