Botanical Drawing using Graphite and Coloured Pencils

Update: I contacted the publisher and received the nicest reply and learned that Page Flip is something Amazon must enable and it takes them awhile to do it. The ToC are links so one can navigate that way, too.Original: I downloaded it and expected to use this book in my Kindle ipad app, but I gave it a quick once over and it's not very functional as it is.The images in the book don't seem to be intended for enlargement—some are blurry when enlarged, which is a loss as the iPad Air 2 screen is smaller than the print edition and some of the images are too small if not enlarged. Also, it doesn't have the Page Flip skim feature which is important for a book of this type. I will return the ebook and may purchase the print version, instead, because I liked what I saw in the sample. (I don't feel right reading the ebook because I expect to return it, thus I can't offer more on the contente.)I would like to see ebook feaures included in the description for informed purchases. The samples don't include all features.

I'm thrilled!! Finally, a tutorial that combines graphite and colored pencils! It's difficult to find good books pertaining to colored pencil art work; a medium in its own right! This is a book to refer to time and time again. Sue Vize is an excellent artist and shows you step by step how to achieve the art you wish to convey. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and lives in England where she is renowned for her art work. Remember to keep your pencils sharp! It is key to doing work in both colored pencil and graphite.

It is one of the most valuable art books I have purchased. Very helpful basic information on graphite and colored pencils. Will spend many hours with this book.

I am really enjoying this book. I would consider my self a beginner to botanical illustration but have some experience in pencil drawing and coloring. I love the exercises in the book and am already learning a lot! Thank you very much for this!!!

I just received my book a couple of days ago and have begun reading it. This book is a great guide book for anyone just learning to draw Botanical Subjects with colored pencils. Besides the information and guidelines, there are also exercises that will help me learn to draw well and understand the layering process of color/shadow. Excited!

The books are absolutely fabulous. Beautifully illustrated and superb instruction.

This book provides great instruction starting with good composition, shading techniques , working in both graphite and colored pencils, and a myriad of tips to improve your drawing skills through Sep-by-step examples.

Excellent book. I learned how to correct mistakes I’ve been doing with my work. Have recommended this boor to my botanical art friends.

This book is absolutely excellent - it's the best instructional book on botanical art in coloured pencil that I have found. (I also have books by Ann Swan and Wendy Hollender, as well as several other botanical painting books which include sections on coloured pencil work). It covers graphite-only, graphite+coloured pencil, and coloured pencil-only work. I'm mostly interested in the coloured pencil techniques myself, and there's enough on that subject to make this a great book for me.The book is generously packed with information, and the author is nice and specific when describing techniques. It starts with sections about everything relevant to the subject, from types of paper and pencil manufacturing techniques to setting up your workspace, to understanding light sources/shading, all the different types of pencil strokes, layering, colour theory....it really is packed with information. There are then exercises for you to attempt, and excellent step-by-step demonstrations of leaves, flowers, roots etc, with decent sized pictures of each step, so you can see the layers as they are built up. The accompanying description of each step is detailed enough to understand what to do when you try it yourself (which is by far the most important thing in an instructional book).I would say this book is suitable for most ability levels. Total beginners may feel daunted because the techniques and quality of work shown are advanced, but the techniques are broken down and explained clearly enough for beginners to have a go once they've read the book. (If you are a total beginner, I'd also recommend considering Wendy Hollender's book, which is the one I started with, and is perfect for learning the basics.)Back to this book though, and one thing to be prepared for: the author does use a large number of different pencils (mostly Faber Castell Polychromos and Derwent Artists, plus some others), so if you want to use the exact same colours for the exercises then you will need to make a list and find a good open-stock supplier who supplies all brands. Also on the negative side, some of the colours she uses are not the most lightfast. However, this are very minor downsides - basically this book is great!

I am a complete beginner to colouring pencil flower 'paintings'. Although I do watercolour, I soon realised the techniques used in colouring pencil work are very different, especially how to develop tone and depth. I bought the Ann Swan book first which is inspirational in that the photos of Ann's work and some other artists' work are very impressive. However, I felt the book was not suitable for a beginner and gave very little information on the basics.This book by Sue Vize is stuffed with information, hints, step-by-step projects and some problem solving advice. It focuses on graphite drawing and colouring pencil work. I read a review that complained about the number of colours that Sue uses in her projects, but that does not bother me at all. I do not have a huge number of colouring pencils and so I will adapt her advice and instruction to suit the materials I have.I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning floral art using colouring pencils. It might not be much use for people wanting to 'paint' landscapes or portraits but the title should help people know what they are getting. Information on botanical drawing. Hope this review helps other people. I find reviews very useful myself!

This a superb book on the subject of botanical illustration using pencils. Unlike other authors Sue Vise has not held back any detailed information on the subject which can make the difference to achieving success or not. This quite the best book I have purchased on pencil work and should be in every botanical illustrators reference library.

Sue created a book that draws one in as though she was right beside you explaining all the how to do's in her book. At the end ,one feels as though you know her. A book with a personal touch. One of my favourite how to do books.

A lady who's artwork I have admirred for a long time. The book now sits on my desk, if I need to know something I think that the answer will be within these covers. Don't just read it, treasure it, as I will along with the other books I have discovered that really show how to draw botanical treasures.

A fantastic book for those who wish to learn botanical drawing. This book has more content than the distance learning course that I am doing.I cannot stress too much how valuable this book is to mestella white

Quite a technical book intended to help identify and reproduce drawings of a quality and accuracy needed in plant identification. The use of coloured pencil and graphite well documented with lots of step by step exercises to help all levels of ability.

I absolutely love this book. I am new to drawing in general and especially to botanical pencil drawing. This book has many detailed tips and advises and beautiful images. I found it very informative and is currently one of my favourite botanical drawing books :)

I borrowed this book from the library and just had to buy it.There are lots of watercolour botanicals but not many for pencils.Really informative great book with some good tutorials

What a beautiful & comprehensive book on graphite drawing. Bought for a friend who was delighted with it.

I’m an amateur artist. I find the projects in this book easy to follow and the finished works in there are stunning.

Arrived promptly and well packaged. Lovely book for botanical artists using coloured pencils.

Beautiful book but very technical

Really informative book on coloured pencil techniques

Excellent Service and one of the best guide book's I've ever bought.