Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for intermediate to advanced artists
Review: "Paint Radiant Realism..." is one of the best art instruction books I've purchased. If you already enjoy incorporating intricate detail into your work, you will probably love it. But if you are not naturally a "detail freak", Ross's approach will probably drive you crazy. Beginners who still need step by step guidance in even the most fundamental aspects of the various media involved (pen & ink, watercolor and colored pencil) will probably not like this book. Only those who have a strong foundation in drawing, light and shade, and value contrast will be best able to fully comprehend and utilize Ross' mixed media techniques. The two demo pieces, "Sunspot" and "Daisy Faces" clearly outline Ross' step by step approach to building depth and realism with a combination of ink, watercolor and colored pencil. Personally, I found her use of ink to establish the darkest values, as well as her technique of using white colored pencil as a resist to save whites to be the most valuable ideas to incorporate into my own work. This, after all, is the real purpose of art instruction books. One should not buy a book in the hopes of becoming a clone of the author; rather one looks for aspects of the author's knowledge and techniques that can be incorporated into ones' own work. Excellent book and highly recommended for experienced artists.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for intermediate to advanced artists
Review: "Paint Radiant Realism..." is one of the best art instruction books I've purchased. If you already enjoy incorporating intricate detail into your work, you will probably love it. But if you are not naturally a "detail freak", Ross's approach will probably drive you crazy. Beginners who still need step by step guidance in even the most fundamental aspects of the various media involved (pen & ink, watercolor and colored pencil) will probably not like this book. Only those who have a strong foundation in drawing, light and shade, and value contrast will be best able to fully comprehend and utilize Ross' mixed media techniques. The two demo pieces, "Sunspot" and "Daisy Faces" clearly outline Ross' step by step approach to building depth and realism with a combination of ink, watercolor and colored pencil. Personally, I found her use of ink to establish the darkest values, as well as her technique of using white colored pencil as a resist to save whites to be the most valuable ideas to incorporate into my own work. This, after all, is the real purpose of art instruction books. One should not buy a book in the hopes of becoming a clone of the author; rather one looks for aspects of the author's knowledge and techniques that can be incorporated into ones' own work. Excellent book and highly recommended for experienced artists.
Rating: 
Summary: Misleading Title
Review: Although the artist, Sueellen Ross, is very talented, I was disapointed with the book. It's title should say "Paint Radiant Realistic Animals" or something similar because thats all you get. I was hoping for a variety of subjects, like scenery, buildings, still lifes etc, but it's all animals. An excellent book if you want to paint animals, especiialy cats and dogs. Definatley not what I wanted though. I'll be returning mine!
Rating: 
Summary: I'm Selling Mine
Review: From a purely instructional standpoint, I was disappointed for many reasons. I would have liked to have seen the chapter on developing your ideas expounded upon. I mean it was beneficial for me to see how reference photos were used to develop an idea for a painting, but it definitely skips some steps. In my opinion, if you're writing a book on watercolor technique, and you have a chapter in it that describes what paper to get, which brushes to use, which colors to start with, which pencils to buy, how to transfer a sketch onto the watercolor paper, etc., one can easily assume that this book was written for someone who doesn't use the medium much. So, I bought the book with the assumption that I would be TAUGHT something. But at the level I work at, I need step-by-step instruction, rather than a quick gloss-over of key concepts. I also believe the author could have used less complicated subjects for her examples. The intricacy of her "Daisy Faces" alone would discourage anybody from following along. Consequently, I never got past the first chapter. Also, I would have liked some examples of painting people, not animals and landscape. I feel this book would have been better off as a showcase/portfolio for the artist, rather than trying to use her work as a tutorial suggesting that "you too can do this", because I'm afraid I can't. Her level of expertise takes years, and that's something they forget to point out in the copy describing the book.
Rating: 
Summary: this book can be a useful tool
Review: I hate to see this book get a bad rap because it is full of information. The bottom line with this book is it is meant for the more ad-
vanced 'draw-er', but i don't think that is a bad thing! Also,
she does give a good amount of technical information. The complaint about 'paint by numbers' is because the stage be-
fore applying paint is so complex, but if you view this with an
eye toward using her proven techniques in your own ways, - perhaps on only the primary focus of your work it could be very
useful. It isn't required that you copy her style exactly, that is never
the point anyway, so you can use some of her techniques; especially which mediums work (and don't run) to your advantage! Good Book! The opposite of the kind of 'pour it on stuff' that
can also be lovely, but quite valuable to the more meticulous crowd!
Rating:
Summary: this book can be a useful tool
Review: I hate to see this book get a bad rap because it is full of information. The bottom line with this book is it is meant for the more ad-
vanced 'draw-er', but i don't think that is a bad thing! Also,
she does give a good amount of technical information. The complaint about 'paint by numbers' is because the stage be-
fore applying paint is so complex, but if you view this with an
eye toward using her proven techniques in your own ways, - perhaps on only the primary focus of your work it could be very
useful. It isn't required that you copy her style exactly, that is never
the point anyway, so you can use some of her techniques; especially which mediums work (and don't run) to your advantage! Good Book! The opposite of the kind of 'pour it on stuff' that
can also be lovely, but quite valuable to the more meticulous crowd!
Rating: 
Summary: Awful! Not what I expected from the title.
Review: I was very disappointed in this book on many levels. First, the techniques Ms. Ross employs remind me of the old paint-by-number paintings I did as a kid. Awful!! Next, she uses all three mediums in each piece, with watercolor being the dominant medium. Her subject matter is very limited and to my eye, was not in the least "realistic". I really can't find anything of any use whatsoever in this book. Save your money! The one thing it DID teach me was never to buy a techniques book based on it's cover and title again!
Rating:
Summary: Radiant Realism is Really Radiant
Review: Radiant realism glows with good sense, well written prose, great examples. The paintings are delightful and the author's instructions are clear and easy to follow. This book is not for beginners since it assumes that you know how to draw. Also, it does not cover all the genres, like landscape and portraits. However, if you are anything but a raw beginner, you should be able to figure out how to adapt Ross's techniques for your own genre and purposes. The book is very clearly and neatly put together. I must have nearly every art book on the shelf, but this one is the one I'm refering to actively to create landscapes and other work. Even though the author doesn't cover those genre, her priciples come shining through. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: I'm keeping my copy
Review: Sueellen's method is a wonderful springboard for anyone struggling with the details of capturing his /her own realistic nature scenes in paint. If you also paint in ink, watercolor or colored pencil and you would like to expand your skills with a method of using all three together don't miss this book! The book does not happen to have a step by step example of a panoramic landscape showing how to create the illusion of vast space and atmospheric perspective. For help with landscape scenery and buildings, I recommend: Landscape Illusion by Daniel Chard.
Rating:
Summary: You see, I am not much of a cat person...
Review: Therefore, I could care less about how many cats were drawn in the book. However, this is an excellent book. Why? Because above all the fancy schmanzy of all the beautiful drawings in the book, the artist applies a very important principle when rendering complicated and fuzzy subjects (or scenes): DRAWING THE NEGATIVE SPACE. What does that mean, you ask? OK, here goes.
Remember when you were three, you drew a cat's whiskers with a few pencil strokes, like this >o<. Each whisker is represented by a line. That is drawing LINE, aka drawing POSITIVE space. In this book, however, in order to achieve the likeness and realism of hair (or any fuzzy thing, including grass, hay, straw, or torn cigar threads on Fidel's hairy face; but I digress), the key here is DRAW THE SHADOWS SHED BY THE HAIR, NOT THE HAIR ITSELF. In other words, you draw the negative spaces between the threads of hair, and leave the hair blank, then later render the blank (hair) space with different tones, depending on how the light shines on the subject, to achieve likeness and realism. This little secret could cost you some bucks learning from someone at some workshop, but there you have it FREE from me, simply because I want to show you this book is really good. Of course, you don't buy a book just to copy the author's style. (Although you could, however, then you probably don't really want to be an artist that badly because being an artist is being FREE, being YOURSELF.) What I learn from the book is simply another way to render beautiful artwork, and then find a way (my way) to do it myself. With this book, you learn to creat meticulous artwork in mixed (ink, colored pencil, and watercolor) mediums to a professional level. If your drawing skill is not the thing you are proud of, then you can make it up with using, say, a projector, tracing paper, or the likes. Having said that, I honestly encourage anyone to hone their drawing skill since it is a must for being an artist. Just to wrap it up, let me cite some of my own experiences in rendering meticulous artwork. I once did several figure drawings in pencil (it took about three to five hours each) that in the end even the fleshy look of human skin can be rendered with such a simple medium as pencil. (Trust me, YOU want to touch "it"!) All due to the meticulousness of the process! My probable next project (or it could be yours): Shed the back light on a female model, and render (in pencil, perhaps) the sensual hair on her filtrum (above her lips), her wrist, or her lower back..., just to appreciate more the technique of drawing the negative space mentioned above! Until then, happy drawing... negative space!
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