Veronica Winters - Master Realist Techniques in Colored Pencil Painting in 4 Weeks: Projects for Beginners: Learn to draw still life, landscape, skies, fabric, glass and textures

Veronica Winters received her B.F.A. in studio art from the Oklahoma State University and her M.F.A. in painting from the Pennsylvania State University. She paints full-time in her studio and teaches art classes both privately and in schools.

Veronica has received numerous commissions for works now in private collections in the U.S.A. and Europe. Her work has earned multiple awards and has been published in Magazine Leisure Painter, Magazine American Art Collector, and other magazines. Veronicas retrospective catalog of drawings Life in Colored Pencil is available for purchase online at Amazon.com.

To contact the artist and see more artwork available visit her website at www.VeronicasArt.com .

This book is designed for absolute BEGINNERS who have the patience to work with colored pencils, and can dedicate enough time to develop their artistic sensibilities. Students from age twelve to adulthood will benefit from its contents, strengthening their skills and discovering their creative possibilities. This book is packed with valuable information on tools and techniques for drawing still life, landscape, cityscape, texture, glass and flowers. In addition to informative illustrations and descriptions, each chapter features several step-by-step demonstrations.

For experienced artists, the book offers explorations of a variety of more sophisticated subjects, complete with additional step-by-step demonstrations.

To all my teachers who believed in my abilities; to all my students who asked me to share my knowledge with them; to my husband Max Fomitchev who always supported my artistic adventures and never allowed me to give up; and to my son Vladislav who motivated me to rediscover my creative self.

Beta House French Doors 19 x 25" (48 x 63 cm) 2009

Great painting is the product of a mind that is seeing, tasting, and exploring the entire fabric of life. -- W. Somerset Maugham

I just LOVE colored pencils! The more colors I own the better I feel. But to tell you the truth, all you really need to start out an adventure in artistic exploration is a basic set of 24 pencils, a paper pad, two erasers (white and kneaded) and a pencil sharpener. Thats it! Good quality materials help the students to produce better art as opposed to the use of low-quality supplies. However, its important to remember that its not just the materials that create a winning painting, but the artist who orchestrates beauty and harmony on paper.

Colored pencils are versatile: they can be mixed with other media like watercolor, graphite, pastel, markers and even acrylic paint. Pencils allow for maximum control in realist rendering and deliver rich colorful surfaces. They are also the easiest medium to master drawing at home. For all of these reasons, I believe colored pencils offer the perfect medium for the beginning artist.

So, lets begin!

Burnishing a technique of layering color with heavy pressure. Tools like colorless blender, white pencil, turpenoid or mineral spirits are used to get rid of any textural areas appearing in the drawing. In other words, burnishing allows the artist to polish the surface to its maximum smoothness, producing deeper darks and rich mid-tones.

Colorfast or Lightfast paper or pencils color resistant materials that resist to fading from light, heat, acids or other environmental agents. In other words, these are papers and pencils that dont age with time.

Deckle Edge the feathery paper edge in handmade or mould made paper. It is beautiful and creative to tear sheets into smaller pieces of paper to achieve this lovely deckle edge in lithographic prints and drawings. The deckle edge is not covered with a mat when framed.

GSM or Grams per square meter the gram weight per square meter of paper that does not vary with sheet size. It is helpful for the artist to determine papers weight. Strathmore Bristol vellum paper, for example, is 100 lb (260g/m2) while Strathmore Drawing medium paper is 80 lb (130g/m2)meaning the first is heavier (thicker) than the second.

Hue another word for color (ex. red, green).

Papers tooth the surface feel of paper. The more tooth a paper has, the rougher it feels to the touch. There are ultra-smooth, smooth, medium, rough and heavily rough surfaces available:

Hot pressed paper has a smooth surface.

Vellum paper has a very finely textured, smooth surface. (Vellum also means heavy weight, translucent drawing paper.)

Cold pressed paper has a slightly textured surface.

Rough paper has a heavily textured surface.

Plane- a flat or level surface. I use this term to describe the papers surface.

Watermark is the brand name embossed in the corner of paper and visible when a sheet is held to the light (Examples; Arches cold press, Reeves BFK, etc.).

Ive been using Prismacolor colored pencils for many years. They have unsurpassed richness of color, pigment saturation and softness, and they are sold in a neat and durable storage box. Other brands Ive tried have harder leads, and deliver less vivid color. Prismacolor pencils are sold at any local craft store, and online. If I run out of a particular color, I can purchase it separately or buy individual pencils that I dont have in my original set.

Key Features of Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils :

High quality pigments produce a rich color saturation

Soft, thick cores create a smooth color laydown for superior blending and shading

Thick leads resist breakage

Sold individually or in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 120 & 132.

Prismacolor Premier Lightfast Colored Pencils differ from the pencils mentioned above. They are also artists quality pencils with high quality pigments and soft, thick cores that provide excellent resistance to the fading effects of prolonged exposure to light. Lightfast pencils cost a bit more and are available in 48 colors sold individually or in a set of 12, 24& 48.

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil Blenders feature non-pigmented, wax-based lead ideal for softening hard edges and blending colors. They are sold individually. I use these a lot to blend light color combinations in my drawings.