Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil Paperback – March 15, 1999

I loved this book, it is a great book to understand the craft and how to get good at it. I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn. Excellent information on pencils, what they do, how they work and how to use them. This is for the artist who want their art to look real, and not by the charm of hand drawn techniques. Really hard lessons but you can do them over and over until you get them right and you learn A LOT!!! As stated, you need a solid foundation in drawing and perspective and some knowledge in graphite for it to be really useful, so I do not know if I would recommend it to a beginner.All the work is in graphite also, which is what I needed.Other books that I have reviewed and recommend are...For any Artist:Color Mixing Bible, by Ian SidawayVibrant Flowers in Watercolour by Soon Y. Warren is just off the hookColour Pencils and Graphite:Ultimate Guide to Colored Pencil, Greene, which also comes with a DVD, excellent step by step instructions and lessons, this book is invaluable!!Colored Pencil Secrets for Success, KullbergColoured Pencil Solution Book, Gildow and NewtonMasterful colour, SteinbergColored Pencil Painting Bible, NickelsenPaint Radiant Realism in Watercolour, Ink and colored Pencil, RossDrawing Realistic Textures in Pencil, HillberryFor Watercolour:Water Colour in motion, O'ConnorPainting Watercolour that dance with light, KincaidPainting flowers with Impact in Watercolour, CollinsJean Haine's Atmosphere WatercoloursWatercolour from the Heart, NechisThose are just my favorites so far, I have a ton as I believe that you need to keep learning to stay fresh.

I really like this book! I learned to draw from an amazing book by the Hungarian, Jon Nagy, who used to have a weekend art program on American TV in the 50's. Luckily for me, when I was [...], my elder sister was given a complete "art set" for Christmas, which Mr Nagy had developed (and which he would promote on his weekly broadcasts.) The book that was included in the art set epitomizes, for me, what a beginners' art instruction book should look like.Mr Hilberry's book is definitely NOT a beginners' guide to drawing, but it shares almost all of the features of the venerable Nagy's offering. When I finally snaffled the Nagy book from my sister's garbage can, I realized that I could learn to draw realistically if I could just "get close" to each of the six step-by-step 'build-ups' that he provided. Each stage of a drawing was accompanied by clear text and marginal notes on technique.Hilberry's book follows this excellent teaching /learning method. Every "project" in the book has illustrated stage-by-stage build-ups and generous discussion within the text of how to achieve certain textures using only pencil, stump/tortillon and eraser [and, sometimes, graphite plus charcoal.] The realistic depiction of a great variety of materials is covered...glass, metals, wood-grain, leather, fur, fabrics...it even touches on facial features and skin tones, without trying to be a 'portrait' book.Another great feature of the book is the fact that it displays and instructs [somewhat indirectly but very clearly] about the concept of "negative space" without referring to a certain way of seeing or drawing. There was a number of books on this topic many years ago, when I picked up my copy of the first edition of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" [which IS a great beginners' book.]Most art instruction books these days seem to be merely "showcases" of various artists' works--discussion of a problem or scenario, a brief discussion of the "thought process(es)" and a complete, wonderful rendition of the final scene. Very interesting but, if truth be told, not really that "instructive". Mr Hilberry's book goes way beyond the average art instruction book available these days. I'm grateful for the insights provided. It's also bargain-priced. SWEET!

It's all in the technique. This book is for artists who prefer the simplicity and versatility of charcoal, graphite and carbon for their works. This is not a teach-yourself-to-draw type book. It's a book of techniques for artists who already have learned the fundamentals of drawing and want to advance their skills to the next level.Materials and basic techniques are covered in the first two chapters. From there, the author provides seven step-by-step demonstrations of creating various textures from metal and glass to human skin and animal fur. Finally, the book concludes with two full-length, detailed still life demostrations.The text is profusely illustrated and well written in a clear, easy to understand style. When the author mentions something, there's a picture to show what he's talking about.This book is a valuable reference for anybody who works with graphite pencil, charcoal and carbon pencil.

This is not a beginners drawing book, rather a reference book dedicated to creating textures with pencils (graphite, charcoal and blends using both etc.). It discusses four examples in detail and includes one of the human face. Other examples include wood, glass and leather textures. Finely detailed texturing makes drawings achieve a "3D" quality i.e., portraits end up looking better than a photograph which frequently suffers from "flatness". Many professional artists have found such techniques to be useful. I found some of his tips were also applicable in principle (with my modification) to digital drawing using Wacom's Intuos/Cintiq using a stylus and appropriate software. The principles described can be then applied to drawings from your own imagination. Again, this is a specialized book just about textures. I wish he had included a few more (say two) chosen examples to really complete the subject. All in all a fine addition to any artists' library. The book is written well using clear language, the illustrations are crisp and the print quality is good. For $16 it is a very good value. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in creating textures with pencils.