Eileen Sorg - Beginning Colored Pencil: Tips and Techniques for Learning to Draw in Colored Pencil

Tips and techniques for learning to draw in colored pencil

Colored pencil is an exciting and approachable art medium. It is nontoxic and portable, requires few tools, and can be enjoyed by artists of all ages and skill levels. Perhaps its best attribute is the elegant way in which it straddles the line between drawing and painting.

Today, artists around the world work in colored pencil. The flexibility of this medium allows for a wide range of self-expression, with no two artists working in quite the same way. When worked in multiple layers, colored pencil can appear as rich and vibrant as an oil painting, surprising and delighting the viewer. When applied with quick, bold strokes, its as fresh as a traditional line drawing.

As we work through this book, I hope to impart on you the world of possibilities that awaits you. I will share many ways to use colored pencils so that you can decide what works best for you and your artistic vision, ensuring optimal results. You will have access to the skills and tools needed to successfully adopt colored pencils and begin to find your own voice. The understanding you acquire here, coupled with a little practice, will put you well on your way toward creating your own colored pencil artwork to share with the world.

Let's get started!

FROM LOOSE AND SKETCHY TO FULLY DEVELOPED, PHOTOREALISTIC "PAINTINGS," YOU CAN ACHIEVE MYRIAD ARTISTIC STYLES THROUGH COLORED PENCIL. YOU ARE ONLY LIMITED BY THE BOUNDARIES OF YOUR OWN IMAGINATION AND YOUR WILLINGNESS TO TRY.

Drawing with colored pencils requires just a few supplies, and you may already have many of them. As your skills progress, you can choose to add better-quality and more numerous tools to your arsenal. But for now, learn about the simple supplies youll need to create beautiful, detailed art using colored pencils, and then you can choose what to purchase to get started. The projects in this book list the various colors and supplies that you will need, so you may want to focus on those items first.

The old saying in oil painting is fat over lean, and this also applies to colored pencils. Some pencils are harder (leaner), while others are very soft (fatter). There is also a range of degrees in between.

SOFT PENCILS

When layering and blending, its best to work with softer, more malleable pencils.

tip

LAYERING A HARDER PENCIL OVER SOFTER LAYERS CAN CAUSE INADVERTENT SCRATCHES OR THE REMOVAL OF PREVIOUS LAYERS.

HARD PENCILS

A harder pencil should be used for initial layers and in areas that require no layering at all. Hard pencils contain a different wax-to-pigment ratio, so they sharpen to a finer point and are less prone to crumbling during use. This works well for detail work, lettering, transferring a drawing, and creating a hard edge, but it makes hard pencils less than ideal for blending or filling in large areas of color.

TYPES OF PENCILS

There are three types of colored pencils: wax-based, oil-based, and water-soluble. Purchase a few of each, and experiment with them to see what looks best. Remember that you can always mix and match!

WAX PENCILS

Wax pencils are the most common and softest type of colored pencil. They are made up of color pigment mixed with a wax binder and surrounded by a wooden barrel. Quality and consistency vary by brand, but in general, these pencils have a creamy consistency and layer well.

OIL PENCILS

These pencils are made using an oil binder instead of wax. They tend to be a bit harder, so they are better for creating fine details than for blending, although they can be blended using solvents or heat.

tip

FOLLOW THE FAT-OVER-LEAN CONCEPT, AND LAYER SOFTER WAX PENCILS OVER HARDER OIL-BASED ONES.

WATER-SOLUBLE PENCILS

These pencils contain a water-soluble binder, giving them a watercolor effect. You can apply them dry to paper and then brush over them with water, or try rubbing a water-soluble pencil into a palette, and then apply with a brush. Once dry, layer over water-soluble pencil with wax- or oil-based pencils, but limit the number of layers you apply. Water-soluble pencils work especially well for slightly blurred backgrounds.

tip

USE WATERCOLOR PAPER WITH YOUR WATER-SOLUBLE PENCILS. REGULAR DRAWING PAPER WILL NOT HOLD UP TO WATER.

LIGHTFASTNESS

Like all art mediums, colored pencils are subject to varying degrees of lightfastness, or permanence. The term lightfastness refers to a pigments resistance to change when exposed to light, and it depends on the pigments chemical nature, the binder used, and its concentration. Using lightfast materials can help determine the life expectancy of your artwork.

If youre a beginning colored pencil artist and wondering which brand to purchase to ensure lightfastness, know that any artist-quality brand will do just fine.

tip

CERTAIN COLORS ARE MORE RESISTANT TO THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT. EARTH COLORS, SUCH AS BROWNS, SIENNAS, AND OCHRES, ARE VERY STABLE, WHILE PINKS, PURPLES, AND REDS ARE MORE PRONE TO FADING.

OTHER ESSENTIAL TOOLS

ERASERS

The efficacy of various erasing tools will vary. Some can remove just a touch of color, allowing only for minor adjustments, while others remove nearly all layers. Try different typesincluding kneaded erasers, which can be shaped to fit into small areas and reused many times; hard plastic erasers; and typewriter erasers, which can be run through a pencil sharpener to form a fine point and will erase dark colorsto determine your favorite.