Mike Sibley's book Part II

Okay. I now have worked through the first 40 pages and I like what I read so far.
What I like very much is that in his paintings there are rarely the pencil strokes visible, you know what I mean?
Some artists only work with strokes, bigger, finer, heavier, lighter, hatched, cross hatched, all visible strokes. Mike prefers to see not the single stroke and this is what I like.
And another thing was remarkable for me. Mike mostly uses clutch pencils but I never liked them and preferred wooend case pencils. I do not care if the weight in my hand changes. But I gave the 'Clutchers' another chance to become friends with me. And - tadaa - we became close friends.
I had the chance to purchase five clutchpencils made by Staedtler for 5 $ - which is VERY cheap here - and some leads (F-C). I already had mechanical pencils and bought some GOOD leads for them also - and I can't believe why I didn't used them before.
It is much easier - no sharpening or only sharpening the lead with a tiny lead sharpener (F-C) which I can hold easily. The leads I bought are wonderful also. I have no idea if the Staedtler leads are very different or how, but I am satisfied with these clutch pencils and their 'fill-ups'. :)

Btw - if someone wonders if there is a difference between clutch püencil made by Faber-Castell and Staedtler: Yes, it is - the F-C clutchers have MUCH more weight and the clutchmechanism is very much harder to use.

So I already benefit from the book. Joanie, a close friend, mentioned at PPN, that she finds the price too high and I I think too that this book is a little bit overpriced (not my reduced copy). But when I compare it with the books we can buy here in Germany where we have to pay 16 $ for a tiny brochure size A5 (140 x 210mm) and not more than 40 pages with big letters it is cheaper than everything in Germany. In general seems Germany to be a developing country concerning pencil art, especially colored pencils.
So Mikes book is much more worth than these - how much I will know when I go on. And he is an outstanding artist, very well known and maybe the name raises the price too.

I guess there are many books about drawing in USA and UK which are at the same level and cost only the half or less. Can you recommend good books on graphite drawing?

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