Winters - The Colored Pencil Manual: Step-by-Step Instructions and Techniques

Veronica Winters

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Mineola, New York

The following trademarked products are mentioned in this book. References to these trademarks have not been licensed from or approved by the individual trademark holders.

Adobe Photoshop

Arches Velin BFK Rives Papers

Arches Watercolour Papers

Canson Colorline Art Papers

Caran dAche Full Blender Pencils

Caran dAche Luminance Colored Pencils

Caran dAche Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pencils

Caran dAche Pablo Colored Pencils

Clairefontaine Pastelmat

Crescent RagMat Matboard

Derwent Coloursoft Pencils

Faber-Castell Albrecht Drer Watercolor Pencils

Faber-Castell Artist Brush Pen

Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser

Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils

Finesse Blender Pen for Colored Pencils

Gamblin Gamsol

Generals All Art Pencil Sharpener

Grumbacher Final Fixative

Icarus Drawing Board

Koh-I-Noor Black Drawing Pads

Koh-I-Noor Bristol Smooth Paper Pads

Koh-I-Noor Bristol Vellum Paper Pads

Koh-I-Noor Polycolor Colored Pencils

Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colour Pencils

Legion Somerset Printmaking Papers

Legion Stonehenge Paper and Drawing Paper Pads

Lyra Rembrandt Splender Blender

Molotow Acrylic Pen

Mylar (Dupont Teijin Films) Film Sheet

OttLite Desk Lamp

PanPastel Colorless Blender

Premier Illustration markers

Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencils

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Premier Markers

Prismacolor Scholar Pencil Sharpener

Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils

Sakura Pen-touch Paint Markers

Strathmore Artagain Drawing Paper

Strathmore Bristol Vellum Paper Pads

Strathmore Paper and Drawing Paper Pads

Strathmore Premium Paper

Turpenoid Natural

Winsor & Newton Pigment Marker Pads

Zest-it Solvent (Citrus Free)

Copyright

Copyright 2018 by Veronica Winters

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

The Colored Pencil Manual: Step-by-Step Instructions and Techniques is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 2018.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Winters, Veronica, author.

Title: The colored pencil manual : step-by-step instructions and techniques / Veronica Winters.

Description: Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, Inc., 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018020456| ISBN 9780486822969 (paperback) | ISBN 0486822966

Subjects: LCSH: Colored pencil drawingTechnique. | BISAC: ART / Techniques / Drawing. | ART / Techniques / Color. | ART / Techniques / Pencil Drawing. | ART / Techniques / General. | ART / Subjects & Themes / Portraits. | ART / Subjects & Themes / Plants & Animals. | ART / Color Theory.

Classification: LCC NC892 .W555 2018 | DDC 741.2/4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020456

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

82296601 2018

www.doverpublications.com

Contents

Introduction

This book is designed for beginners in colored pencil art but not for an absolute beginner in drawing. You will need some understanding of basic concepts and practice with drawing in pencil before switching to color.

It is important that you have an open mind when reading the material, and you should take it as a compass rather than a rule. This book contains many art fundamentals that are applicable to any form of realist art, whether its painting, drawing, acrylic, oil, pencil, or colored pencil.

This is a book that is hands on, in which youll see lots of condensed information so that it is easy to follow. There are step-by-step instructions demonstrating particular techniques, action steps for you to apply what you have learned, sidebars, and helpful tips. Id like to say that I teach the approach to drawing, not painting by numbers, so youll be learning to make decisions on your own in terms of color, as opposed to just following the given colors.

This book is intended for those serious at mastering the medium. Therefore, dont skip through the beginning chapters, but take the time to read the entire book first, absorb the information, and then start working on your projects.

I hope this book serves as an inspirational guide for your creative endeavors. I offer my sincere gratitude and salute you for accepting this challenge. Lets bring your art to the next level!

Artfully,

Veronica

Note: Students can download the outlines for the projects in this book from:

www.veronicasart.com

Materials

PENCILS

There are numerous varieties of colored pencils available on the market. While many sell as open stock, most sell in boxes and packages ranging from 24 to 132 colors. There is a very big difference in drawing quality between the generic brands and artist-quality, professional colored pencils.

Generics are good for child-like sketching and for taking notes, but you wont be able to achieve the same beautiful results with them as other artists do working with the professional brands, assuming all other variables are kept equal. Lets look at key features that contribute to the quality of a professional colored pencil. These qualities are the leads durability, lightfastness, softness, and base.

In essence all colored pencils are wax-based, but some brands have a lot more wax in them and they are categorized as wax-based, while the rest have different percentages of wax in them and are usually referred to as oil-based. While this separation seems confusing, these terms are mainly used to describe the layering properties of the pencils. Soft, wax-based colored pencils adhere to the papers tooth (the surface feel or texture) more than the oil-based colored pencils, which leads to different blending techniques. Oil-based pencils behave more like soft pastels, and artists often match the surfaces and tools applicable to these pencils such as drawing on sanded papers and using the PanPastel blenders. Besides the percentage of wax present in every pencil, colored pencils also consist of binders, hardeners, fillers, and colorants, which all contribute to color intensity.

Wax-based colored pencils with wax-based colorless blender

Brands: Caran dAche Luminance, Prismacolor Premier, Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colour Pencils, Derwent Coloursoft, Prismacolor Colorless Blender, Caran dAche Full Blender

Wax-based colored pencils offer superior coverage and easy application and blending due to their softness. The disadvantages of such pencils include wax bloom and a fairly easy breakdown of a pencil; also the cores softness leads to faster use of a pencil.

Oil-based colored pencils with oil-based colorless blender

Brands: Faber-Castell Polychromos, Caran dAche Pablo, Koh-I-Noor Polycolor, Prismacolor Verithin, Lyra Splender Blender

Oil-based colored pencils have much less wax in them; therefore theyre less soft and more durable. While oil-based pencils dont break or bloom, lasting longer, they are harder than the wax-based pencils and layering feels different, depending on the brand. In general, they are great for working on details (Caran dAche Pablo, Koh-I-Noor Polycolor) and not so great layering in the background because of the harder lead. However, pastel-like pencils such as the Faber-Castell Polychromos work well in backgrounds and on sanded surfaces with PanPastel blenders.