July 06
Before picking up this book I had attempted painting with pastels but had no success. All I can say is this book has transformed my world of art. I never realised just how much detail could be achieved by using pastels before. This book is exactly what it claims to be an 'essential reference' for the practising artist. I don't think I could have learnt more if I had spent months at art classes. And this is one of those books that you will want to read from front to back because it contains so many wonderful tips. I was amazed there were so many ways of using pastels and techniques, no wonder I was going wrong before. The book lists all the materials you will need, a section on colour, basic techniques, further techniques and lots of tutorials on things like landscape and people. I have completed lots of the tutorials and feel it has helped me no end and I owe my success to this book.
* minigallery.co.uk *
August 2006
This excellent little series has now found its way to Pastel. Following the successful formula of spiral binding that allows the book to lay flat in use and, for the most part, confining each section to a single spread, the book covers materials, colour, basic and more advanced techniques and a series of typical subjects from landscape to still lifes, people and animals.
Extensively illustrated, the book is easy to follow and offers a potted guide that's laid out so that everything is easy to find and it's the sort of thing you can keep beside you as you work. Being the size of a large pocket, it's also handy to take out with you on sketching trips, but the reduced page size never feels cramped.
The whole series would form a handy primer for anyone working in any of the media covered, but also contains enough information to satisfy the more experienced worker who just wants the occasional refresher or quick reference tool.
* Artbookreview.net *
