Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil

Had fun with this book. I drew quick sketches for kids to color. Macarons and Meringues were a hit. I was taken by the sunflower drawing. I dont think I have ever tried to draw sunflowers at different angles. After coloring few of them, I took a step back and saw it feel more real than when you are up close to the drawing. The instructions are very detailed. The glass drawings seem so real and breathtaking. Its fun to decode the color and trying to recode that in our drawing.

This is a great book to learn how to do realistic still life art with colored pencils. The author goes into materials and techniques before giving you detailed, step-by-step directions to do five still life drawings -- sunflowers (on the cover), red poppies in a can on a cloth by a bowl of strawberries, a plate of pastel macarons, a dish of pink meringues, and three peaches in front of a silver pitcher. Knox gives you a pattern to copy and trace to lay down the original image and then walks you through every color and every step. She explains how to copy photos or pictures using either tracing or the grid method, which always seemed like cheating to me but I know that's the standard way to do it and it will give you the best results.

I was really impressed with the detail of how she walks you through these projects and I do think it will really successfully teach you how to make very realistic looking colored pencil drawings as long as you have the right, professional materials. My one issue is that I didn't really like the looks of the projects and wouldn't want to do them for my home. The fruit and flower drawings are very dark and rather moody, but I don't really want pictures of pastel desserts either. I would have loved some more bright or light floral still life options.

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

A good book on the use of colored pencils in still life art work. There is a section relating to the various aspects of using pencils, followed by five step by step projects of different examples of contemporary still life. Easy to follow and informative.

Very good book, I found it useful for learning some new techniques in colour pencil. I liked the step by step guide and explanations. I Will definitely get a lot of use out of this book whilst I practice my colouring. I would say it’s a good all round book with great illustrations that makes it very clear.

This is very nicely done. It has lots of good examples and includes the details and techniques used to add more realism to color drawings. And it starts with some nice basics for those that want it. While practice is still key, this book will provide some nice additional tips.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Cynthia Knox may be one of those people who believes everybody can draw. And if you are struggling to produce anything worth framing, this book might just help.

As the title depicts, Cynthia's style is realism. She painstakingly dissects each stage of the background, fruit or flowers, vases, wood, tablecloths etc. Follow all her instructions and your coloured pencil drawing might just leap off the page. There's also a very useful section on the tools of the trade at the beginning.

Cynthia has authored 15 art-instructional books. I think there's a lot to be learnt from this one.

A very useful book for coloured pencil artists, with the basic know-how (materials, strokes, textures, lighting, perspective, color theory, etc,) and some step-by-step tutorials featuring flowers (poppies and sunflowers), fruit (peaches) and sweets. The first part, though basic, is very helpful, I have found tips that I have not seen in other books, the tutorials are simple and in detail, with the list of the Prismacolor pencils used. The artwork is quite old-fashioned (with laces, old vases and so on) for my taste, but of high technical level. Good layout (as generally in Walter-Foster books).

A very well written book! For someone interested in getting started with color pencils, I like that it got into projects instead of explaining techniques in an isolated way. I enjoyed doing the first project and learned a lot! I would recommend this to any beginner who likes to learn by completing a project.

I am truly loving the creative books being put out by Quarto Publishing Group! So this book shows how to create your own realistic still life drawing using colored pencils and it is not only beautiful, but it is also interactive. I am not a person who is naturally artistic, so using these books as guides helps me using drawing and coloring as an outlet. This is a great addition to anyone wanting to learn and express themselves through coloring.

love this book. As I use coloring to reduce my anxiety I found this a very therapeutic. Recommend to all adult coloring book lovers!

This is a truly fabulous, inspiring, creative and in-depth book which guides you through the process of using pencils to create realistic still life. It doesn't presume any prior knowledge, or skill, and expertly introduces you to how to use the pencils, forms of pencil strokes, values, tints, tones, shades, composition, working from photographs and, finally, projects!

Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil is a tutorial guide to still life techniques using pencil as a medium. Due out 7th July 2020 from Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The layout follows the familiar Walter Foster tutorial format. An introduction covers tools and supplies and is followed by a short and easily accessible general drawing tutorial and an introduction to color theory and composition. There's a good subchapter on blending, texture strokes, and pencil techniques as well as a short intro on how to compose a drawing and developing forms.

Each of the chapters includes several start to finish projects illustrating the concepts and techniques from the chapter. The 5 complete tutorials are grouped together in the last half of the book: poppies, peaches, macarons, sunflowers, and meringues. Each tutorial includes a color photo, line drawing, palette with specific pencil colors, and step by step process photos. Tips and troubleshooting info are highlighted in sidebars throughout.

This is a solid book full of good techniques and will provide some useful takeaways for the majority of readers/artists. This entire series is worthwhile and will be a valuable addition to the artist's home library.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I think that this is a concise and thorough tutorial for the use of colored pencils in still life drawings. There is a lengthy portion of the book that explains the necessary tools, how much pressure one should use to achieve a certain depth of color etc. There are lots of helpful tips and tricks on preparing your drawing. The author gives you a pattern to copy and trace so you are using the same image as in the book. Then you are walked through step by step through everything so your work will also be stellar. There are many pages for each project with quality progress images which further assists in instructing the reader. There is an explanation of how to copy your own photos so you can use them for your drawing. There is a great amount of detail. My one complaint is that some of the drawings are dark. A few lighter and brighter still life options would have guaranteed the universality of this book.

I would like to thank the author, Quarto Publishing – Walter Foster and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to draw still life and learning the techniques involved to enable you to enhance your knowledge, experience and enjoyment of doing this.

This is a wonderful book that teaches you how to create realistic still life by way of detailed step by step projects. You can also trace the original drawings so you can follow in close precision. Although the book would be better for those with some experience, a beginner could still have a go and get a very impressive result. I thought the step by step instructions and tips were very good and detailed. I liked the projects and you could adapt any of them to your own tastes. The author also provides lots of general information on the subject so you can get a really good understanding of the techniques and the materials used. An excellent book overall

I really enjoy drawing with colored pencils either in a coloring book, or copying from a picture. When I saw this guide I was a bit skeptical, as most guides I have seen teach you how to draw and recreate an item you are physically looking at. This guide, however, also teaches you some neat techniques for copying a photograph! I do want to note that it is not a giant portion of the book, only a few pages but it has really helped me learn how to better recreate from a photo.

This book also does a good job on going over various tools, materials, shading techniques, strokes, color basics and shades. It essentially gives you all of the individual building blocks that you need in order to create one of the 5 projects it provides. It is also wonderful that these projects are broken down into steps and tips for you so you can easily follow along.

Overall, this is a wonderful drawing tool that I can see being easily used as an intro to colored pencils textbook! My only suggestion would be that the author offer a video guide of the projects so people can watch and follow along in case they have any difficulties.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this opportunity!

I don’t really do realistic art, but I do still appreciate the books on realism. They still help me to improve my art skills. This one is no exception and is also the second I have read from this line.

The book starts out by covering the basics: Tools, materials, techniques, colors, creating a pleasing composition, working from photographs, and creating realistic still-life textures.

Once you are have mastered those, there are five projects for putting all of the skills to use.
The 5 projects: Poppies, Peaches, Macarons, Sunflowers, and Meringues. Many art books would devote a page or three to projects like these. This book devotes somewhere between 20-30 pages per project. Very detailed instructions with photos.

And finally ends with about the artist.

This book is a great instructional tool. I was very impressed by the amount of time dedicated to each project. This book starts with an overview of basic tools and techniques and then moves into composition and creating a pleasing piece of artwork.

This book only covers five projects but each one has about 25-30 pages of instructionalinformation and guidance that is excellent. Very well presented with good pictures.

I feelbthis would make an excellent gift for anyone who enjoys still life artwork.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Break out your pencils and draw
Color pencil and graphic artist and author Cynthia Knox presents "Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil. Learn to draw beautiful still life in colored pencil", published by Quarto Publishing Group - Walter. The book can be divided into two parts, the first part containing the introduction, tools & color basics, creating a pleasing composition, working from photographs, and creating realistic still-life texture, whereas the second part under the tile "Putting It all Together" contains five projects (Poppies, Peaches, Macaroons, Sunflowers, and Meringues) based on photographs. These projects are presented in a detailed step-by-step approach starting from the sketch and going to the finished picture with additional tips on the way.
The book is vers inspirational and presents a great design with very impressive details. The color palettes using Prismacolor Premier colored pencils for each specific project are also listed which is of high value. Artists who are using different colored pencils might have to find a table of comparison. Whereas the information in the first part is valuable to beginners, intermediate, and advanced artists, the projects in the second part require advanced skill in using colored pencils. It would be useful if the photographs and basic sketches for the projects could be downloaded as PDFs or JPGs for those who want to draw these projects. I highly recommend the book to intermediate and advanced student since the can use it to copy the projects or as an inspiration for their own projects.
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.
#RealisticStillLifeinColoredPencil #NetGalley

It was inspiring and educational to read "Realistic Still Life in Colored Pencil" by Cynthia Knox. I liked that it was thorough in explaining tools and materials, techniques, color basics, creating composition, how to work from photographs, and textures. The colored pencil drawings looked very real, that I was skeptical that it would be possible to create those works of art. However, I was impressed with the examples and how detailed with multiple steps and specifics, such as the particular pencil color, where it's applied, and what is the effect, in order to step by step recreate what the artist drew. I also liked that this knowledge could also be applied to your own still life photo choice.
Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.