Colored Pencil Explorations [Hardcover]

Janie Gildow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2002

Get Creative with Colored Pencils!

Find out just how versatile colored pencils can be! Janie Gildow and friends show you how to combine colored pencils with an exciting variety of media for extraordinary results!

You'll learn how to add luminescence to your colored pencil paintings with watercolor and acrylic; how to create richness, depth and a quick color base with pastel or airbrush; and much more. Twenty-four step-by-step demonstrations by fourteen well-known artists illustrate just a sampling of what you can achieve. You'll be encouraged to experiment with colored pencil, stretch your artistic boundaries and express yourself as never before!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Colored pencils blended with mixed media are the focus of Gildow's Colored Pencil Explorations, which incorporates pastel, watercolor, acrylic, ink, and more in a presentation detailing basic application and blending, color mixing, and burnishing. In a series of demonstrations using still lifes and landscapes, each medium added to colored pencil is carefully explained in terms of its uses and techniques. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Janie Gildow is an award-winning coloured pencil artist and an experienced coloured pencil teacher. She teaches workshops for Coloured Pencil Society of America and Creative Coloured Pencil Workshops. Her work has appeared in Best of Coloured Pencil and Creative Coloured Pencil.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books; 1 edition (December 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581801866
• ISBN-13: 978-1581801866
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Arts & Photography > Drawing > Colored Pencil

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Inspirations for Colored Pencil Use, March 20, 2005

By 

M. H. Blackwell (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colored Pencil Explorations (Hardcover)

Expands the repertoire of colored pencils by including their use with other media. The result is mixed media at its best. This is not a book for people who need a paint by numbers approach, but it should not be shunned by beginners. There are many demonstrations in the book which take the artist (or would-be artist) by the hand and show how the subject was created, down to a precise list of what materials were use, including brand names of pencils and other media. The book utilized the works of several artists and explained their techniques in very clear language. Yes, some of the techniques are advanced, but this should provide inspiration for a beginner, not discouragement.
For the more advanced artist, the book explodes with ideas for combining a wide variety of media in ways that most of us have not considered previously. I was particularly intrigued with the example of using Mylar in a reverse painting technique. I recommend this book for anyone with artist's block; it will certainly help to "jump-start" your creative engine again.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring ideas off the beaten path, October 11, 2006

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colored Pencil Explorations (Hardcover)

This book is chock-full of ideas for colored pencil that depart from the standard blending and sketching methods. If you are an ultra-realist, there is a demonstration (or at least an example) of a cat sitting in sunlight that will knock your socks off.

If you are not an ultra realism fan, however, there are other demonstrations that depart from this genre. For example, there is a demonstration of a crumpled paper abstract technique that would suit a collage artist, especially one who makes or collects handmade papers. There is a section on masking and using airbrush; not something I'm likely to deal with but still, interesting to read. There are also demonstrations of colored pencil with watercolor underlay, grissage and other techniques.

This book does what it is titled; explorations. If you are looking for a how-to in colored pencil standard technique, this book won't be the one you want to start with. But if you want to explore the medium and spread your wings, this book is a beautiful inspiriation.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Serious Colored Pencil Artist, May 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Colored Pencil Explorations (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book for both beginner and advanced. There are many demonstrations on how to combine colored pencils with other media. There is also the inspiration of the beautiful works of other artists.