Pastel School

I am very happy with the book Pastel School. I am just starting to learn to use pastels, and this book is very helpful by teaching me the correct way to put the pastels down on paper. The illustrations and finished pictures indicate what I should accomplish, following the helpful information in the book. It is great reference material. After reading the book, I was eager to try the methods taught, and I have more confidence to apply them to the pictures I want to do.

The book's subtitle below "Pastel School" starts off with "A practical guide..." and this is so true! I am impressed at the book's clarity in how it is sectioned and titled for each skill/technique discussed. Information from getting the type of pastels you may want to use to recommendations on caring for the finished artwork is all covered. Some may say that the information in a few sections is a bit sketchy/limited, but if you want to learn more (e.g. doing portraits), there are additional books available that can provide a pastel artist to advance and learn more. This book gives you the basics, but also allows for growth in the sections on types of art styles that one may produce (e.g. still life, landscapes, flowers, portraits). This book, plus another one I am using, are enabling me to learn pastel art in a way that that will ensure long-term enjoyment with this art medium. I can't wait to get back to my new package of pastel papers to begin a new piece, particularly with a few of the skills I've expanded upon from the information I've learned from this book!

This book is incredibly helpful with demonstrations, suggestions for colors, layering options, and beautiful illustrations with various styles shown. The only thing that would have been even more helpful to this book was a little more information about paper and pastel suppliers and the difference in quality between them. I'm still giving it 5 stars though!

I bought this book in order to teach me everything I needed to know to get started as a pastelist. I am very pleased with the content of this book. It offers the beginner a way of getting started, from choosing the right pastel colors to learning different pastel strokes and techniques. It also offers different styles (which I found very helpful). Other books seem to be written in a text-book format - but this book is written step-by-step, and makes you feel as if pastel is something you CAN LEARN!