Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil

by J.D. Hillberry

You won't believe the incredible drawings you can create using common pencils and the special techniques illustrated in this book. These methods are so easy that anyone--from doodler to advanced artist--can master them in minutes Step by step, you'll learn how to capture the look of metal, glass, weathered wood, skin, hair and other textures. Two detailed start-to-finish demonstrations show you how to use these textures to create drawings that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891348689
• ISBN13: 9780891348689
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: North Light Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Draw Super Realistic textures in all types of pencil!

This is the most amazing book on exploring a wide range of graphite, charcoal, and carbon pencils. The author is a tremendously accomplished artist! He shows several step-by-step drawings on how to do a baby's face, wood grain, glass, and metal. This will challenge you to take your drawing to a higher level than you ever thought possible!

Very useful book

In this book, J.D. Hillberry gives detailed descriptions of techniques for drawing a wide range of textures. A background in drawing is recommended, because the author does not "waste" time on teaching sketching, or basics of drawing, generally, but filling space with a texture is explained in very detailed way, including many examples.Another advantage of the book is an introduction to drawing tools and mediums, which is very detailed, also.I personally liked the approach of the author, he's always giving more than one way to achieve some realistic texture and everything he wrote is an advice or a recommendation, while he's calling the reader to experiment alone, also.Very detailed and very useful book. Recommended!

An excellent, brief tutorial

I try to avoid art books that read like cook books. The art books shelf at any bookstore is full of mediocre illustrations bound under titles like "Painting Realistic Waterfalls with Oil" or "Draw Spiderman Just Like the Pros". I was attracted to this book by the phenomenal cover rendering, but frankly I expected it to be another volume on how to paint an elephant's eyelashes in gouache. That it is not. Though it covers specific examples, the techniques illustrated by J.D. Hillberry can be effectively applied to pencil and charcoal rendering in general. Mr. Hillberry's rendering skills are incredible and inspiring. He illuminates mundane subject matter to the point of photorealism. This book is a must buy for a design student (or anyone fairly competant in rendering) who is ready to tackle the photorealism giant.

A complete success...

I rarely read how-to books and think most of them are pretty lame, but this one is a clear exception. I hadn't read a how-to book on the pencil for decades (and I vaguely remember getting the basics from a couple of good books by Ted Kautzky and Paul Calle) and found this book by accident while looking for something else. I was instantly drawn to it (sorry...).Seriously, though, this is one of the best how-to books I've ever read. Hillberry sets out to do, and does, exactly what his title says it's going do. I can't imagine someone working with this book and not getting something valuable from it. The author's prose style is like his drawing style, very clear and straight ahead. It's not verbose or vague and it's not too terse either. In chapters 1 and 2 he describes the basic tools and general methods of using abrasive media (not ust pencils but powdered graphite, charcoal, graphic blocks etc.). Then he moves on to some tutorials, well chosen to explain the problems of rendering general types of things - metal, wood, he human eye... There are many little gems within the tutorial that will reinforce the general technical points in chapter 2. Like all how-to books there is kind of a jump involved, a certain point where to the naive (most of the market for how-to books, probably) it seems like the author goes from point a, b, c... to point r. That's inevitable. How could it not be? If this stuff was easy, then everybody could do it. Drawing is not easy, but it's the most direct means of creating art, an irreplaceable core skill, useful to painters and sculptors as much as anyone else, and potentially a wonderful end in itself (think about it... think what Raphael and Michaelangelo did with a pencil; look at Henry Moore's drawings, look at... no, there's too many great works of art that are drawings to even consider listing them).This book can help you with your drawing even if you're not a realist. Highly recommended.

This is a rare find

Refining your pencil work starts here. Hillberry pushes his medium and he pushes it hard. If you love the subtle, moody, sensitive qualities of pencil drawings and are working to take yours from the realm of rough diamonds to stand alone works of art, you are going to love this book. Very well photographed, Hillberry gives detailed, progressive steps of many of his drawings and is very forthcoming about the techniques he uses to get his results. Hillberry's work is photo-realistic, but even if that is not your goal he spends the first third of the book discussing how to develop the skill necessary to create the even, shifting tones of graphite vital to effective pencil work. The photorealistic sessions are important for everyone as they hone your awareness of what you are seeing and your ability to relay it. His finished examples are beautiful and inspiring.I love pencil, and there isn't a better book on the topic out there (after 15 years of collecting, I may just have them all). If you feel the same way, get this book. Then quit shopping and get back to your studio and work. PS--Another interesting book is Robert Zappalorti's "Drawing Sharp Focus Still Lifes" (Watson-Guptill) but it is out of print and you will have to search hard to find it. I feel Hillberry's book is superior, but it's always instructive to see how different artists approach their work. Good luck, draw hard.