I lover Dover books. This is a new one to be released. It's a nice book to use as a reference for an adult or a child, who is interested in improving coloring skills. Nice illustrations and clear instructions.

Colouring just got serious! An excellent book

How to Color Like an Artist by Veronica Winters was an interesting take on coloring with pencils, a book aimed at hobbyists who enjoy the adult coloring book trend. I happen to be both an enjoyer of said trend and an artist, so my view on this book is two-fold.

Veronica offers some great insight and explanations of variations of a single color, shading, and using pigment to create volume. The author offers a lot of great tips, including a nice explanation of how to blend with mediums and blending tools. I appreciate that she addresses how to avoid wax bloom and how to properly seal your work.

So as I said- it's got a lot of great tools. But my issue with the book and the way the author approached techniques revolves around a 'my way is the only way' sort of attitude. The author stresses the types of pencils that should be used (Prismacolor and Caran d'Ache Pablo only) and that paper blending stumps cannot be used with color pencils (they can, I use them with Prismacolors to great success). These are just a few of many examples of what feels like a bit of an 'I'm an artist' powertrip throughout the book.

I'm not saying to not read this, it has some great resources. But take the do's and don'ts with a grain of salt. The thing about being an artist is you experiment, you break rules, you chart new paths. That can apply to a hobbyist or a top-selling painter. Sure, having guidelines and techniques to try is great- it's a great way to learn. But the very nature of art is boundless and has no rules. So don't be afraid to step outside the pages and find your own way.

If it were not for the fact that I feel the book takes away from the very nature of what art is, I would be able to rate it better. But for this reason, I could not truly enjoy it nor could I recommend it to a friend. I would say it's a true 2.5/5 for the good content but my review has been rounded down due to the bad taste that was left in my mouth.

Perhaps you've been swept up in the craze for 'mindful' colouring, or just enjoy drawing - whatever the reason, this lovely little book is full of helpful tips to 'up' your technique. It starts with the basics - shading, highlights, blending, etc - but also adds in colour theory, combining media, and other slightly more 'oh - I hadn't thought of that!' ideas. The illustrations are absolutely lovely, and I like that the same image is used more than once to show different techniques with the same base.

Overall, feeling very inspired - perfect! :)

Perfect for the coloring book enthusiast that wants to take their work to the next level. Colored pencil techniques are well-described and illustrated. While this information can be found in other art books, here it's all specific to coloring books. Very approachable.

My one complaint is that the recommended materials are pricey and no alternatives are given. Tutorials are on specific brands and colors so substituting is difficult. There's not even any discussion about why those materials are chosen and what results one could expect from different materials.

How to Color Like an Artist by Veronica Winters is an excellent resource for beginning adult colorists. A variety of techniques using colored pencils are explained in an easy to follow step-by-step manner. There are full-color photographs illustrating coloring methods that include creating texture, shading and blending and the different types of pencil strokes. An added benefit is the eight practice illustrations, the same ones that the author uses, that are included. This book would be an excellent resource for any adult who wants to learn more about how to use colored pencils.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley for my unbiased opinion.

Some basic techniques on strokes, shading, highlights, textures and blending, a hint to color theory, explained and illustrated, with some free charts.

I found this to be very helpful for myself and my two girls. I belong to many facebook groups on coloring and have been trying like mad to learn different blending , shades, and many other techniques. This little book helped me learn some new techniques and helped me WIN a contest on facebook :) .

Okay so this is what I learned from chapter one of HOW TO COLOR LIKE AN ARTIST a Dover Publication written by Veronica Winters – coloring in the lines is not a sign that you are an artist or even a good colorist. There is so much to learn about how to get fabulous results that culminate in a sigh worthy design and Veronica Winters breaks down some fundamental steps in ten chapters. Each chapter is beautifully illustrated with step by step explanations on how to get from okay to wow.

At first I didn’t see what difference things like pencil stroke would matter. Of course I knew that pressure on the pencil matters and keeping in the lines is important to keep the integrity of the design. But watching the transformation of sometimes more simplistic designs by the use of these methods is candidly breathtaking. And what I immediate learned was – I haven’t any of these processes in my repertoire and I really want them – bad.

So luckily here is the answer to the colorist prayers for a step by step break down of processes that are guaranteed to up the ante on the quality of your coloring.

Do you remember coloring as a child and loved changing colors to highlight parts of the face, my personal favorite was always the lips, and taking a plain clothing item and making it special or unique with a pattern. Well you are in for a treat with HOW TO COLOR LIKE AN ARTIST. Veronica Winters begins with suggestions for materials that help create the effects that are the secret for their exception result. As a beginner you might decide to just get an inexpensive set of pencils and have fun practicing with colorways and such. And there is nothing wrong with that.

However by splurging on a better quality pencil with the softer core you will be rewarded with a design that contains blending and in HOW TO COLOR LIKE AN ARTIST Veronica Winters clearly illustrates the way to shading, textures and more. And the author includes a copy of the designs used in illustrating the techniques so you can practice these techniques and compare step by step with those in the book.

The book is designed to attract and assist beginner colorist gain some fabulous methods to change a black and white sketch into amazing art. Stretch your imagination wings. Learn some techniques that will change the way you look at that empty canvas. We all have purchased some adult coloring books with the intention of using them as a tool for relaxation – to lessen stress. Well that’s a wonderful idea. But why not reach deep inside for your inner artist by coloring those pages using some or all of the techniques illustrated in HOW TO COLOR LIKE AN ARTIST and bring out your inner artist. Veronica Winters shows us how. We just need to follow her clearly written and photographed steps toward a truly fabulous end product. One I just bet will be frame worthy.
Simply put – every person who is coloring or thinking of coloring needs HOW TO COLOR LIKE AN ARTIST. This is an important addition to your crafts library – one that will be referenced often. Veronica Winters explains each and every process clearly and concisely and even covers choosing colors.

This timely book appeals to the artist in everyone! Step-by-step instructions with accompanying illustrations show readers how to layer colors, highlight, shade, and choose a pleasing color palette. For the person who says "show me" instead of "tell me," this is just right.

Adults today are finding please in coloring like they did when they were children. Some of us though wish to be able to make our pictures look more polished than when we were younger and this book is great just for that purpose. It is beneficial to see each chapter specified to certain areas from your basic Pencil Strokes to Texturing to Combining Mediums. The photos provided within each chapter lets the eye track each explanation as it is given. I am far from being an artist but guarantee I will be using this book to refine my coloring.

As a fan of "adult colouring" I have always wondered how I could improve my pictures. This book gives simple and easy instructions as to how to do that. Including shading techniques, blending, textures and more this is a very useful guide. It even includes a few colouring pages!!
The only downside I found was that the pictures were a little small. Other a great guide.

This is one of the coolest books I have come across in a long time! A book that teaches you HOW to color. It explains colors and complimenting colors. How to bring color into a scheme and draw beautiful, artist level pictures. It also includes the coloring page template to put all that you have learned into use!! Such a fun book, as well as educational!! This books scores an A+ and a 5 star rating from me!

Thanks to Netgalley for the preview.

After so many coloring books finally a good book on how to color, Useful and well explained. Thanks to the photo sequences it is possible not only learn new techniques, but also learn to recognize various visual effects. I will try to realize one of the proposed designs.

Dopo tanti libri da colorare finalmente un buon libro su come colorare. Utile e ben spiegato. Grazie alle sequenze fotografie è possibile non solo imparare tecniche nuove, ma anche imparare a riconoscere i vari effetti visivi. Proverò a realizzare uno dei disegni proposti.