Join one of Britain's most prominent silhouette artists as he shares his instructions, techniques, and the history of silhouette portraiture in this delightful book.

In Mastering Silhouettes, Charles Burns offers instructions and exercises for mastering basic silhouette techniques, such as learning the proportions of a profile, tracing a shadow, reducing an image, drawing and cutting freely, and the author's own "natural waves" technique.

Also included are instructions for creating scissor-cut portraits, painted silhouettes, hollow-cut silhouettes, silhouettes painted on glass, caricatures, and more.

Burns also shares useful information on the history of the craft and examples from artists from the 18th century to today, plus creative and innovative suggestions for using color, appliqué, and three-dimensional effects. Techniques for mounting and displaying are also included.

Charles Burns' portraiture subjects include Queen Elizabeth II (at her 80th birthday party), her consort the Duke of Edinburgh, and President Bill Clinton. Burns lives in London.

Author — Charles Burns.

Paperback. 176 pages. 7¼" × 9" (18 cm × 23 cm).