Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book on using pastels creatively with other media.
Review: A very experienced pastel artist/teacher told me this was one of the best books on contemporary uses of pastels. I read it and I agree! It opened up whole new realms of creativity for me. Creevy gets fascinating textures combining pastels with watercolor, gouache, acrylics, various acrylic mediums, oil pastels, etc. The book is out of date when describing materials. Even though many of the author's paintings don't appeal to me because of their subject matter or composition, I find his textures exquisite. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Motivation is the Best Medicine
Review: As an artist, I often look to other's works to observe technique and style. Lately, I noticed I was getting a bit behind in my pastel work...many other artists were mixing media and pushing the envelope on their pastel paintings and drawings. After browsing through several pastel books, I settled with Creevy's "The Pastel Book" and I'm very happy with my choice.Creevy not only covers materials and tools and basic techniques for the beginner; he takes the medium to new levels with the combination of watercolor, acrylics, gels, oil paint and monotypes. Creevy has also covered every brand of pastel in this book, from the hard stick pastels to the super-soft Senneliers; he also describes the effects of various oil sticks, papers and supports and tools. Step-by-step instructions for each technique helps the artist retain a mastery over the combinations on any given mix. An exciting book that will helped me gain an edge with my artwork.
Rating:
Summary: Better for medium to advanced artists
Review: Bill Creevy is a great artist and this book is chock full of great ideas. As I am an absolute beginner, this book was a bit too much for me but it will come in handy as i improve.If you are somewhat experienced in pastel get this book.
Rating:
Summary: very comprehensive
Review: I was searching for a book about pastels which contains as much as possible, i found this title to be most useful for this purpose. The book starts by explaining the different types of pastels and papers and other instruments and tools of the trade... that is very useful for selecting which for what. then he gives an account regarding the different basic and lateron advanced techniques of pastel drawing, the book has an array of examples which are simple and fairly easy an reproducible, you won't stand there saying how did he do that?. then it assends with the complexity to lift to a higher level. As in any book about art, the important thing is having the talent to be able to extract the most out of these books.
Rating:
Summary: The best pastel book, and I've got 'em all
Review: If you have succumbed to the allure of a gorgeous new box of pastels but find yourself baffled by this fascinating, enigmatic medium, this book is by far your best bet. The author has something nice to say about every brand of pastels, and his thorough review of the market helped me understand that there are merits to owning a variety of pastel types. Even experienced painters can be frustrated by this medium, but Creevy's approach makes it manageable. I own lots of pastel books, but it wasn't until I read this one that I actually experienced a breakthrough. Wish I'd bought this one first!!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent guide to different techniques
Review: Mr. Creevy details a wide variety of techniques, showing wonderful examples of each. It is a perfect amount to motivate the artist to experiment with different pastel mediums, papers, tools and techniques. Also a good reference for supplies and catalogues.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference for color pastel painters.
Review: The reviews already available when I write this, unanomusly hail this book as a complete reference for the pastel painter. I completely agree with them, when interpreting 'painter' as someone who works with colors. I, on the other hand, am a 'drawer'. Previously I have worked with plain pencils and some pen and ink. That is, I have not worked with color and I do not know how to handle colored media. I have seen some works, though, by the great masters (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo) in redchalk that made me curious about chalk or pastel as a medium that is more flexible than the pencil without me needing to learn how to deal with the full color palette. Unfortunately, this book does not cover redchalk or hard pastels as independent media. These techniques are mentioned in passing and only as tools for either laying out preliminary sketches or for adding detail to paintings otherwise made from soft pastels. A tiny detail missing, probably completely insignificant for most practitioners, but that's what I was looking for. If and when the day comes that I decide to learn how to use colored soft pastels, I wouldn't be without this book.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting stuff
Review: There is a good section in this book on types of pastels, all the way to oil stick, oil pastel and oil bar. A smaller selection of mixed media (acrylic, watercolor) is also included. But the most fun are Creevy's own works, especially his fanciful retro automobiles. He has a fine technique and gives good insight especially on surface texture when using pastel. Not a complete treatise, but a very good book of ideas and techniques for the pastel artist.
Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive but not useful for the beginner
Review: There is no doubt that this is a very comprehensive book, hoewever as a beginner in the medium I found the book not so useful. The book spends way too long for my taste discussing the different brands of pastels and papers. I always get an uneasy feeling about artistic materials name dropping. In any case this information is either for a professional or for someone with deep pockets - preferably both. The bulk of the book is devoted to techniques. However the time spent on basic techniques is quite small. Several pages discuss the use of using color seems to me to be unnecessary, as the book was written to learn pastel technique, not color composition. What appeared to me to be the bulk of the book is on mixed media techniques. As a subjective statement, I also did not like the author's painting style and would have enjoyed some discussion of techniques to attaining more "realistic" and less "atmospheric" works. Finally I was disappointed by the relatively short treatment of oil pastels after getting the impression from the other reviews that they got serious treatment in the book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a treasure.
Review: This book contains a wealth of knowledge about soft pastels, and their cousins the oil pastels, oil bars and other specialties and are used traditionally and with modern techniques in the book. It is a must buy. It opens a new world to what you can do with those pigments and mediums. The paintings are beautiful. It is comprehensively composed and illustrated.
I regard the book cover design and title as generic in promoting what is inside. It needs to be redesigned to show the range of content. I think this book was ineffectively marketed and has not reached its full audience.
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