Colored Pencil for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Artist

Well laid out. Easy to follow & great examples!

I really like this book, bought it on kindle. Of course it’s not up to date in terms or pencil choices (although for those in the know – I loved seeing old Karisma pencils in photographs of her collection ☺️), or all the technology we now have access to, but in terms of sound advice all the way from thinking about design to how you draw – really good, especially for less than £4 on Kindle. I also sense she will not try to teach us how to draw and paint ‘her way’ which I deeply value.

This is good for a beginner artist because it teaches color theory, mixing, and how colors (warm, cool) affect moods of the painting. Also a good review of composition and techniques. It also goes into how to become a working artist with business concerns – how to exhibit and make money by selling your art.
I liked the refresher of theory, colors, etc. What I noted was that this artist creates art with colored pencil that looks grainy which is not how some other contemporary artists work. This artist said that you should not need more than 1-3 layers, while other artists whose work looks like oil painting use many more layers. Even after reading, I’m not sure how and why to use so many layers – might be my problem though. I happen to like the more polished, oil looking paintings, and the grainy ones seem like something a young artist would do.

This instructional book is one of the best in content and instruction. I have purchased many from different authors and she really delves into the reader as an artist, who seriously wants to use colored pencils. She also addresses the reader and their goals for becoming an artist, which I have never seen in a book. To me she seems to really care about what she has written and how the reader may benefit from it rather then a book that my be a side comment to a teaching career.

I was looking for something with more information on how to blend colors and create shading for realistic natural subjects not conceptualize and draw pictures. Needed much more step by step: use these colors together in this order type thing. Good information on what it does cover but not near enough how-to for colorists. Like author’s way of thinking: the mental aspects of creating art; setting up a suitable work space. As coloring books are all the craze right now I would love to see this author address that subject for those of us who love natural subjects but don’t draw. Section in the back about basic marketing which is helpful as I am a photographer. Nice book but not what I really needed.

I’m looking forward to researching with this book and hope I am successful to get the watercolor pencil art going