This is an excellent book. My only one complaint was the writing in the side pictures. I found it difficult to focus on the style chosen. I would recommend this book to beginners and pros alike.

This book is great for the beginner pastel artist. It tells you everything you need to know from the beginning to the end. It has great tips to start with and to finish with. If you decide to purchase this book, it will become one of the first books in your art library that you will refer to for your compositions in pastel. Lots of pics too!

You'll love this book if you want to know just about everything there is to know about all the types & brands of pastels available to you and if you would like to know what artists are using out there and what can be achieved with all these products. It's all here for you to explore for yourself through Mr. Creevy's thorough "walk-through" of materials, supports & tools. The excitement comes from his step by step demonstrations using many products, such as soft pastels, hard pastels, and oil pastels of many types, and the effects achieved with mixed media. If this book doesn't get you motivated, nothing will! I carried this book around with me for weeks and I am still referring to it. I enjoyed Mr. Creevy's "out of the box" techniques and subject matter. His knowledge & talent are obvious and we are fortunate that he chose to share with us.

Very good technical details but the book need to be updated with current materials. There is no coverage of Unison or Ludwig pastel sets and paper coverage is outdated.

If I had to buy just one book on pastels it would NOT be this book.

I recently took a pastel workshop and this book was recommended. It is thorough and offers advice that you can easily impliment. It is a good reference when I have a trouble spot. The author's solutions are worth remembering.