Creating Textures In Pen & Ink With Watercolor

Rating:
Summary: I love this book.
Review: As a new botanical illustrator working in mostly in watercolor I have often found rendering realistic fine detail and texture a difficult and frustrating task. This marvelous book introduces the artist to a new approach that produces detail and textural effects that are both effective and fairly easy to achive.

The illustations are beautiful and the explanatory text is clear, to the point, and easy to follow. The book is well organized; starting with the various pen and ink methods and how they can be combined with watercolor techniques. This is followed by the demonstration of how these techniques can be applied to achive realistic rendering of multitudes of surface textures from apples to zebras and almost everything in between..

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Mixed Media Book
Review: This is a wonderful book to add to anyone's library. This book shows the effects different types of marks a pen creates. It would be a good book to have if pen & ink were the only thing of interest. Fortunately the watercolor sections are just as good and when she combines the two the effect is stunning. Ms. Nice provides ample demonstrations for both the pen & ink and watercolor. She demonstrates different ways of creating texture with watercolor - using alcohol or rock salt for example.

After getting this book I started to practice pen & ink just so I could expand my horizons with my watercolors. The results have delighted me so much most of my new watercolor paintings have pen & ink in them.

Rating:
Summary: Nice, but material is duplicated in another of her books...
Review: This is an excellent book... IF you don't already own "Painting with Watercolor, Pen and Ink" by Claudia Nice. The material in this book is entirely duplicated in the "Painting with..." except for the last chaper called "Fur and Feathers". Please do not buy this book if you already own a copy of "Painting with Watercolor, Pen and Ink". I did and was disappointed that there was only one chapter of new material in this book.

Now, if you own the other book "Painting Nature in Pen & Ink with Watercolor" then I highly recommend this book as it has subject matter that was not covered in the "Painting Nature..." book.

If you don't own any of her books, then buy the "Painting with Watercolor Pen and Ink" ISBN 158180265X because it completely combines the material in both "Creating Textures..." and "Painting Nature..." books.