Colored Pencil Solution Book [Hardcover]

Janie Gildow (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 126 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581800266
• ISBN-13: 978-1581800265
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Arts & Photography > Drawing > Colored Pencil

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Would Give it a 6 if I Could, November 17, 2001

By 

hamsterdance (TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colored Pencil Solution Book (Hardcover)

Get this book. Really. Even if you work in colored pencil only occasionally it is worth it. This book is as close to being a reference guide on anything to do with realistic colored pencil work I've ever seen. The only things missing are styles that are more experimental in approach and no focus on water-soluable colored pencils.

Some of the things I particularly liked:
1. Focus on specific name-brands of colored pencils, their binders, the effects this has on different types of paper, etc.
2. Techniques - such as:
a. mixing colors, how to apply colors evenly on varying degrees of rough to smooth paper, tonal gradations.
b. linear, stroke overlap, circular/oval strokes, burnishing.
c. liquifying dry colored pencil layers with solvents.
3. Underpainting in grey tones to get values correct and more vibrant color applied on top.
4. The actual patterns of each of the demonstrations shown step-by-step in the book. So you can actually practice each technique used in each of the demonstrations. Each demo gives a recipe of the "ingredients" used.
5. A section on common mishaps or mistakes along with tricks to fix them.

And this is only a portion of the things you can learn. I would like to mention one other thing. Most of the subjects chosen for the book all lean to the still-life or floral arrangement category. So you won't find in-depth discussions of skin tones for portraiture or fur for wildlife paintings. Even so, I believe the consistent high quality of the artwork displayed and wealth of techniques make it a worthwile addition to any colored pencil artists library.

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good With Only One Drawback, December 4, 2000

By 

carol irvin "carol irvin" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Colored Pencil Solution Book (Hardcover)

There is a lot of good information for every colored pencil artist in this book. I certainly have gotten my money's worth. It is excellently organized and answers many questions and problems. However, the sole style represented throughout is super realistic. What you see pictured on the cover represents the one style shown throughout the book. If this is not your style, and it is not mine, then some of the information you will have to try to adapt to your own style. Some of the rest of the information you will not be able to adapt at all if you have a different style. The colored pencil field desperately needs a book showing styles that are not so realistic. I don't regret buying this book though. Despite my having a radically different style from theirs, there was still a lot of information for me to glean from its pages.

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's good, but things are missing..., January 16, 2005

By 

I. Trejos (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Colored Pencil Solution Book (Hardcover)

First of all, the book is good in a way. It has a lot of useful explanations and even has drawings that you can copy to practice what they teach you. But the authors concentrate exclusively on still lifes, which makes the book rather limited for other subjects. For example, it doesn't cover animals or animal "textures" such as fur, scales or feathers. Landscapes are not even mentioned, or natural textures such as tree barks, leaves, rocks, wood, water, etc. Portraits or people are not included either. So no skin types, hair or clothing are present in the book. Flowers are very briefly covered. The book has gorgeous illustrations, and it was carefully done, but incomplete. It should have been called "Still Life Colored Pencil Solution Book", in order to be really true to its contents. To "fill the gaps" left by this book, I had to buy other colored pencil books: "Creating Textures in Colored Pencil" by Gary Greene which is very comprehensive,"Creating Radiant Flowers in Colored Pencils" also by Gary Greene, "Colored Pencil Portraits, step by step" by Ann Kullberg and "The big book of Drawing" by Lee Hammond.