Colored Pencil Drawing Techniques by I. Hutton-Jamieson (1986, Hardcover)

I've bought many colored pencil books, and this one turned out to be a blast from the past. It covers many techniques, the amount of content is excellent -- but the samples are archaic and none of them really demonstrate the type of colored pencil realism popular today.

However, the book is a treasury of vintage techniques that will leave you impressed with what illustrators used to do back in the day. Transfer methods like pouncing are demonstrated with clear descriptions of why this might be preferred under very light colors (the lines blend in and don't show as much). Mat cutting is described -- by using a knife and a beveled ruler, rather than today's bevel-head handheld mat cutters.

The author repeatedly suggests using a small set of artist grade pencils and concentrating on blending and mixing colors rather than relying on good matching in a large set. He also emphasizes repeatedly the benefits of sharpening your colored pencils with a knife or razorblade rather than a handheld or crank sharpener. Electric sharpeners aren't even mentioned. What's good about this is that he describes why -- a hand sharpened pencil done with a blade is going to have a chisel point or a thick-thin point, resulting in a looser, less controlled line than the round point produced with a handheld sharpener.

If you prefer a lot of control, his explanation shows why you prefer not doing it his way. All of his opinions are supported by description of what happens if you do it his way and what happens if you don't.

Some techniques and materials available today simply aren't mentioned. Burnishing with white or colors is covered in depth, but there's no mention of colorless blenders. At the time of writing, a 72 color set was the largest available range.

Other tools and materials once very common are no longer available, like the textured coquille boards or the mouth-spray fixative pump. It's an interesting view of what art was like back in 1986 -- actually it's surprising to have that recent a publication date, considering the style of examples, brands of pencils mentioned and techniques mentioned.

The book presumes a grasp of basic drawing in black and white, I would not substitute this for a general drawing course. But if you're interested in colored pencil and want to try unusual techniques like frottage, sgraffito, crosshatching in multiple colors or sharpening your pencils with a razorblade and cutting your mats with a mat knife -- then this is a fun read and may give you some new ideas. If I had to get only one colored pencils book, this wouldn't be it, but it's a cool addition to my library.