Customer Reviews

Realistic Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent step by step book how to draw animals with colored pencils. Anne Flood is an wonderful artist I never get tired looking at her work. I am a beginner artist and I have brought other art books online and I was greatly disappointed none of them were step by step as they had claim. After emailing the author about her book I decided to get her book at the library; I was not disappointed. I am glad I ordered her book. If you love animals and want to draw them; this is the book. I hope she does other art books.

Animal portraiture - especially of beloved pets - can be a very satisfying artistic endeavor, both emotionally as well as financially. This book provides a great overview of methods, materials, and examples of drawing full color pet portraiture that should be tremendously helpful for beginners, as well as more experienced artists looking for some tips and helpful tricks.

The author covers more than just cats and dogs, going into details and examples specific to horses, rabbits, exotic birds, and even hamsters! Her instructions for layering color to achieve depth and effects such as shine and reflections are clear and easy to follow. Colored pencil can be a tricky medium to work with yet it is also one of the best, in my experience, for capturing the intricacies of animal fur and feathers, and this book does a lot to make a difficult medium less intimidating.

The only thing I could possibly have seen added to this book to make it even more useful is just some simple anatomical drawings of the animals included, at least muscle groups and/or skull structre. While this might be more useful for advanced artists, there is truth to the fact that "the camera lies" and an artist working from photo references, as is the focus here, can make his or her work even more realistic by knowing how to fill in the details that the camera can miss or distort. But this is a minor issue. In every other way I highly recommend this book.

Outstanding book. Excellent results obtained immediately after just briefly reviewing the first few chapters. Wonderfully effective techniques. Easy to learn. Excellent format! I've been an Illustrator/ Artist for over twenty-seven years. I highly recommend this book.
JF Willis

Like so many colored pencil how to books, this book names specific colors to use. This is probably the only sure method to achieve the same look as the artist writing the book. I find this is often frustrating because I don't ever have the EXACT colors mentioned. I forge ahead using colors "somethng like" as close as possible to the recipe. Yes, this is like painting from recipes. I don't really approve of it all together, but I have to admit, if you do follow the directions to the letter, you most likely will find it easier to create your own mixtures. The examples are very well done. I particularly like the method of drawing the eyes in such a way as to achieve that moist and reflective quality. I would not have been able to get that look without following the pattern as prescribed

This is the best colored pencil book for learning to master pet portraits on the market. Hands down!!! I own allot of art books and am a self-taught artist in colored pencil and believe me, Anne deMille Flood has done for pet portraits when Ann Kullberg has done for people portraits. I cannot possibly say enough about this book, but it's worth every penny and then some. You won't be dissappointed, except perhaps wishing she had a full series of these books.

I'm 41 and am renewing the love of drawing and sketching that I lost when I graduated from high school. I just didn't have time for art in my life, but when I finally picked up a pencil and paper a few months ago, I immediately fell in love with drawing again. A friend gave me a beautiful set of coloured pencils as a gift, which is one reason I purchased this book, and I'd be thrilled if I could ever produce a picture as nice as anything done by this author. Her drawings are just gorgeous, and the book is worth buying just to look at the pictures.

One thing I noticed is that the artist doesn't solely work with coloured pencils. In some images she uses gouache paints to draw whiskers, for example. It's a small thing, but worth noting if you hope to produce these images.

Although this book had several good technique tips, I found that I had two problems with the instruction. First, it appeared as though there were 'missing steps' from some of the portraits. Attempting to follow along, the artist had noted that 'moderate pressure' was needed to achive an over-all blue. The blue appearing in the book was smooth, an almost painted appearance that I could not replicate, even pressing very hard with the pencil. My work retained the granular 'pencil' look. I know that there are mediums that can help to smooth out colored pencil, such as fast drying odorless paint thinner, but this was not mentioned in the instructions. Secondly, the colours she uses almost exclusively belong to the 132 Prismacolor Set, which is upwards of 200$. I do not think this book was written with beginners in mind.

I love this book. As an avid colored pencil artist, I refer to it frequently. I love to draw animals, and Anne gives great suggestions on how to achieve the realistic textures in fur, feathers, horse eyes, dog noses, cat whiskers....YOU NAME IT... Her basic exercises can be applied to drawing anything in colored pencil. It is very structured, some may even say too structured, but I think it is a great way to teach techniques. If you want to draw animals, this is a good addition to your library.

While I am not currently interested in painting pets in colored pencil, I wanting to see how the author taught about values, proportions and light. I also like to compare author/artists in what tools and materials they choose. This book met all of my expectations.

I bought this book with several others, and I just can't put it down. While it is true that some of the pictures are not photo-realistic, they are truly amazing. The author helps you with technique, and breaks down several aspects about animals that make drawing them difficult. I would have liked to know more about the whole body of the animal, but this isnt a drawing book, rather it is a technique book that covers the eyes, fur, feathers and to a lesser extent the expressions. She gives excellent advice on cat eyes to make them look liquid and translucent, and she breaks down some common mistakes. Overall an excellent book to own.