Modern Colored Pencil

A great overview of colored pencils and how to use them including methods and the different type of pencils.

This is a great comprehensive book on better using colored pencil as a media for art. There are different activities to enhance these skills that are fun as well as informative.

I'm not sure who this book is aimed towards. It assumes you need almost 20 pages of basic art instruction like what the color wheel and complementary colors are, yet it expects you to be able to draw very well. There's some good basic information about colored pencils, but it's pretty basic and then it goes through how to draw things like a cat, a pear, a landscape, people and a window. The example illustrations are a little basic, but they're way better than I could do even with this book. There aren't new techniques, and the exercises are the basic "follow my lead, first draw the dog's outline, then color this in more, here's the colors to use" type. All of the "projects" are just draw this thing, then draw that thing. There are not projects in terms of creating things like note cards, gift tags, journal spreads or wall art. This is very much like what I did in high school art class for the colored pencil week. It's a fine basic book, nothing revolutionary.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I love any books that show new techniques to make art. Drawing has always been a passion of mine. I'm no pro though so I find books like this very helpful and it keeps things new and fresh. This book was a great book to show you how to use colored pencils and create gorgeous drawings.

I really enjoyed this book it has very in-depth details on shading and various pencil mediums. The instructions are very clear even when explaining complex techniques and I found it extremely useful. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review and I highly recommend it.

Modern Colored Pencil is a good text for new artists. The book covers everything from choice of pencils and paper to colour theory and finally examples which range from still life to figure drawing. The book is well set out and easy to follow and offers some good tips and recommendations, particularly if you are just starting out. I might have liked a little more detail here and there, but as an introductory text it covers all the basics and would be a worthwhile investment for those commencing their art journey.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review. One thing that really stood out to me was the "how to care for your colored pencils". For some reason a lot of teaching books skip this step. With artist supplies I feel like this is very important. I mean you do spend a lot of money on artist supplies so it is really important to know how to care for them. So many different techniques are included and I really loved the suggestion of what colors to use for shadows. As a colored pencil artist, it took me far too long to figure this out. A lot of older books didn't include this. this was by far one of the best "how to" books I have ever read.

This is a nice, approachable guide to drawing with colored pencil. It doesn't skip any details, so it will be great for anyone looking to start learning from scratch. The exercises are practical and use everyday objects and situations that will be easy to replicate in order to focus on learning technique. It will be a valuable addition to any artist wanting to explore and learn more about how to use colored pencils in their art.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a lovely book on using coloured pencils. I love the authors style and her illustrations. I've read the initial information that many times now in most art book introductions that I brush over it, but some of the projects are really interesting and quite easy to replicate. It is one of those books that makes you feel like pulling out your pencils and drawing. I just wish there were more drawings and projects to follow. Overall though a very good book.

This is a fantastic introduction to using colored pencils, a plethora of information to learn and hone your skills with this fun media. Use the techniques and your own personal style to draw and create your own works of art. Achievable at any age. The author reminds all to “Be patient and kind to yourself as you learn these new skills.”
Within, tools and techniques are covered, including types of colored pencils and what to expect from each, paper, sharpeners, erasers, blending tools, care of your pencils. Techniques and exercises to practice to obtain light and dark values by using pressure, dots, lines, crosshatching, and squiggles. Gesture drawing and figure proportions are also addressed.
Color theory is taught along with an exercise for creating your own color wheel. Understanding color is an asset for any artist.
Learn to draw everything including food, plants, glass, rooms, architecture, landscape, animals, and people. Color swatches are shown for each picture so you can match your pencil color and follow along with each layer of the picture.
This is a very comprehensive book and would be great for the budding artist in all of us.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Surely not a revolutionary book, it contains however the essential information a beginning coloured pencil artist should know. Basic tools, their use, colouring techniques, color theory and various subjects from plants, fruits, animals, people, interiors and landscapes. I found rather boring the section dedicated to doors and windows only a few types, only frontal view but they occupy more than twenty pages, while I liked very much the animal section. The book is entirely illustrated by the author.

Very interesting book, which shows how by layering colors, you can bring your drawings to life. The avocado, berries, strawberry, apple all well done. Animal drawings, gesture drawings, doorscapes which reminded me of The doorways of Paris book, which could be your next exercise.

Thank you Net Galley and Quarto Publishing for the opportunity to read and
And give an honest review of this book.

This handy little book gives a good overview of drawing with colored pencils. It also includes information on the use of watercolor pencils. The book gives details on layering colors, highlighting and shadowing objects. The short chapters cover drawing still life objects, landscapes, animals and the human figures.

Any artist interested in sketching in color could make use of this book in their library.

I enjoyed the tips and techniques provided in this title. I will be purchasing it for an artist friend and I know she will love what she sees, as did I.

Modern Colored Pencil is a tutorial technique and project guide for colored pencil by Chelsea Ward. Due out 5th Nov 2019 from Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in ebook and paperback formats.

Walter Foster are familiar and loved by readers everywhere for their specialized technique tutorial books and this one follows the same format. The introductory chapter (~27% of the content) includes beginning to intermediate techniques and information about form, composition, making marks (layering, shading, blending, color theory, etc), as well as tools and supplies and how to use them.

The following chapters include training the eye to find patterns, drawing different still life subjects, architecture and landscapes, animals, and life drawing/figure studies. The text is accessible and the vibe is positive and encouraging. I intend to work my way through the studies and projects in the book, but I am pleased with the progress I've already made beginning with this book.

The tools are simple and easy to acquire and the author is a gifted teacher. Well done!
Five stars.

In addition to drawing techniques, Modern Colored Pencil is a guide to selecting supplies - pencils, erasers, sharpeners and paper.  The section on mark making includes many examples showing many of the various techniques.  I particularly like the suggested exercises on mark making and the color wheel.  These are followed by sections on blending and burnishing, layering to build dimension and seeing and using patterns - each with suggested exercises to practice with.  These techniques sections are followed by chapters on drawing objects, architecture, landscapes, animals and figures.  Each chapter includes many of examples of how the various techniques add life-like qualities to your work.  I found the section on drawing glass object in the everyday items section particularly interesting.  This is a book that would help a new artist get started in colored pencil work, as well as aid any artist is honing their skills.

(NetGalley ebook -  I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Want to use your color pencils?
Chelsea Ward's book "Modern Colored Pencil. A playful and contemporary exploration of colored pencil drawing - Includes 75+ Projects and Techniques" was published by Quarto Publishing Group - Walter. In the introduction Ward covers topics such as "Supplies", "Erasing Tools & Techniques", and everything what has to do with color. In the second chapter she challenges the readers to look for patterns whereas the following chapters are dedicated to the actual drawing (everyday life, architecture & landscapes, animals). The final chapter touches the topics of skin tones, hair color, figure proportions, and gestures.
Ward challenges the artist to be patient and to take the time, being convinced that the readers will be able to draw everything if they follow this advice, but she underlines also that one has to create in order to become comfortable with ones tools.
The book presents itself with a great design and marvelous illustrations. It also makes a great gift for artists. The skill level necessary for the projects will be a challenge for beginners, but otherwise I recommend this book for artists who are interested in creating with colored pencils. I am convinced that this book can be even used as an inspirational help for artist who prefer other media because it is very detailed, especially the information about the color wheel and because it show the techniques realistically.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#ModernColoredPencil #NetGalley

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is a great starting point in learning how to sketch and different techniques to do with different types of crayons. I especially like the part about adding texture and found this very interesting as a newby to drawing and painting.
I'm looking forward to having a go at some of the techniques and sketches shown in this book and have gotten myself some materials to do so.
A very informative and interesting book, ideal to new beginners like me.

This book provides excellent coursework for improving one’s technique in the use of colored pencils. The author starts from the beginning by introducing the supplies needed as well as proper techniques for working with colored pencils. Then, the reader/student is introduced to observing patterns and step-by-step instructions for drawing everyday objects, architecture, landscapes, animals, and people.

The well-written instructions provide the reader/student with the opportunity to learn at their own pace. So, this is an excellent instruction manual for personal use or as a gift.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book that was provided by the publisher through Net Galley. However, the thoughts and opinions presented here are my own.

This is a very useful guide to the use of coloured pencils. The author covers all the basic equipment options before moving on to the theories of how to combine different colours , the colour wheel , and mark making techniques . She then moves on to how to blend, burnish and layer colours before moving onto step by step exercises to practice these techniques.- from a flower, through fruits, various animals and finally the human form. It is an extremely easy to follow guide and the step by step practice sessions really are broken down very well and described in such detail that you feel confident to give it a go. As someone who hasn’t picked up a coloured pencil for many years and am wanting to have a go at something arty this is a great starting point which builds up to more complex items to draw. My only criticism is that I would have liked a bit more detail on how to tackle the more complex tasks. Successfully drawing a dog or human face seems far more complex than an avocado for example and I feel these sections could have been added to. More examples of how to actually draw hair, eyes and lips would have been useful, but then maybe it is because I find these things particularly daunting to tackle. Nevertheless a great beginners book and one that my daughter will be finding under the Christmas tree this year!

nice techniques and advice given. Neat projects and items to have a look at to draw. Good for those really want to use coloured pencil more.

This book is very well structured, and I think that for a beginner it serves as a great introduction to coloured pencils and colour theory. The first half is the most useful of the book, it goes over basic stuff like colour wheel, equipment (this part was maybe a little bit redundant), shading etc., which can be good for people who never took an interest in art and are eager to start. The second part consists of a kind of step-by-step drawings of different objects, animals and people, from those the occasional tip written in cursive comes in handy.

I wouldn't say that the book gave me much, but I took extracurricular art classes for nine years, so I'm probably not the target audience. It really goes over everything which I can appreciate even though for me it was just a refreshment of my memory. For someone who just started with art from the scratch, I think it's very useful and also very aesthetically pleasing book. The illustrations are very pretty, and I really liked the boxes with colours used that were next to all the illustrations.

I learned a lot from reading this and I think young people and adults would benefit from reading this. I like how there were visual examples to show what was being explained. This helped make sense of what the author was saying. I will remember things better because I was able to see the visual example. I can't wait to try these different techniques.

I love coloring. I’m always looking for how to books to improve without feeling like here’s no way I could live up to the instructions. This book was beautiful and helpful. I feel like I could color like this. The illustrations were simple and beautiful while being detailed. This is definitely a great book to learn or improve skills with.

I enjoyed learning about pencil work.

I would like to thank the publisher for giving me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very informative! I'm just beginning my colored pencils journey and I enjoyed learning the differences of oil based vs wax based (I prefer oil based) The tutorials and brightly pictured examples were great

Thank you netgalley for the chance to view the pdf in exchange for my honest opinion

While Modern Colored Pencil requires you to be a tolerable at drawing to really get value from it; there is certainly some value here for the average colourer that just wants to colour in a fancier book.
Chelsea Ward takes the reader through types of pencil, colour theory, shading, blending, page tone & texture, patterns, strokes and shadows. The most important of which is really blending and shadows. Progressing through Ward's book it felt like the perfect set-up to move from beginner to more expert concepts. The last few pages may not feel useful to the non-drawing artist or the more casual colouring hobbyist but there are still great items to grab from these pages; including skin tones, hair colours and more blending info! For example: blue goes in black to get truly black hair, purple goes in red to get the darker shades on an apple, etc.
Finally the best part of Ward's book is that she has samples for you to work with. Draw a rough sketch of an apple (just wing it, this isn't about drawing but about colouring). Then she lists the colours used. You'll be surprised in every instance (I'm willing to bet) about what colours it takes to get the green of an avocado or the black of a dog's hair. These colour palettes and the shadows and blending Ward shows are easily the best part of this book.
I can't speak to the colours or page quality as I had an eARC of Modern Colored Pencil; but I can say that on screen everything looked quite good and it's clear that Ward knows her colour theory and palettes very well. A better investment for someone looking to drawn and then colour; but not a bad choice for the casual colourer that wants to step it up a notch or two.
Reviewer's Note: I am Canadian and so colour is spelled with a 'u'. Ward's book is spelled the American way and so I used each where appropriate as would be used here in Canada.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this book. It gives good advice for people who want to start trying coloring and give more deepth and brightness to what they create. I already knew some of the theory because my mother is an arts teacher, but I enjoyed having it explained step by step with clear images of the elements to use, in which way to use them and how to be able to making the most of them.

Nice book, has a section on tools which was helpful for me since I am new to the medium. Has good step by step on making intricate colored pencil work with tons of layers.

Great book for anyone looking to improve their artistic skills in color pencils. Loved the great photograhy, i structions and tips. Highly recommended!

This is a good beginner book about colored pencils. It gives you information about how to start as well as detailed project. If you've never done any art with color pencils you will find this book useful. advanced users can give this a miss. The authors drawing style is simple yet fun. A good book!

I recently started to draw for myself and the fun of it but I recognize that I needed something to help me decide with what I liked to draw, what technic I like to use.

This book helped me a lot and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book and work with it

This is a great book to take you from not knowing how to work with colored pencils effectively, to learning to how to do more complicated techniques, like blending and layering! The book takes you from the very basics, the different tyoes of colored pencil, and why you need the different ones. Then it takes you onto actual drawing and learning to see shapes, to simplify how you draw, nd to be able to focus on details, an important concept to learn! With actual projects, you can work through, you learn as you are actually completing pieces. This is a huge confidence builder! This is a fun book for tween, teens and adults!

There are a lot of books on painting and drawing on the market, but not many on how to use colour pencils to create depth, perspective and toning. With lots of examples this book fills a gap in this medium, and not only in original art work but for anyone who wishes to add a more personal touch to all the colouring books available today for both adults and children.

This is an excellent guide to colored pencil drawing. You learn everything from using the color wheel to blending colors. This is very colorful book with lots of vibrant illustrations to get you started in modern colored pencil.

Modern Colored Pencil is great for beginners and has great techniques. Easy to understand and follow.