Customer Reviews

Pastel Workbook: A Complete Course in Ten Lessons (Art Workbook Series)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am new to this medium and therefore eager to find a good book which would not only teach me the basics of pastels, but also how to improve my skills even further. So when I came upon Jackie Simmonds' Pastel Workbook, it was exactly the kind of book I was looking for. I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. Compared to the books on pastels out there in the market I think this is by far the best for beginners and even for those in the intermediate level. This book "baby sits" you. It goes through every step in great detail. You really cannot go wrong, but if you do she teaches you how to make corrections. The book has full color illustrations and the pictures are taken at a close shot so you do not have to wonder if it's a sidestroke or a thin line. The book has ten lessons and every lesson in this book begins with an aim and ends with a tip. Lesson one introduces you to the materials and equipment while lesson two shows you how to use your pastel to create the different strokes, followed by how to form shapes, the use of colors to create the different effects and so forth. Once you are comfortable with the terms and use of pastels she gradually teaches you to compose pictures, paint beautiful landscapes, paint skies and winter scenes. This book does not frustrate you is all I can say as you get to see instant results in your artwork. Having this book is truly like having my good old art instructor Mr. Albert beside me but even better because I can use the book as a reference whenever I need to. I have noticed great improvement in my pastel skills in just a few days of acquiring this book. My friends could hardly believe that I did not take a class in pastel drawing. I give five stars to Jackie Simmond's book. It's worth every cent I paid for.

I am an absolute beginner and have bought many pastel books and this is one of the 2 best i have.It assumes you know nothing, which for me, was true.It begins with basic marks and techniques and progresses into making pictures. I gained much confidence by going through this well organized book. If you are an absolute beginner, buy it!!!

Clear, simple teaching guide for pastel beginners. 10 progressive lessons. Examples range from simple to advanced, to encourage and inspire the reader. I think it needs a bit more information in fixatives and surfaces, which are a large factor in the whole picture-making process. Overall, it's a good book to get started.

s_tomsik

This is one of the best written and demonstrated art books that I've purchased -- I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn to create art with pastels. This book will give you the basics in about 10 lessons.

I have made here and there some trials to get into pastel but due to the kind of instruction books that I used my results were less than thrilling. So I started wondering whether maybe I have just zero talent (I am only talking about 'fun amateur talent') to use this medium - until I bought this book. Suddenly my results turn out to be beautiful thanks to this excellent instructional book which really leads you step by step to the next level. Even the simple exercises turn out as fun little pieces worthwhile keeping. Jackie Simmonds somehow manages to come up with an explanation for every mistake you can make and how to fix it - in my opinion she really knows how to teach others and her style to put it into writing is very pleasant - even just reading the book will be half the fun. Also broad spectrum of examples is covered.

In my opinion more than worthwhile the money I paid for it and I will buy more books from Jackie Simmons. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do!

I bought this book after we started pastels in my art class. Not liking the pastels very much at first I decided to do a little work on my own. This book was invaluable! This is such a great book to start off with. Not only does it teach you about the medium itself, it also goes into color theory and the reasons for choosing certain colored papers to convey the feeling of the painting. Along the way I learned a great deal, but most importantly was not that I couldn't use the pastels, it was the pastels I was using were not very good, hence my frustration with them. I went out and bought some good pastels and worked my way through this book. I don't regret it. This book really inspired me to do more. I even took it to class and we did one of the lessons! This book is well worth more than the price.

This workbook is an excellent guide for working with pastels. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. The exercises were very helpful. A great way for a beginner to start.

As a painter, familiar with acrylics and oils, I found some frustration when I tried pastels. I mean, how hard can it be, they're just fancy crayons, right? Wrong. Lots of little differences in application techniques and blendings and materials etc. This book walks you thru all the basics and gives you some practice at the fundamentals. You will probably need more instruction later but this will get you started and help you overcome the early frustrations. Only reason I didn't give it more stars... it is a little short! But good value for the bucks.

Simple,direct, easy to follow. It helps you become comfortable with the idea of what are pastels and how to use them!! One of the best pastel book for step by step practice.

An excellent resource with practical, easy to follow directions to achieve personally satisfying results. This book will appeal to both new and practising pastel artists.