Colored Pencil Solution Book

by Janie Gildow, Barbara Benedetti Newton

Artists and teachers Bildow and Newton provide about 20 step-by-step demonstrations that reveal the secrets of working with colored pencil. They answer the most commonly-asked questions about the medium, from basic techniques and proper tool selection to creating realistic colors, light, and textur

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Drawing, Crafts

126 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would make a great ‘how-to’ book for someone who is just starting with colored pencils and have many questions on the medium. It is good resource for someone who has slightly more experience, too
, as it has particular sections on how to represent different materials and how to deal with some complex problems. Overall, it is a good book to have on the shelves of a colored pencil artist, no matter the experience but if you are someone who usually needs more detailed explanation I’d say to try a different book. Also, Janie Gildow has an excellent video course on the topic that greatly compliments the book and may help those who are visual learners understand the techniques described in the book even more in depth.

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 EBN Challenge... Category #6.
Challenge Topic: A book from the nonfiction 700s.

I am a big time lover of coloring with colored pencils, but I will admit to really having no "technique". I was super excited to find this book and the wealth of advice within it. I learned some new techniques and got some great ideas for organizing my art station. I may have to buy this one for my personal collection for reference later.

I recommend this to anyone who likes to color with Colored Pencis.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

The usual paper-weight quality expected from people that are artists because a piece of paper says so. And being trained in something that resembles a small meat processing plant, they have the creativity of an average can of Spam.

Over 120 pages of mediocre drawings alternating with some text taken from one of 1000 other books just like this one. How the pencils are classified. How the tip looks like. Amazing! It's never a square tip! And the photographer has probably suffered the same meat processing plant education.

Simply put, this piece of junk is depressing.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, and one of the best I have found so far in that it has lots of useful information for the experienced, as well as the novice, colored pencil artist.
The Colored Pencil Solution Book starts with a detailed section on materials and setup.
It then includes several chapters about art--including some of the clearest explanations on composition that I have found. There are also chapters which cover color theory and colored pencil technique. Some of this information is necessarily similar to what you will find in other books on colored pencil, but I found (throughout this book) that the information presented here was clearly and beautifully presented. Furthermore, some of the information was new to me.
The last several sections of the book include demonstrations which explain a "solution" to a colored pencil problem. Examples include how to create the textures of various surfaces such as brass, metal, glass, fabric, shiny and fuzzy fruits and flowers. One thing to note is that if you are primarily interested in landscapes, this book does not have demonstrations that are explicitly landscape related.
The final section focuses primarily on solutions to fixing problems you might come across, such as repairing scratches to paper, or taking away stains.
A great bonus specific to this book is that it includes detailed line drawings for all 24 demonstrations, so that the student can focus on color and technique.
I have tried a few of the demonstrations thus far and found the instructions clear. The pieces I did start with an underpainting that maps the values in the object, before layering more color on top. As a novice artist, I felt that while the demonstrations do benefit beginners, they are perhaps more correctly described as intermediate level work.
Ultimately, I think the Colored Pencil Solution Book is a fantastic part of any colored pencil artist's library, in that it offers high quality information on color theory and materials, and a large number of detailed demonstrations.

[DianeM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely presented book with some great tips about using colour pencils. However, I felt like the 'practice' pieces were not complete. For example, the only reference for the drawing was Gildow's competed illustration. There were no reference photos, so it was very hard to know what exactly the 'real' image looked like. There also seemed to be some specific details missing. A little disappointing that Gildon's 9min Youtube videos seem to offer more information in some respect than the book!
Nevertheless, a good book to have on hand for reference.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that I would love to have on my shelf!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

She had pictures of her studio which influenced me to redesign my own drawing area. She had pictures of how she gathered her drawing materials; pencils, pens, crayons and other drawing implements.