Modern Florals by Alli Koch | Book Review

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Hi Everyone, as a few of you have requested to see the review to this book, which I wasn't too keen posting, here it is. Unfortunately, I don't have much positive to say about it, this is due to my own level of experience and comparison to other stunning modern botanical books that I already own. However, it is not to say that it might be useful to others. :)
My Online course Playful Watercolour with Mixed Media is available on teachable: alyonacreates.teachable.com
All of my products are available on ETSY: AlyonaCreates etsy.me/2PcEt8u
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Creating Summer 2019 Watercolour Palette | Process • Creating Summer 2019 W...
Completed Summer 2019 Watercolour Palette | Process • Completed Summer 2019 ...
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Alyona x
** ART SUPPLIES USED: **
• How to Draw Modern Florals by Alli Koch:
AMAZON UK: amzn.to/33X6PLB [note this one is paperback!]
AMAZON US: amzn.to/30Jo8O8
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• Alyona Creates Wildflowers Clear Stamp Sets:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates Acrylic Blocks:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates FOTD Clear Stamp Set:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates FLORALS Clear Stamp Set:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates Handmade Watercolours Set, Lip & Cheek Palette:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u [SOLD OUT]
• Alyona Creates Floral Ornaments Stencils:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates FACES Ephemera Set:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
• Alyona Creates FLOWERS Ephemera Set:
ETSY: etsy.me/2PcEt8u
MY FAVOURITE WATERCOLOUR BRUSHES:
• Silver Black Velvet Watercolour Brush Round #4:
AMAZON UK: amzn.to/2WEKr2Z
AMAZON US: amzn.to/2HfsySV
JACKSONS: bit.ly/2Vv3Q9Y
• Silver Black Velvet Watercolour Brush Round #6:
AMAZON UK: amzn.to/2wEogSv
AMAZON US: currently not available :(
JACKSONS: bit.ly/2VonkbC
• Silver Black Velvet Watercolour Brush Round #8:
AMAZON UK: amzn.to/2TOybg9
AMAZON US: amzn.to/39CLJ51
JACKSONS: bit.ly/33pTokf
• Jackson's Quill Brush 10/0:
JACKSONS: bit.ly/2v3CGas
• Jackson's Raven 3/0 [Series 528]:
JACKSONS: bit.ly/2LlU2d2
• Jackson's Raven Brush 10/0:
JACKSONS: bit.ly/2GGx503
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[@kanamichelle7404]

It is definitely very minimalist, and really beautifully illustrated, but seems scant in actual content. I have found that I buy books and then they sit on my shelf, so I am not buying anymore, and have considered selling all of them. For me, at least, it is a waste of money. I learn so much more from watching KZbin videos. It is the best way of learning for me, but I know others learn differently.

[@silviamandelli5408]

Hi Alyona, this is Silvia from Italy :) I just started following you today and I wanted to thank you for these book reviews, they are very helpful. Thank you for taking the time and effort :D

[@acatinthecradle]

I ran across this book on Amazon and immediately came over here to see your review. Thanks to you I am saving my money! I have bought so many wonderful books from your reviews Alyona and I just want you to know I think you are a true gem and we appreciate your book reviews tremendously along with the beautiful paint swatching, tutorials, product reviews and so much more. Thank you very very much! 🥰

[@iritlandgraf]

I'm laughing here. I'm so glad you did this review. And I admit I'm conflicted about this book. I think you will understand better when you see some of my next videos later this week. I actually think I might be interested in those step by step, although I totally agree there's a lot that could have been done better, like one page with instructions opposite a practice page, tho most times these practice pages are not really necessary. But your disappointment and very underwhelmed tone is really turning me off this book. Lol. I like the style of the illustrations a lot and would like to learn to draw something similar. Her demos might be helpful for understanding a little better the dimensionality of the flowers. Anyway, thanks a lot, I think you were really fair in your review, not easy to do with something you don't like.

[@iritlandgraf]

Lol watching on. You're very right on the leaves and arrangements section. Very disappointing .

[@macCALICOmac]

They don't rant look well explained on how to draw, no way to see proportion and things like that. Normally beginner drawing is taught with basic shapes. I've found. I love Shayda Campbell's drawings, have you seen them?

[@catherinelavoie2210]

I am a beginner and I love this book because it is sparse. Yes. I like that. I have another book that is crammed with information which I hope to grow into later but this book is simple and straight forward which is what I need to start out. I love all the white space you and so many complain about. I actually use it to practice the drawings. I appreciate her step by step instructions. You objected to her use of a computer but she says right in the beginning that is one of the methods she will be teaching. I’m willing to learn that ... later. It’s at the end of the book. This book is beautifully made but I do have one complaint: the light gray ink. So many publications now use light gray ink which for me is a challenge. So, I just want to add my comments for others who, like me, are beginning this delightful yet complex journey.

[@ShangDaili]

Thank you so much for the review, Alyona! Are there line drawing floral books that you recommend? Thank you!

[@McQuizzical]

Yes, totally see what you're saying. Thank you for the flip through I think this is just as helpful as all the other books you've so kindly reviewed for us. Thank you. Sorry you faced such disappointment with this and the other item not showing up for your birthday (hugs) x

[@energychameleon1319]

Wow! Glad I came across this review before purchasing this. Thank you

[@anjakritzelkram5544]

Thank you for showing us an inside view of this book. It was really helpful to me as I was thinking to buy the german version. But I don't like to have "draw here" pages and so much empty space within a book. Also, while I don't mind a book being basic, I think the drawing process isn't shown in a useful way with only four steps and I agree that they don't look drawn by hand.

[@sherricarneal4986]

I have this book and it is a good book and has taught me to draw a rose. I look at this young artist who is self taught and I wish her well on her journey. I also want to say I love your book reviews and your channel content. Some books I purchase are meant for a time in our life then and in the future. Some we pass on as a gift. I gifted this book to a Young artist learning to draw as the artist of the book is young as well. There is someone and a time for each book. I'm glad we are still holding books in this time. Thank you

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Sherri Carneal I am thinking of gifting this book too, if only it’s wasn’t as heavy to post... 😁

[@twinningtwins4721]

I get where you're coming from, and have bought books in the past that were very basic and uninspiring. Personally, I don't see the need for the blank pages, as a proper sketch pad would be a better option. But I actually really do like this book. I did art up to college level, and did mostly portrait sketches and landscape/wildlife paintings. I used to avoid flowers because of all the small parts you'd have to draw....the process of drawing them looked tedious and intimidating. So this book is perfect even for me who is not a beginner. I've drawn a few flowers in the book and really enjoyed the process and the outcome. I think it's a great book for beginners and anyone who has had little experience in drawing flowers. It gives you a very good grasp on drawing the basic structure very quickly. Another critique would be there are not enough leaf or cactus drawings in the book. Those sections looked like an afterthought. But the flowers are what I was really interested in anyway. I'd rate it a solid 4 out of 5.

[@pattil.brandenberger5484]

I agree, so happy you reviewed it. Thank you

[@geslinam9703]

I love books, but really, with art books, most of what is in them can be found online

[@Ellie.IsSmart]

Some reasons I am happy with my purchase of this book are hearing her thought process. Another pro of this book is that it comes in a spiral bound option. I like how simple these drawings are since I am only learning how to draw them so that I can paint them in the future.

[@rinavogels2712]

Thanks Alyona, I totally agree your comment about this book. You did it quite respectfully 💟

[@rnee1000]

I was surprised to hear you speak so negatively about an art book. I have both of Alli Koch's books and found them helpful. While I agree they are minimalist in presentation and they are not appropriate for accomplished artists like yourself, I found them useful in learning basic flower sketching techniques. I wasn't a beginner at art but my sketching skills greatly improved after doing these exercises. While experienced artists expect more in depth content, which I do myself, for beginners it is nice to have such simple examples. I feel if you had mentioned that for beginners this would be helpful it would have made the review more honest. Not every book is for everyone, that goes for any kind of book including fiction and nonfiction. And this book could be right for some of your viewers.

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Firstly, I am happy that you have enjoyed this book and found it useful. I did say this book might be for some... However, honestly even for beginners I would recommend more informative books that have been created by artists who have passion to teach their skills, which is something I cannot say about this book. In terms of different genre, of course there are books that will appeal to some and not to others. However, no matter what genre of a book I do not pay money for blank pages, that’s what a notepad is for. :)

[@cher1292]

I purchased this book a few months ago, too. I, like you, wasn’t very happy with it either. Others may really enjoy though. We all have different expectations. Have a wonderful afternoon!

[@vanessaboman8143]

I love the white spaces as I tend to write, draw and make marks in my books .. I am a newbie to watercolor and this book is great for me.

[@vanessaboman8143]

The last page is my colour palette, so I love that it's empty ... Well it was empty but now it's getting filled with paint and coloured pencils swatches! For me less is more right now as I grapple with this new to me art form. I also do swatches on the pages and use sticky notes for my thoughts and reactions.

[@linalovesyou]

You saved me $20! Thank you so very much :)

[@XizhousScentStudio]

I was going to purchase this book but I'm glad you reviewed it.

[@FaerieDust]

Thank you for the review! I don't have this book, and will not be buying it. I would like either more instruction or more practice in the book - this one I feel does neither to the extent I would want. I'm a complete beginner, it's perfectly at my skill level (i.e. someone who has literally not drawn a flower since they were a young child), but there just doesn't seem to be much content in the book. There's absolutely a value in practice books, like the ones you can get for calligraphy, but I would expect more exercises in those. And I do really like books that are heavy on instruction, with both diagrams and text (though I'd argue diagrams might be more useful and should make up a larger proportion of the contents in an art book), but this one just seems to not have much in it. Like, there's so much space everywhere, you could probably condense the info a bit and print it on half the amount of paper. And, sure, you can use all that extra space for practice, but I don't get the impression that that's what the large margins are intended for or you would've had one larger margin on one side of the text instead of the current layout. I'm sure the book is great for someone at my level, but, yeah, I just don't think there's enough of it to warrant the space it'll take up in my bookshelf. It could be a really nice gift to someone, though! It's very pretty, and there's enough in it for someone to maybe just dip their toes in, as it were. (Also: I don't think you were too negative at all! An honest review is an honest review, and that means that some of them might be negative. You were very respectful, I think, while maintaining your integrity with your honesty and frankness. I really, really appreciate that, as a viewer, and as a novice who can't afford to try books that won't give me a lot of value for my specific needs. You make it that much easier to navigate the massive sea of "learn how to draw" books!

[@jothsnanalla9584]

Would I have not seen your review, i would have wasted my money. Thankyou❤️ can you please suggest some good book for modern florals (not for watercolours though!). That would be very helpful, TIA☺️

[@yvonnem1919]

Thank you... I dodged the bullet finding your review... The cover looks great... I would have been upset paying for this book.. thanks

[@arabesquejacob8176]

THANK you 🙏 so much, I wanted to buy it, thinking I would actually learn to draw flowers, especially because I’m a beginner, but it’s there’s not a lot of content, very few explanations...I’ll pass! As a ex- blogger, I totally understand why you want to refrain from negative reviews, but when it’s something you bought with your hard-earned money, you’re allowed to say what you want, with a little diplomacy. But, I really appreciate your intent and your spirit. Well done 👍🏼 Classy ! 😍

[@magsbrat1031]

I almost bought this book. I didn’t think there was enough of what I was looking for

[@ChrissieNicely]

Thanks for this review! Wow! No wonder there are no previews to this book! Her instagram looks quite sameish, too. But that is what works these days... And she has not been the first to do these doodles. @alicelovesdrawing on IG for instance... and one of several totally different books by Peggy Dean aka @thepigeonletters as well as @botanicallinedrawing is a much better resource and money well spent. All her books are different whereas Alli Koch's books all look the same (although I cannot speak to their content). It's amazing how you can be successful doing just one thing. I wish her all the best but I also wish there were previews available for all books so one could save themselves the hassle of ordering and returning a product like this! Thankfully, we have you! Sorry! 😅 And thanks again! 😘

[@MedaHalmaciu]

Is it self published? i find that nowadays, with everyone being given a voice, there is a lot of rubbish content everywhere, but when you have to pay for it, that is horrible. So thank you for the review. I consider very carefully every book purchase I make because I have little space to store them.

[@floraldreamdesigns7914]

Honestly i didnt really like her first book either. I managed to flip through it at my local bookstore so i decided that there were too many white spaces. So i did not buy this book. However, i was recommended her second book Florals by Hand, which teaches about composition. Still quite some white spaces.. but im glad I bought it for the techniques to make various types of composition. I drew my first floral composition yesterday! Floral bunch, pattern, illusion, word art, wreath, frame, arrangement are the terms she uses in the book. Overall, Im satisfied with Florals by Hand.

[@joaniegreen2184]

I really liked this book.

[@lindsayjayne2169]

I just bought last week "Modern Watercolor Botanicals" by Sarah Simon after watching your review, and I'm absolutely loving it, the whole book is just beautiful!!💗 So thankyou! Then this just popped up on my feed and I was instantly pulled in by the same style cover as Sarah's book! I checked out the artist Alli's IG and her work is just beautiful. But I do agree with you; there's too many blank pages and empty space here. To me it appears like maybe there just wasn't enough content for the book and so they spread it out. If it we're say $20-cnd (half the price of the modern watercolor botanicals) then I'd probably buy it, but not for what it's listed for. So again, thankyou very much for your honesty here, it's very much appreciated. I would've been disappointed as well.

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Sarah Simon just had a new book come out!! I got a copy sent and actually just filmed the review for it today, hoping to publish it on Monday if you are interested. 🧡

[@lindsayjayne2169]

@@AlyonasWatercolourCreations Ooooo.. I'm definitely interested!😊 Looking forward to it, thanks Alyona!👏🏻

[@juststartingover2735]

Thank you! I come to youtube for book reviews/flip thru for the very reasons you stated. I agree with you on this book. It looks pretty but not much substance.

[@sonja__k]

Funnily enough, I had received this book only one day before your last video, in which you already hinted at your dissapointment with it. I had been dissapointed, too, and will definitely return it. Another book I ordered with this one is "Botanical Line Drawing" by Peggy Dean. It's much better inspiration and sketching guide. I fear that the Alli Koch book is one in a long line of publications made only thanks to the online popularity of the author. A lot publishing houses these days rely on their authors promoting their books theselves via their online community. It saves them a lot of money and think work. If that way they can sell the first edition of a publication they've made their profit and are happy. Oftentimes there's no one really interested in the contents anymore.

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Sonja Kerkhoffs I was thinking exactly the same! :)

[@snehamohan2472]

Hi.. Would u do a review on florals by hand??

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Sneha Mohan Oh no no, I will not be spending any more money on this author’s books! :)

[@snehamohan2472]

@@AlyonasWatercolourCreations thank you so much for ur honest reply.. I really love ur book reviews.. ❤

[@batchbythesea]

Wow that is disappointing , it came up on my amazon books you might like list. The postage to New Zealand is really expensive and the time delays long so glad I saw this flick through before I purchased

[@joeystoycity3140]

So glad I found this review wound be ordering it looks so bad

[@robinjeree]

Well....Perhaps this book would be fun for a young child interested in exploring the simple shapes of flowers, copy the steps on their own, and draw freely on the practice pages, and all over the white spaces as well.

[@AlyonasWatercolourCreations]

Robin Jeree good point! 😂

[@thatswhatshesaid.literally737]

😕 Wow... I'd have been just as disappointed. Usually books such as that, which include blank "practice" pages are labeled as "workbook" on the cover or in the title, so you know what to expect to find inside the actual book contents. 😶 With all that blank space it seems thrown together and rushed through. I can see why Amazon didn't put in pictures of the contents; it'd most likely put a halt on any further sales of the book!

[@lisaalso7875]

FF to 6:30.

[@kelseywood1582]

I have the book and was very very disappointed 😞

[@magnolia2]

Oh wow. I own this book still working through the first few pages. I did not realize the leaves and arrangements pages were so bleh. I hadn’t flipped that far ahead smh. I own the second book too and hope it’s not this blank. I’m afraid to look. Going to save myself the disappointment and find out someday when I get to using using it. 🤣

[@chrystelelacroix4681]

A pretty book with a beautiful presentation but very disappointing content in terms of the quality of the drawings and little content. The step-by-step instructions are excellent, but an essential step is missing, i.e., the general shape of the flower or plant, which helps enormously, especially when there's a perspective effect.

[@dar13rell]

Not a book for me. I would like more illustrations with a bit more steps. Very disappointed in the leaf section. I guess the best thing about the book is the cover.

[@CP-gq5fw]

I own this book and I was totally disappointed with the content. My thoughts are that this is not an instructional book (misleading title) but rather a ‘trendy/minimalist coffee table type” book. I am a beginner but even I couldn’t learn anything from this book. I’ve taken Skillshare classes and there is so much to learn about drawing flowers that this book could have been much better.

[@crochetizen4953]

i agree with you.. Empty and lacks critical content

[@rhondita95]

I agree this book is terrible - and certainly is not for the beginner! There isn’t enough instruction to do anything but frustrate a beginner, or anyone else for that matter. Clearly the publisher’s weren’t art education minded and were just looking to make a pretty book