Leisure Painter
Lisa Ann Watkins is an award-winning artist and tutor who specialises in coloured pencil drawing, enjoying a large and loyal following on social media as well as face to face through her many teaching workshops throughout the UK and America. In this beautifully produced book, Lisa tackles the popular subject of animal portraiture. With clear, simple techniques presented through ten studies, she demonstrates how to bring your portraits to life by focusing on texture, bright eyes and glossy noses.
Building on her experience as a tutor, she confronts many of the problems students face when using coloured pencils and provides easy solutions. Five detailed step-by-step full animal portrait projects are included, with subjects ranging from dogs and cats to cows and horses.
The Journal of the UK Colour Pencil Society, Talking Point
Sumptuous pages filled with colour pencil wisdom and creations sign me up already! [] My humble abode is well insulated with art books at this point, and I was very happy to ass this volume from Lisa Ann Watkins to my collection.
We are often referred to as a nation of animal lovers, and why wouldnt we be whether a meow, a moo, a neigh or a woof, animals do so enrich our lives and this book covers all these topics in style. It starts off with a great grounding on materials, covering what is available and why you might just fancy buying them. And we know resistance is futile and you are highly likely to succumb at some point, after all. Lisa has put some commonly used surfaces under the microscope here, and that certainly appeals to my Silent Witness-encourage forensic tendencies, a fusion of science and art is truly an empowering thing.
Like many, I am full of aspirations about creating but also time-poor, so I was happy to see a section on using other media with coloured pencils. At times, I prefer to use colour pencil alone, and at other times, I do enjoy being able to get more done in the time I have available. Looking at you, dastardly backgrounds! A tour-de-force on mark-making with our beloved, wood-scented, heavenly pigmented pencils follows before a very useful section on getting great photos, with tips on how to turn those photos of Tiddles from B-movies extra to Hollywood A-lister. Colour selection and transferring is given due weight, preparing pencil-wielding artists for the creative magic that ensues.
Ten excellent studies take us through some commonly faced animal portrait challenges, from different eyes, noses, and fur, before moving onto five in-depth projects covered from start to finish. The quality of the images and text are clear and doubtless will prove a great assistance to the reader. Whilst the book is clearly focussed on animal portraits, there is much fabulous information and insight within that can be applied to a range of subjects.
So, in summary, I found this to be a very worthwhile addition to my collection. I do love Search Press art titles in terms of content and layout, and this is no exception. Easy to pick up and admire, but also rewarding to sit down and absorb, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it comes highly recommended.
The Journal of the UK Colour Pencil Society, Talking Point
This is a wonderful book with excellent illustrations for anyone starting out with colour pencils. I only started using colour pencils earlier on this year and I wish Id had this book from the start. It is very clear and precise and gives step-by-step instructions on the tutorials to achieve great artwork at the end. The writing is very concise with lots of helpful tips and tricks to help you along with your colour pencil art. Its extremely useful for beginners but also for people that have been using this art medium for some time.
The initial chapters take you through the materials needed and then there are tutorials to try and help you practice the techniques to create great artwork. There are also helpful instructions on how to transfer your subject from photos onto drawing paper. This is a wonderfully illustrated instructional book, and I would thoroughly recommend this to someone starting out on their colouring pencil art journey. This is a book I will refer to again and again.
Artbookreview.net
Themes, subjects and media go in cycles, and coloured pencil is having its moment in the sun again. This is no bad thing, because its a medium that requires little in the way of equipment and is highly portable, meaning you can work almost anywhere. On top of that, as printing tolerances improve, its possible to reproduce on the page the fine detail pencils allow; this is a book that sparkles in that respect.
Lets assume, therefore, that youre on board with the medium and subject matter presented here. Youve also skimmed through the technical introduction because theres never not something interesting, and perhaps new to you, to be found. Given the level of work here, youre not a beginner, so the basic techniques are, even if not second nature, at least familiar. What you want now is to feel comfortable with your tutor and to get just the right amount of instruction to be able to follow the demonstrations and projects presented. As weve already cut to the chase once, we can do so again you wont be disappointed and should feel right at home.
This is not the first book on animal drawing, so we should look for individualities. In that respect, the word Portrait in the title is significant. These are head and shoulder images that capture the character of the subject. I really, really want to say sitter, but youre going to need a photograph for that. And, yes, Lisa does indeed work from photographs. The technical introduction includes some rather useful tips on getting the photo right in the first place and also on using software to combine images for dual portraits. She also suggests reducing a colour image to line to help with the initial outline drawing. I havent seen that in a book where its not the main subject before and its an extremely useful addition, especially when working from photographs is essential to the subject matter.
The drawings themselves include a good variety of creatures (although not the donkeys on the cover). Its worth saying that, although horses and cattle are here, dogs and cats predominate. Lisa goes into considerable detail about fur and hair (no feathers here) as well as features such as eyes, noses and ears. There are enlarged illustrations at all the points you need them. Lisa is a thoughtful teacher who has an excellent sense of exactly those points where a student is going to need help or a nudge.
In terms of style, as befits a portrait, backgrounds are largely neutral, but without the pitfall of looking like a blank card. The use of colour can surprise you careful combinations of greens and reds are frequently used to create realistic shades and shading. Highlights, in the eyes especially, add character as well as that sparkle I referred to earlier.
Production-wise, the book has soft covers that open easily and deep flaps that make it feel nice in the hand. Obviously, its the content that matters, but ergonomics have a strong part to play in the way we react to a book and this one ticks all the right boxes. A lot of thought has clearly gone into it.
Customer Review
This is one of the best coloured pencil tutorial books out there. The colours are stunning and every project well thought out and beautifully presented. My favourite art book by a mile!
The Artist
This thorough guide takes full advantage of the fine details that can be created with coloured pencils to produce lifelike and characterful animal portraits. What is particularly interesting is Lisa Ann's subtle use of non-natural colours to emphasize highlight, shading and contrast and, in some cases, to subdue the more obvious hues in order to capture specific characteristics.
After an in-depth study of the materials and working methods this style demands, the book proceeds by way of a series of studies and demonstrations that explain further aspects and considerations. Considerable attention is paid to features such as fur, eyes and noses. The subjects are all domestic, with a variety of dogs and cats, but also a horse and cow. This is, however, a book and an excellent one at that about animal portraits, so this is perfectly fitting.
Customer Review
This is by far the best colour pencil book I have and I own quite a few. There is so much information in it, plus the lovely presentation and the print quality.
I now fully understand how hard Lisa has worked on this beautiful book. The wealth of information is drawn from her experience both as an award winning pet and wildlife artist and as an art tutor. Includes a comprehensive materials guide, different techniques, studies and some step-by-step portraits showing exactly how they were achieved. This book definitely has everything a beginner needs to know to start their colour pencil journey and so much more for those of us with some experience under our belts. Something for everyone here.
Customer Review
Learning about the artist in the introduction was really interesting. Lots of detailed information throughout the book. Very helpful.
Customer Review
This book covers it ALL and realistically not in just a basic form. I have purchased a lot of books for new ideas or tips for techniques I'm not strong in to become a better artist. I pre-ordered this book sceptically because I like to read the reviews FIRST before I buy! HOWEVER... even if you're an advanced or professional artist, Lisa Ann Watkins doesn't hide or hold back in this book. "This is a must have" book and the best I own for tips, suggestions, ideas, you name it, it's in this book! I am so glad I took the chance and purchased this book.
