Colored Pencil Explorations (Hardcover)

by Janie Gildow (Author)
Key Phrases: mounting putty, sanded pastel paper, lightest wash, Indigo Blue, Janie Gildow, Tuscan Red (more...)

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

Product Description
This dynamic book reveals the limitless creative possibilities of colored pencils when blended with mixed media. It features the work of today's most innovative colored pencil artists, highlighting a range of new and exciting effects in step-by-step detail.

Designed to be instantly gratifying and wholly achievable, these techniques incorporate pastel, solvents, airbrush, watercolor, acrylic, ink and more. Each chapter clearly demonstrates how readers can re-create techniques in their own work.

They'll find plenty of information on tools, materials and each medium's basic characteristics. A final section includes line drawings of the demonstrations so that readers can concentrate on their new skills without worrying about getting the drawing right.

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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: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,456 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 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)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets the Creative Juices Flowing, March 13, 2004

By	Monica Brands (MN) - See all my reviews

This book is a wonderful addition to your colored pencil library. It gives you the basic info on combining several different mediums with colored pencil and gives helpful info for all. Many GREAT demos. With the amount of mediums it gives, you can't expect them to go into great detail and they don't. Remarkable amount of helpful info in each chapter, though. The airbrush/colored pencil strawberry demo is so lush and juicy it's incredible. Makes me wish I owned an airbrush. Too bad they cost so much! The galleries are another great feature. This book is very inspiring. If you want specifically info on just combining colored pencil with watercolor and ink, there are several books devoted to just that combination (Creating Radiant Realism is Watercolor, Ink, and Colored Pencil, several Claudia nice books).

9 of 9 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)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

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.