Colored Pencil Painting Portraits: Master a Revolutionary Method for Rendering Depth and Imitating Life

Bellissimo peccato che è scritto in inglese

If you are a portrait artist who works in coloured pencils and you want to take your work to a whole new level this is the book for you! Clearly and intelligently written it gives precise information about the medium of coloured pencils and what they are made of, how the different types perform, on their own and with various blending tools. There are excellent step by step guides, with photographs to the techniques, actual coloured pencils used and blending methods used in several of Alonya's own projects. I have read it from cover to cover and have been totally engrossed and am now starting on some practice pieces!!! For serious colour pencil artists this has to be an essential read!

Hate throwing words like revolutionary around but I do believe this deserves the title. I've bought lots of art instruction books over the years and most are a rehash of the same material presented from a slightly different artistic perspective. Nothing wrong with that-- love my reference library. But *this* book breaks new ground. Initially, I bought the book for Ms. Nickelsen's lovely portraits. I mean really! They just glow. And after reading her techniques, I honestly believe I can paint colored pencil portraits too and that in my opinion, is the hallmark of a wonderful teacher. It will take time and discipline but she offers solid instruction based on sound principles that can be practiced step by step. There's lots of information about Ms. Nickelsen's line of products and at times the writing can sound a bit like an infomercial. Normally, that's a huge turn off but, in this case, the products are a game changer and to fully utilize them, all that information is a big help. I've watched YouTube videos on her powder blender but this book trumps all those. Secondly, it definitely covers portraits but the lessons can apply to any subject. The book is not for beginners. Reading this even a year ago, I'd have been lost. Intermediate to advanced seems about right. The book is packed and it's the first time in years that I've sat down with an art book and took notes. Solid five stars.

It is always great to learn new techniques. I have been using colored pencils as a professional artist for over 40 years . I thought I had come up with the techniques I developed , they evolved over the years. Nice to see so many others growing and developing new ways with colored pencil .

bottom line: this is a very interesting books full of qaulity and technical informations, BUT every other pages the author advertise the specific brand of product she developped to obtain her gorgeous and stunning results. Unfortunately those products are not so easy to find moreover being "exclusive they are pricey. Costing twice as much as other products of the same type. I realized it woul dcost me an extra 100€ to get the recommended products. The author skills and expertise is obvious, and well known. Her long term dedication to improve on classic colored pencil techniques is commendable. I also understand her desire to turn her work and research into a business. But you must be aware that the books heavily advertise the specific equipments she developped, and which she sells through her own website in the USA and through only a very few retailers worlwide. However the subtitle is fair, books is packed with insightfull advices and new ideas and help a lot understanding the process of layering colored pencils to obtain great results. The main focus is on "painting with colored pencil like the traditional oil painting approach, which means multiple layers covered by the speicfic textured fixative. Which remove the usual problem of applying colored pencil when the tooth of the paper is allready filled with previous layers. The technical discussion in itself is highly intersting. Also note that the book focus on portraits drawing, and several chapters are portraits specific, however the general tehnique can be applied to any subject. The content in itself is 5 stars, if it where not for the aforementioned issues. So this really depends on what you are looking for. This is not for beginner but even intermediate users might benefit a lot fromt his book. The equipment necessary to obtains those results is on the expensive side for an amateur but should not be a problem for professsionals. Even with the mentionned products you might benefit from the book you may find subsitute , but it will require some trials and errors. Recommended with reservations.