Colored Pencil Techniques 1

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Earlier, I had mentioned that I signed up for a free colored pencil class at the local library with someone who can make pencil drawings look like photographs. The class got delayed a week due to a big dump of snow (10″ that day) so tonight was Class 1. There are only 8 students so its pretty great with the teacher-student interaction.

We learned about blending. I always thought blending was what you do between two colors. Not in today’s example! Proper color pencil technique is all about building layers. We began with boxes. First an even layer of yellow, covered by an even layer of blue. Then, yellow again but with changing pressure from hard to light. Same with the blue. We could keep going back and forth to blend it nicely, or use other blending techniques if we had them available. For instance, you could use a white pencil, but I had a colorless blending pencil. I only had that because I bought a blending kit. I had never heard of one before but its pretty nifty! On the far side, I did experiment with white as a blending tool for comparison, which is why that section looks different.

After making green, we made orange the same way. First yellow, then red. I was helping a kid next to me understand what was meant by changing pressure so distractedly I picked up  my blue pencil when I started. Oops. Ignore the left! And then again, I put white on the righthand side. Which taught me to clean off the lead, as it still had some other colors mixed on it that smeared into my orange. Grr.

And then purple, with red followed by blue. This was the most difficult for me, and I think partly because my color set did not include a true red nor a true blue. White was also added on the right.

After that exercise, we drew an apple and used yellow and blue to make a green variety. I spent a lot of time working on blending the colors. I got a bit streaky with my blue. That is what I need to work on before next class. I got done a little early so I tossed on a stem and leaf.

While my blocks looked spotty, I worked a long time blending the apple to try to get those white dots outta there. It did nothing, though, for those pesky streaks! I also think I should have carried the stem down a little further since I added a little darkened spot up top. Lessons are being learned, I love it!

Next week will teach us different styles of filling, like hashing. After we learn some basic techniques, the rest of the course will be learning how to make an image from start to finish, learning crucial things along the way.

I’m excited – this is going so much better than stupid water color paints!

 

See more posts related to:

2 Comments

  1. wendy

    wow, that apple is amazing! Sounds like a really interesting class

    Reply
    • CaLynn

      Thanks, Wendy! I never would have tried making an apple with yellow and blue, so I have to say this class is going to be pretty cool!

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for more cases of the Crafties?
Stitch Club: Kaur

Stitch Club: Kaur

Saima Kaur led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club designed to make us smile by stitching brightly bold and whimsical figures, and I was inspired by ancient South African rock art.

read more
Stitch Club: Edwards

Stitch Club: Edwards

Priscilla Edwards led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club where we learned to make a wire frame and use batik wax to form a sculpture. For whatever reason, I decided I’d make a sailboat!

read more
Hexie Dreams + Template

Hexie Dreams + Template

My Hexie Dreams quilt, which was carefully fussy cut and hand pieced by me, then hand quilted by my gramma, is finally finished after three+ years of work (and avoidance). The proof is in the stitching – persistence pays off!

read more
Stitch Club: Dias

Stitch Club: Dias

Cassandra Dias lead a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club workshop on embroidered landscapes, and I was inspired to recreate a honeymoon photo of France’s Pont Du Gard.

read more
Hello 2024!

Hello 2024!

For the start of 2024, I’ve been playing with drawing, paint, and watercolor pencils to get a feel for the media.

read more
Ida Andersen Lang’s Tutorial

Ida Andersen Lang’s Tutorial

I followed a water color pencil tutorial by Ida Andersen Lang to work through some techniques to set me up for a successful Mixed Media 2024 journey.

read more
Stitch Club: Boschert

Stitch Club: Boschert

Deborah Boschert lead a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club on creating a mixed media art quilt. I based mine upon a visit to a new town and restaurant.

read more
Finds and Things

Finds and Things

A random post about some art supplies, vintage finds, and an AI-generated experiment for future crafts.

read more
Stitch Club: Stone 3

Stitch Club: Stone 3

Sue Stone’s third workshop with TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club prompted us to use text in our piece, so I recorded a trip to Shawnee National Forest.

read more
Stitch Club: Stone 2

Stitch Club: Stone 2

Sue Stone led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club in her well-known portrait style, and I was inspired to capture a man in a hat in four variations.

read more
Hexie Dreams 19

Hexie Dreams 19

My hand sewn fussy-cut EPP Hexie Dreams quilt is all ready to go to my gramma for hand quilting. Check out a few of my embellished hexies, and come back in the future for the finished product!

read more
My Village Quilt

My Village Quilt

I present to you My Village Quilt, based on the Urban Village Green quilt: a four-year-long project that tipped the love-hate scale finally over to love.

read more