[ebooks] Urban Bikeway Design Guide; Second Edition by National Association of City Transportation Officials at Arts-Photography

Review

265 of 273 people found the following review helpful. Good for advanced artists. Not very good for beginners.By R BIf youre an intermediate or advanced artist with colored pencil experience this is a good book.If youre new to colored pencils like I am this is not the right book for you. It starts out covering a lot of things as if you have never used colored pencils; then moves onto advanced topics.What bothers me is the book title and description saying: `incredible realism- with simple you-can-do-it-processes!. Which is very misleading. Same thing when you look inside the book and see it starting with basics like colored pencil choices and paper choices. I assumed that it was going to progress from the very basics all the way through.The highest rated 5-star review is titled: `Great for beginner to expert and says: `If you have no experience with colored pencils or colored pencil realism; this book will take you from total beginner to gallery level brilliant hyper-realism.Almost every example goes something like this: I layered black; blue; red and green on the background and used yellow; pink; etc on the light areas. And it shows one small photo of the drawing. Then I applied a solvent and touched up areas. Then showing a beautiful completed photo. I would have appreciated to see way more steps and photos.If youre a beginner I would recommend to start drawing and watching online tutorial videos. With the videos you can watch the artist drawing and pause the video while trying to recreate what they are doing. Once you understand color better and how to make decent looking drawings then look into this book.I dont know who would disagree with me about that. You should be able to draw a decent drawing with colored pencils BEFORE you try to create ultra realistic effects. You need a lot of experience drawing and working with colors and so much else to create drawings that look ultra realistic. Its not just a matter of following along with the simple you-can-do-it-processes in this book.A more accurate title would be `advanced colored pencil techniques.66 of 67 people found the following review helpful. Great learning tool.By elle.h.This book is so helpful. Ive completed many of the projects in there with what I believe to be successful. Alyonya nickels on is such a great colored pencil artist. She is bringing clout to the world of colored pencil paintings. Unfortunately I cant seem to locate the book with those projects in it. I do however have two to show for now. Ill update the pics asap when I locate my other book. The one is a pair of marbles and the other is a swatch of denim. (Hopefully you can see that without my help) also I included a sample of a crystal candle stick; a leaf with a water droplet or two; pears; an apple; a brass pitcher; well you can tell what they all are except maybe red ; yellow and blue peppermill.63 of 64 people found the following review helpful. Wow. Much more than I expected!By joaneblueMaking art has been one o the greatest passions of my lifetime. I have had a formal art education (BA - Fine Arts) and; like most artists; hobbyists or professional; I have learned and developed most of my technique through practice and a lot of trial and error. A lot of practice. A lot pf trial. And a lot of error! As happens to many people; life got in the way over the years; and my focus on making art has gone through many shifts. But recent changes have brought me back to what used to be my medium of choice; colored pencil drawing. As with any discipline; I was feeling a bit rusty around the edges; and the aspects of this particular medium (and of drawing in general) where I was not proficient were even more painfully obvious to me; now that I was "restarting"...While browsing online; I discovered this book and read some really positive reviews. I was intrigued to read that the author favored Prismacolor pencils (one of the two brands I prefer - the other is Lyra) and I was very impressed by the ultra realism of the cover and the drawings I saw in the previews. I also liked the fact that it said Colored Pencil PAINTING; because I have always thought the style and technique I favor - a heavy; opaque coloring; rather than a soft sketchy style - was more akin to painting than the drawing/sketching that most people think of when they think of colored pencils. I knew that when I was last heavily involved in this medium; a good 25 or so years ago; this style or approach; and the colored pencil medium in general was still considered a relatively new medium (in the general scheme of artists media through the ages) and that people had been experimenting and pushing the techinique envelope; and new products had been developing as well. So when I saw that there were several used copies of this book available; I thought I would give it a chance; surely there would be something between the covers for me.What a huge; happy surprise awaited me when the package arrived! Not only does this book cover the ultrarealistic effects and luminous colors that are the authors forte; it also gives a good overview of principles of design; composition; color theory; fundamentals of light; shading and shadows; and other topics that are applicable to just about all visual art media; not just colored pencil. It even contains a different approach tto color theory than what I had been taught all those many years ago; and that quickly deepened my understanding of layering and blending colors in a way that years of trial and error (and yes; more error) hadnt accomplished.The focus of the book; as promised by the title; is on colored pencil drawing (painting); specifically with "dry" wax or oil based pencils (not watercolor pencils) So naturally a lot of pages are devoted to materials; media; supplies and tools. It covers the difference and similarities between wax and oil based pencils and specific brands thereof - including hardness; blendability; color range; and the "feel" of the pencil on the page plus an appendix with charts of all the major manufacturers colored pencils and their ratings for lightfastness. It also explains the pros and cons of different types and weights of paper; even mentioning some by brand. Erasers and erasing technique; blending//burnishing and the use of solvents are covered. Just about anything you need to know about stocking and setting up your studio to enable you to use this medium to its maximum potential can be found in this book. No matter what your level of experience and expertise; you are bound to find something in the tools and techniques section of this book to make you say "wow! I did not know that!"And finally; we get to one of the main objectives of this book - creating textures and surfaces. Step by step; section by section it covers the techniques and "tricks" for rendering various surface and background textures: greenery; flowers; fruits and vegetables; water; ice; fire; wood; metal; pearls; cut crystal; various fabrics; all covered step by step. This is followed by an introduction to practicing with simple still lifes; one of the most accessible subjects and an excellent study in texture; color; light and composition. The book ends with a series of exercises in technique -- single object studies from start to finish; each featuring a different type of surface texture.This book is an essential in the library of anyone who is interested in making art with colored pencils. It doesnt specifically cover some of the more common subjects -- landscapes; portraits; etc; but gives you the building blocks for the solid foundation you will need even when taking on such subjects. I am sure that I will return to it over and over for reference; and look forward to deepening and expanding my understanding of the medium; and to honing my technique. With this book; and more practice (and I am sure more trial and lots of error) I hope to tackle some of those "weak points" that have perplexed me since I first put pencil to paper; which will greatly improve my enjoyment of the medium that I love.