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Colored Pencil Step by Step: Explore a range of styles and techniques for creating your own works of art in colored pencils
Colored Pencil Step by Step, from the acclaimed Walter Foster Artist’s Library Series, is filled with information that will help artists of all levels learn all about drawing with colored pencil. This colorful, comprehensive guidebook explores drawing and layering colors, plus a range of styles and techniques for creating your own works of art in colored pencil. Three renowned colored pencil artists guide you step by step through 11 vibrant lessons, demonstrating a variety of special techniques and tricks along the way. Whether you’re a novice or an accomplished artist who has never experimented with a colored pencil, this book will provide the instruction and inspiration you need to master this versatile medium.
- GenresArtDrawingNonfiction
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 31, 2025
tl;dr Marketed towards novice/beginner artists, but I would not say this book is for beginners. This book is half introduction to colored pencils, half professional artist demonstrations that are NOT aimed at beginners. Too many issues for me to feel comfortable recommending it. Look elsewhere unless you find the specific art/artists in here inspiring.
Not tl;dr: (My thoughts as I read the book.)
For transparency, I am coming from the perspective of an experienced artist and art educator.
I think this book had a good amount of explanations and examples for beginner artists (the supposed target market, more on that later). I appreciated how open-ended and versatile the information was, and the encouragement of experimentation. I also loved the depiction of an artist who uses a limited palette. That's a trap most new artists fall into, where they feel like they need to buy every color, but that's almost never the case (unless you're a collector lol). But as an artist who prefers limited palettes, it was nice to really prove to beginners that you can do a lot with a little.
That said, I did have some issues. While the info given was a great start and organized well, I do think it was a touch lacking. Almost like the information was almost there but stopped just short. Like saying how spending more money leads to higher quality tools so your art lasts longer. Which is somewhat true, but lacks the discussion of lightfastness and archivalness. Sure, a more advanced topic, and not one that beginners should care too much over, but then why push for them spending the big bucks without explaining why and what direction to go? Not all expensive pencils are lightfast, for example.
I did LOVE the mention of not dropping your pencils. Because you will crack the core, and as they said, the pencils will become useless. I feel like I could rant for years about that lol. So I'm glad it was emphasized here.
But similarly with the lack of info, I wish a bit more examples and brand names were given to help give some direction. The variety of paper types explained (mostly just color and texture, not weight or archivalness) was nice, but with the hundreds of papers out there, beginners are bound to be overwhelmed. And like with everything, the information was just dipping your toes in, not too much to work with as far as guidance goes.
This is NOT a tutorial book. There are NO projects in here to follow along and copy. This book is purely reference material only. You learn the very basics with a brief overview, then see demonstrations by the three artists. They explain their process and give tips, but if you're hoping to get started with your pencils right away, this book is not for that. If you're working on your own projects already and want to learn how other artists approach their own projects, get ideas of techniques to transfer to your own, then this book is more for you.
I will also mention this is also not a 'how to draw' book. So if you need assistance there, I would also recommend seeking out additional materials.
There was also no visual example of hatching, only cross-hatching, and not in the most beginner friendly way. And while the artists in their demonstrations mentioned coloring in tight, small circles, examples of that were also not shown. And given how that's one of the most common ways of coloring with colored pencils (and a huge difficulty curve with most new artists), I was surprised that was largely skipped over.
A beginner mistake I also always see is them struggling with blending due to leaving too many/too large of gaps between strokes, which was also not discussed here. Similarly, there were tools and techniques the artists mention in their demonstrations that were not introduced otherwise in the book, which could be very confusing and frustrating for beginners. Not to mention that when discussing 'scraping out color', the text randomly cuts off mid-sentence.
Some things had 'see page x' for additional information on whatever tools or techniques the artist was referring to in their explanation, but it was almost always later in the book, after the page you were reading. I wish this book was organized where all the points of reference would be at the start, so you had knowledge ahead of time to be more prepared when you finally got to see things in action.
The progress photos included are very few per project, some with quite big jumps in between shots. (Including the first picture, even.) There is also almost no explanations of 'why' decisions were made, which can be hugely beneficial for beginners. And because of the big jump between photos, the explanations of each step are verbose and easily confusing with too much color use information. (Where what color was used, and the explanations weren't always clear as to 'where'.) I think time would've been better spent for this book on more info on the basics of layering color, blending, using the pencils, and at least one simple project to follow along with PRIOR to these professional demonstrations.
While I did appreciate how each artist had their color palette listed at the start, not every color is used for every project, so I'd rather the book had just listed the colors per project instead. It helps with avoiding flipping back and forth and hunting down the colors to visually see what the artist is talking about.
I have mixed feelings. For a tiny booklet, you do get a lot of value. And the price ($10USD) feels mostly fair, though maybe a little high. Given that the bulk of the book is the demonstrations, I would say this is for more experienced beginner or intermediate artists. Which does make the opening materials a bit confusing as far as reader audience goes, as that's clearly aimed at artists just starting. So if you are new and want to have some inspiring artworks to learn from later, this could be nice. But if you're expecting a lot of hand holding and information to help you get started and get drawing, prepare to be disappointed.
Due to the marketing, the name of the book being sort of misleading, and the general lacking of direction and information for its target audience, I'm giving it 2 stars.
Not tl;dr: (My thoughts as I read the book.)
For transparency, I am coming from the perspective of an experienced artist and art educator.
I think this book had a good amount of explanations and examples for beginner artists (the supposed target market, more on that later). I appreciated how open-ended and versatile the information was, and the encouragement of experimentation. I also loved the depiction of an artist who uses a limited palette. That's a trap most new artists fall into, where they feel like they need to buy every color, but that's almost never the case (unless you're a collector lol). But as an artist who prefers limited palettes, it was nice to really prove to beginners that you can do a lot with a little.
That said, I did have some issues. While the info given was a great start and organized well, I do think it was a touch lacking. Almost like the information was almost there but stopped just short. Like saying how spending more money leads to higher quality tools so your art lasts longer. Which is somewhat true, but lacks the discussion of lightfastness and archivalness. Sure, a more advanced topic, and not one that beginners should care too much over, but then why push for them spending the big bucks without explaining why and what direction to go? Not all expensive pencils are lightfast, for example.
I did LOVE the mention of not dropping your pencils. Because you will crack the core, and as they said, the pencils will become useless. I feel like I could rant for years about that lol. So I'm glad it was emphasized here.
But similarly with the lack of info, I wish a bit more examples and brand names were given to help give some direction. The variety of paper types explained (mostly just color and texture, not weight or archivalness) was nice, but with the hundreds of papers out there, beginners are bound to be overwhelmed. And like with everything, the information was just dipping your toes in, not too much to work with as far as guidance goes.
This is NOT a tutorial book. There are NO projects in here to follow along and copy. This book is purely reference material only. You learn the very basics with a brief overview, then see demonstrations by the three artists. They explain their process and give tips, but if you're hoping to get started with your pencils right away, this book is not for that. If you're working on your own projects already and want to learn how other artists approach their own projects, get ideas of techniques to transfer to your own, then this book is more for you.
I will also mention this is also not a 'how to draw' book. So if you need assistance there, I would also recommend seeking out additional materials.
There was also no visual example of hatching, only cross-hatching, and not in the most beginner friendly way. And while the artists in their demonstrations mentioned coloring in tight, small circles, examples of that were also not shown. And given how that's one of the most common ways of coloring with colored pencils (and a huge difficulty curve with most new artists), I was surprised that was largely skipped over.
A beginner mistake I also always see is them struggling with blending due to leaving too many/too large of gaps between strokes, which was also not discussed here. Similarly, there were tools and techniques the artists mention in their demonstrations that were not introduced otherwise in the book, which could be very confusing and frustrating for beginners. Not to mention that when discussing 'scraping out color', the text randomly cuts off mid-sentence.
Some things had 'see page x' for additional information on whatever tools or techniques the artist was referring to in their explanation, but it was almost always later in the book, after the page you were reading. I wish this book was organized where all the points of reference would be at the start, so you had knowledge ahead of time to be more prepared when you finally got to see things in action.
The progress photos included are very few per project, some with quite big jumps in between shots. (Including the first picture, even.) There is also almost no explanations of 'why' decisions were made, which can be hugely beneficial for beginners. And because of the big jump between photos, the explanations of each step are verbose and easily confusing with too much color use information. (Where what color was used, and the explanations weren't always clear as to 'where'.) I think time would've been better spent for this book on more info on the basics of layering color, blending, using the pencils, and at least one simple project to follow along with PRIOR to these professional demonstrations.
While I did appreciate how each artist had their color palette listed at the start, not every color is used for every project, so I'd rather the book had just listed the colors per project instead. It helps with avoiding flipping back and forth and hunting down the colors to visually see what the artist is talking about.
I have mixed feelings. For a tiny booklet, you do get a lot of value. And the price ($10USD) feels mostly fair, though maybe a little high. Given that the bulk of the book is the demonstrations, I would say this is for more experienced beginner or intermediate artists. Which does make the opening materials a bit confusing as far as reader audience goes, as that's clearly aimed at artists just starting. So if you are new and want to have some inspiring artworks to learn from later, this could be nice. But if you're expecting a lot of hand holding and information to help you get started and get drawing, prepare to be disappointed.
Due to the marketing, the name of the book being sort of misleading, and the general lacking of direction and information for its target audience, I'm giving it 2 stars.
July 31, 2016
This was a decent book but did not go into step by step practices such as shading etc. like I thought it would. This book takes professional artists pictures and flies through (five progression pictures) on what color they used etc. Im glad I ordered this book used. If you are a seasoned artist and looking for some tips this may be for you but if you are just starting out and looking for practice steps and techniques this book is more advanced. I have found that there are many lessons on You Tube that are way more helpful then this book.
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January 22, 2022I liked this book but I won't review it until I have had time to do the exercises.
December 30, 2017
This seems very impressive and well done!
I thought the author did a very impressive set of research work in writing and illustrating or and photography work. There does I wished to r as the this as a Five star rating as well as wanting to recommend this for others who may be wanting to check out this medium. I received this for free and In return, here is my honest review. Super job Debra! By Sunny.
I thought the author did a very impressive set of research work in writing and illustrating or and photography work. There does I wished to r as the this as a Five star rating as well as wanting to recommend this for others who may be wanting to check out this medium. I received this for free and In return, here is my honest review. Super job Debra! By Sunny.
September 28, 2023
Thorough and informative!
This book is full of excellent tips, methods and techniques for developing your skills with colored pencil. I highly recommend this to any artist!
This book is full of excellent tips, methods and techniques for developing your skills with colored pencil. I highly recommend this to any artist!
November 12, 2021
3 different artists give their view on colored pencil very interesting because none are exactly alike. I enjoyed the information given by each one. Different technics and their way of seeing. I still enjoy colored pencil drawing. I love all of it from water color to Acrylics. Only thing I haven't taken on is Oils.
December 19, 2012
Very brief, for better or for worse. It does give enough pointers to get started, though.
November 1, 2016
I have not yet done any drawing but this book is going to get my pencils to the paper. If I'm no good at it, it will not be the fault of the book!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews