Book Review: THE NEW COLORED PENCIL by Kristy Ann Kutch

What a wealth of colored pencil knowledge. This small book is more like a college art class just on colored pencils. As many of you know colored pencils and watercolor pencils are my favorite art medium. I have struggled with the more technical aspects of using colored pencils and I think this book really will help me in the future. After reading this book I discovered that I have been using the wrong kind of paper all this time and had no idea that my choice of paper affected my pieces so much. With in this book there are numerous colored pencil tips that really will help me and I cannot wait to try them all.

Here are some of the key tips that I found really useful. For my style I need to use Bristol board because it works the best for artists who layer their pieces. I would love to try using colored paper because then the background is the paper and I always struggle with how to make a decent background. I think it would also be helpful if I keep a log of the colors I use because then I will be able to easily go right back to what I started with. I am astonished I never thought of doing that until it was mentioned in this book. I would love to try the “grid method” because this book gave detailed directions on how to do a grid for making a photo into a colored pencil work. I also found that I really could benefit from investing in a battery-operated eraser which I had no idea existed until this book. I found the section on how to create delicate lines impressions very helpful because I would like to try it and had no clue how to go about it until now. By far one of the most helpful sections I found was on watercolor paper. Hot press paper verses cold press paper and it actually showed how the paper affects the watercolor pencils with pictures and all. Since I mentioned that I struggle with how to create backgrounds the section on creating muted foliage backgrounds was a real eye opener on how easy it can be to create a natural backdrop. Last but not least I really liked that at the end of the book it had a complete index of color pencil brands with a full color chart of their pencils. This would be immensely helpful if I was in the market for a new pack of pencils. It really gives you an idea of what you get for your money and can give you a jump off point of which brand would best suite your style and taste.

5/5 this book is a quick read, informative, and a perfect addition to any color pencil artist’s reference library. Small as this book was it really was a wealth of knowledge that I hope to apply to my future projects.

G~Rating for art reference.
FTC~ I received this free novel from Blogging for Books for review, I received no compensation for this review.
Amazon: THE NEW COLORED PENCIL by Kristy Ann Kutch
~Lizzie~