From impossible shapes to three-dimensional sketches and trick art, you won't believe your eyes as you learn to draw optical illusions in graphite and colored pencil. Perfect for beginning artists, The Art of Drawing Optical Illusions begins with a basic introduction to optical illusions and how they work. Jonathan Stephen Harris then guides you step-by-step in creating mind-blowing pencil drawings, starting with basic optical illusions and progressing to more difficult two- and three-dimensional trick art. Perspective and dimension are difficult to capture for both beginning and established artists, but now you can hone those skills in the most unique way possible, while also exercising your mind with these brain-boosting, unbelievable tricks!

This book is for anyone who has a desire to draw but has been told that they lack the talent. If that sounds like you, then this book is for you! I believe that everyone is born with creative talent. It is like a well deep inside that is begging to be tapped. That is your desire and, in this book, I will show you some basic skills to reach that creative well. Art is not an elite club. Anyone who want to draw...can learn how! All you have to have is the desire!

From flags to flowers and still lifes to landscapes, the sets of activities in three complete art programs build on each other to introduce essential art principles, including how to use line, color, shape, and pattern; how to recognize and create perspective and space; how to use these principles to create complete still lifes and landscapes; how to work in watercolors, oil pastels, and mixed media; and how to enjoy making art regardless of the outcome!

The New York Times bestselling author of The Physics of Wall Street “deftly explains all you wanted to know about nothingness—a.k.a. the quantum vacuum” (Priyamvada Natarajan, author of Mapping the Heavens). James Owen Weatherall’s bestselling book, The Physics of Wall Street, was named one of Physics Today’s five most intriguing books of 2013. In this work, he takes on a fundamental concept of modern physics: nothing. The physics of stuff—protons, neutrons, electrons, and even quarks and gluons—is at least somewhat familiar to most of us. But what about the physics of nothing? Isaac Newton thought of empty space as nothingness extended in all directions, a kind of theater in which physics could unfold. But both quantum theory and relativity tell us that Newton’s picture can’t be right. Nothing, it turns out, is an awful lot like something, with a structure and properties every bit as complex and mysterious as matter. In his signature lively prose, Weatherall explores the very nature of empty space—and solidifies his reputation as a science writer to watch. Included on the 2017 Best Book List by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) “An engaging and interesting account.”—The Economist “Readers get a dose of biography while following such figures as Einstein, Dirac, and Newton to see how top theories about the void have been discovered, developed, and debunked. Weatherall’s clear language and skillful organization adroitly combines history and physics to show readers just how much ‘nothing really matters.’”—Publishers Weekly