Using carefully drawn line illustrations of famous masterpieces, Art Studio takes the colourist on an inspiring world tour. Along the way you can try your hand at replicating the originals or applying slightly – or perhaps even entirely – different palettes. In the process you will also learn to appreciate the complexity and composition of these great works.

Avid colourists will relish not only the bold, bright lines of works such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night, but also the artistic problems posed by some of the world’s most intricate paintings – among the 46 masterpieces featured here are such celebrated Western works as Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam and Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending A Staircase, No. 2 as well as a Mughal hunting scene of the 16th century and some stunningly complex Aboriginal art.

Each entry explains how the artist achieved his or her effects, and offers suggestions on how the colourist might try to reproduce them. Art Studio is simultaneously relaxing, challenging and informative: an exquisite combination that will appeal to everyone who’s got the colouring bug, and to anyone on the verge of catching it.