The Painter Wow! Book [Paperback]

I can't imagine what the publisher was thinking by changing the name of "The Painter 12 WOW! Book" to "The Painter WOW! 10th Edition." It makes people think this is an old book, not the fantastic, vibrant, cutting edge, up-to-date and pertinent work it is. "Covers Version 12" doesn't even begin to give the idea of how useful and VERSION SPECIFIC the book is. Simply put, this book is "The Painter 12 WOW! Book," not some watered-down, aimless and time-worn conglomeration of old material.

Corel made major changes to Painter with version 12. The Brushes and the User Interface underwent more than simply cosmetic changes, and those significant differences between versions made this version of The Painter WOW! Book even more difficult than usual to produce. While Cher has always been very thorough making certain every aspect of each previous edition reflects the latest information in Painter, this edition required an ENORMOUS amount of rework. And to her credit, Cher made the extremely difficult and time-consuming task appear easy yet again. (I will personally box the ears of the first reviewer to whine "It looks the same... waaaaaa....")

I've reviewed past editions of "The Painter WOW! Book" series, and there's nothing new I can think of saying that I've not said before in terms of the exhaustive coverage of the program. While there are excellent teachers and authors in the Painter world (and I keep up to date with all of them), Cher's latest WOW! Book is the one I keep close to my work area. Cher's books provide clear explanations and well written, well thought-out exercises that do not encroach on my own artistic expression. While I love being inspired by the new galleries as well as some new artwork in some of the exercises, what I value the most is how quickly I can access pertinent, up-to-date examples to show me how to get things done. I don't have to go online to sort through questionable sources, confusing explanations and old info, but instead go to what has over time earned the rightful place of my program manual.

Owners of previous editions will (like always) notice familiar photographs and art here and there throughout the book, so don't be fooled into thinking this is merely the Tenth Edition Rehash of The Same Old Thing. Each one of my previous coffee-stained and dog-eared editions sit on a downstairs shelf while the current edition is on hand to show me not only what's new, but even (to me) more importantly, what changed and how to incorporate the changes to the way I use the program. The Painter 12 WOW! Book, mistakenly called "The Painter WOW! Book Tenth Edition," is the new first-stop of all my own Painter information sources.

Cher's newest book is well worth adding to a new or existing Painter library. The updated material is phenomenal and very timely. The Art Gallery alone is worth the purchase of this book with all the creative ideas and new images. And Cher never lets the reader down when it comes to the newest techniques and best uses for the software updates. I have been getting the Painter Wow! books for years now, each time there is a new edition, and I have never been disappointed.

Cher has done it again with her latest "Wow!" book. Tons of great examples and step by step instructions.

If you flip through the book, you will be amazed at the wide variety of styles represented. You don't have to worry about not liking a particular artist's style, because she has included everything you can imagine. I came up with a few ideas just by browsing through all the sample galleries!

The book is neatly organized into small projects, so you don't get overwhelmed with too much information at once. Overall, a great learning tool!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars