I received my copy today and I must say I'm rather pleased with this addition to my library.
Soft cover book printed on slick stock with excellent, well reproduced color photographs.

The first few pages are dedicated to the usual introductory information that is pretty common to up end books like this. Selection of tools, the authors choice of those tools and why and the basics of their use.

After that he dives right into techniques starting with the face. In most books that I've picked up there is the common format showing step by step of the author's techniques and descriptions of the hows and whys he or she does the particular step. This is usally done in the typical "After the base coat lay in your shadows" with an accompanying photo. The big difference here is that there are several pictures to take you through the steps and the "in between" steps are much better illustrated than in other reference materials. The photos are clear, well reproduced and show in great detail the nuances of shades and the effect the technique demonstrated has on the over all. A couple of different angles are used and the size of the photos make them easier to see what is being described and overall the information is well presented, clear and detailed enough that sitting down in one brief session I could already see an improvement. Much of the experimenting phase was removed in that the concise steps showed more information to achieve great results.

The book continues to progress this way touching on clothing, tackling a detailed section on tartan, then progressing onto to armor, fur, leather, ground work and presentation. There are tips and tricks worked into the techniques that are definately going to be a plus to put into the repetoire of new painter and old hand.

20 pages of gallery photos are a nice way to end this book and they are reproduced in enough detail and quality that you could easily do a deconstruction of technique to see how the contributors painted their shading, highlights and details. Especially after reading the body of text and information presented in the book prior to this section. While I'm not thrilled with some of the photos being split across two pages in this section, the overall collection makes this an annoyance rather than a real detraction.

There are some quirks in the text that I will attribute to translation and there are some spelling and grammatical typos that pop up here and there, but they do little more than make you re read a particular line to catch the jist of what was meant and the spelling typos I throw at the publisher for not catching.
The one that sticks out most apparently is burnt amber showing up a few times where I think burnt umber is meant.

For the $42, this is a very welcome addtion to my library and will no doubt be soon dogeared with use.

Thankyou Mr. Cartacci for this instructional text and a look at your artistic talent and sharing it with the rest of us.

I give this one a definate

Regards
Mike

Mike, thank you for taking the time to review the book.


Cheers
Roc

Painting Miniatures by Danilo Cartacci.

Hi,

Could you tell me where to get the book from in the UK?

Kind regards.

Hi Centurion

you can get the book from Bonapartes in Bath, give Dave Freeman a bell, its worth the price, its a great book.

Dave

http://www.bonapartes.uk.com/

Hy mates,

I'm looking for the German version of this book. Could somebody help me, where could I order it?

thanks,
Balázs

I believe the book is only available in Italian or English.

I do have it and I find it a great guide and Danilo's work is inspiring.

Balazs,

you can get the german edition here for example:

http://www.kit-modelljournal.de/html/sonderhefte.html

Its 22 € plus 3€ for abroad Porto it says (scroll down the page).

I got it in Ingolstadt this year and love it. Superior picture quality for one. Some bigger publications should have a look at what's possible for a good price. Not affiliated with the makers - but a very happy owner.

Hy Manfred,

thank you! I know the book my friend have it in English, but my language skills are better for the Germann because it is my second Muttersprache. Yes, this book is great!

Cheers,
Balázs

The softbound book is still available from Squadron.com, on sale in their Sept flier, at a 55% savings, at $19.99. http://www.squadron.com/flyer-download.htm