I happened to spot this on Amazon the other day. At first I was quite surprised at seeing it because I bought my copy way back in 1985 (according to the faded receipt inside the book)

On reflection I am not surprised that this book is still listed, as it is an excellent book and has obviously stood the test of time.

It contains contributions from no less than seven well respected authors so it gives you a very wide viewpoint on drawing with the humble pencil (and the colour pencil). This book certainly covers a wide range of subjects and drawing styles, and is probably one of the most widely read books on my art bookshelf.

I can recommend this book to anybody who wants to develop their pencil drawing skills.

"This is the Classic Book on Pen and Ink Techniques for Artists, Illustrators, Architects and Designers". I used to borrow this book as often as I could from my local library, as it was out of print. As soon as I saw this 60th anniversary issue I ordered it straight away. I just love this book.

I will only say, if you want the definitive guide to drawing with ink then get this book.

I just wish that they would re-release the companion book "Rendering in Pencil"

I have the hardcover version of this book (pictured at top left) which I bought many moons ago. The only version available now appears to be a soft cover one (bottom left). I am assuming that this is the same book, but I am only making this assumption based on the fact that all of the pictures on the cover of the soft version actually appear inside the hardcover version. (There actually are some secondhand copies of the hardcover version available at Amazon)

Anyway, Gene Franks is an undisputed master of the pencil and I often just browse through this book, gazing in awe at the completed images. It does of course have step by step instructions for creating these images although I need a lot more practice to even come close to the masterpieces that Gene Franks has created.

The soft cover book does appear to be a little smaller than the hardcover one. They are 12.0 x 9.0 inches and 14 .0 x 10.5 inches respectively but both have the same number of pages at 144

So check this book out, it is really inspirational and shows what can be achieved with just a few pencils.