Basic Colored Pencil Techniques (Basic Techniques)

I was immediately struck that the author uses Prismacolor Professional Colored Pencils, my own brand of choice. This made it easy to practice her techniques using the same colors as stated by each image. I learned the best way to layer color - basic tonal layering, heavy pressure layering, two layer approach, spot layering (basic, bold, blended), plus doing the single layer approach. Other techniques covered are the lifting of color, covering large areas, using various colored paper for special effects and so much more that it would take another paragraph to fully describe the multitude of methods the author covers in this book. This book has steered me on the path to produce interesting works of art with colored pencils, where before I managed to use my college art classes to some degree, but not in the quality I really wanted to see my work develop. This is a good book for beginners and intermediates, maybe even good review/reference for the advanced artist. I am so pleased with this book over other colored pencil technique books that I am sure that the others will get dusty from lack of use, while this one will become a true tool to help me with my future artistic endeavors.

I'm just starting to work in colored pencil. I was basically drawn to this book by the beautiful artwork included. I love the author's work and wish I owned one of her pieces. I've been ordering a LOT of new art instruction books. When I receive them I always skim thru them until I have time to sit down with them and try out the exercises. But with this one I find I just want to sit down now and read it cover to cover. Each time I pause I learn something. The author presents tons of useful information in a very easy to follow manner. I'm thrilled to have this as part of my new library of books. I actually went to the author's website to see if I could purchase a print of one of her pieces. No luck, but I did discover that she offers online tutorials. I may end of doing one or those as her books are amazing!

I read the reviews on all the colored pencil technique books on Amazon and chose this one. I taught myself watercolor and had been doing some colored pencil illustrations, but needed some help! This book shows all the tricks and tips I could ever need and the steps are usually broken up into understandable stages of a drawing - but not always. I would have liked to see more of the tools at work in the instructional photos. Sometimes just "use an eraser for this effect" doesn't make sense without the eraser right there, doing it. I am actually creating my art using Corel Paint with the colored pencils and this book is a terrific help!

This is not a terrible book, but it's also not a good introductory book on the use of colored pencils. It covers the most basic of penciling techniques, and some basic color matchings. But it rapidly veers off into several quite advanced artistic techniques, and it doesn't cover any one of those in enough detail to be helpful to the beginner. The examples in the book are not to my taste at all, but that would be okay if there were a lot more detail about how the results were achieved. Better instruction is available on the internet, and in a very few other books on artistic use of colored pencils. Hint- look for books by Gary Greene, among others.

Lovely book. Beautiful illustrations and very high-quality paper with glossy finish. Content a bit more than I bargained for since the title included the word "basic". I really was only looking for colorizing techniques. This book covers those and actual drawing and sketching techniques. I'd consider this just about one-stop shopping for colored pencilling, but whaat do I know? I've a feeling I'm going to find out...

This book is a great place to start. The author does a great job explaining techniques, and provides insight into saving time and energy while drawing and using pencils. The techniques provided were encouraging for a beginning artist, not too overwhelming. Other books have been intimidating and put me off drawing for a time.

Was exactly as seller described. Love the product and was very helpful in so many ways. Especially for a beginner such as me. I know how to color with colored pencils, but find it difficult to get the correct texture, these tricks were great to help remedy those situations.

I am very new to drawing with colored pencils and found this book to be very helpful. Explains different methods of layering color with very good examples from the artists work. Examples of layering color to provide definition to an object as well. This book will be a reference book for me as I continue drawing.

It is not pitched at beginner level although it is called basic. It needs experience of the topic to understand it. The digital version is unsatisfactory as illustrations and explanations are not on the same page.

great book! perfect for beginners.

Great book to start out with colored pencils.