Review: The New Colored Pencil: Create Luminous Works with Innovative Materials and Techniques by Kristy Ann Kutch

The New Colored Pencil Create Luminous Works with Innovative Materials and Techniques by Kristy Ann Kutch $24.99 trade paperback (Can $28.99) ● 176 pages ● 8-5/8 x 8-5/8 inches ● full-color illustrations  ISBN 978-0-7704-3693-3 ● eBook ISBN: 978-0-7704-3447-2 
Publisher/Publication Date: Watson-Guptill, May 20, 2014
Genre: Non-Fiction, Art

Format/Source: Paperback, Publisher

About the Book

Learn to draw and paint using colored pencils in The New Colored Pencil: a how-to guide for creating vibrant, textured, and easy art illustrations by best-selling author and teacher Kristy Kutch

Master the Latest Breakthroughs in Colored Pencil Art

If you want to create colorful, radiant works of art, colored pencil and related color media (wax pastels, watercolor pencils, and so on) provide you with limitless options for adding vibrancy to your creations. In The New Colored Pencil, artist and instructor Kristy Ann Kutch guides you through the latest developments in color drawing media with examples of and recommendations for the newest pencil brands, drawing surfaces, and groundbreaking techniques (including using the Grid Method, grating pigments, blending with heat, and more). Supported by step-by-step demonstrations and showcasing inspiring art from some of today’s best colored pencil artists, The New Colored Pencil shows you how to use color theory to your advantage, combine color media, create and enhance textures, and experiment with surfaces to create interesting effects. Whether you use traditional wax-based, or watercolor colored pencils, The New Colored Pencil will take your art to the next level.

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My Thoughts

The New Colored Pencil by Kristy Ann Kutch is a helpful resource for determining the appropriate colored pencils, tools, and drawing surface to create a desired effect. It’s filled with details regarding pencil composition, color density, and which brands provide specific tones. It also introduces and reviews the benefits of using the different types of drawing media. And just when I thought that I knew everything about erasers, Kutch introduced Faber-Castell's Perfection and battery-operated erasers, which are useful for erasing those fine details.  I appreciated the concise tables found throughout the book that allows the user to quickly refer back to the information at a later date.

Art isn't my area of expertise, but I found that the information was presented in a very user-friendly manner and am looking forward to using some of the tools and techniques presented. If you’re looking to experiment with a variety of colored pencils, drawing surfaces, and techniques then The New Colored Pencil is a resource that you’ll want to read.

Rating 5/5

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

About the Author

Kristy Ann Kutch is a notable expert in colored pencil and a popular go-to reference for guidance and inspiration. She is the author of the popular Drawing and Painting with Colored Pencil and is a contributor to several colored pencil publications, including The Best of Colored Pencil, 1, 3, and 5; Creative Colored Pencil; and Colored Pencil Explorations. Her work has appeared in International Artist Magazine and Pratique des Arts. She also has a DVD called Colored Pencil Landscapes: Beyond the Basics, and her instructional videos on YouTube have garnered over 42,000 hits. When she is not traveling to all corners of the United States to teach sold-out workshops, she is experimenting with the newest pencils, papers, and other materials sent to her from every major art supplies manufacturer. 

The New Colored Pencil by Kristy Ann Kutch - Random House