from:www.homeschoolarts.com
The "Color Pencil" offers another relatively environmentally safe and convenient media to the parent of the home schooled student or to the artist that likes the portably and ease of use while in the field that the color pencil affords. Clean up is a snap with color pencils and the media lends itself to continued learning and experimentation. Modern color pencils are made with the same fine pigments as artist quality paints and the drawings can last for generations.As with our entire curriculum we will give you a list of all of the supplies and equipment we used for the lesson.
I suggest that you complete the basic drawing lessons in pencil and pen & ink prior to using the color pencil lessons. This is just a suggestion and not a requirement for use of this or any other lessons.
The color pencils used in this lesson are:
- #937 Tuscan Red
- #901 Indigo Blue
- #908 Dark Green
- #931 Purple
- #938 White
- #935 Black
As I mentioned before using the color pencil while performing your other pencil techniques can produce some very dramatic effects. My favorite darks are accomplished with Tuscan Red #937 and Indigo Blue #901. Differing the pressure and adding layers as necessary will produce very different results with only two pencils. From a very effective black through a nice warm brown shadow, this combination is invaluable.
Now lets look at Dark Green #908 and Purple #931 for yet another black combination. We can see the difference in the two blacks; one looks warmer and the other conveys a cooler feeling. Yes I said feeling; emotion plays a large part in drawing and painting. It is a way of communication that will stir the heart just like some music and poetry does. We will talk more about color theory in the color theory lesson.
Please do not use the black or white pencil for any other reason then to change the value of the color you are using. I will go into the reasons for this in a later lesson. The only exception would be for changing the value of another color. In other words to create a tint of a specific color or combination of colors use white as an under or over color. Or use black to create a tone or to darken or mute the color. In the following illustrations you will see the use of White #938 to create the tint of the color located on the top left of the illustration and Black #935 to create the tone on the bottom right of the illustration.
The surface you work on will also change the look and mood of your work. The color of the surface can enhance the work being done in that it can create an overall consistency in the illustration. If I were doing a portrait of a friend I might decide to use a surface that is light brown or beige to help with the middle tones of the illustration.
The following are some doodles I have done while looking for an inspiration or while doing something else. I always keep different pieces of paper or board around my drawing table for doodling while I'm on the phone or when I'm "vegging" out watching TV. As you can see by the doodle boards below you can achieve great looking and rich colors in your drawings and set a great mood while doing it. For example the lighthouse would be a very different illustration if it were done on a white substrate. The mood would not be as suspenseful. In the following pages of this lesson and in your assignments we will discuss different papers and how they effect your drawings.
Look at the reflected light from the moon onto the lighthouse, the sailboat in the distance and the water. I used straight lines to illustrate the beam from the lighthouse (artistic license) and added a small sailboat in the distance. The texture of the mat board adds to the lonely yet ethereal effect of the piece. The work you see is the actual size of the doodle as are the other doodles used on this page.
I used many different colors in these doodles and frankly I don't remember what they were. You can see how the mind wonders while doodling, the point is that you can create some good concept drawings when you really aren't thinking about your subject matter that you may use in later work.
Some of the questions you may ask yourself before you begin are:
- What texture or tooth on the paper will best suit this illustration?
- How do I want my work to look?
- Do I want a smooth looking work?
- Do I want a rough look to the illustration?
- Do I want the paper to have a colored surface?
- Do I want archival type paper or do I an inexpensive paper just to practice on and later discard?
Below is an illustration I rendered while visiting one of my favorite places in Ohio, the Columbus Zoo. It was completed on Kid Finish Bristol board. I have lived in the west and east and have been to Zoo's all over the country but this Zoo is one of the finest I have had the pleasure to visit. It is a great place to take your sketchpad and enjoy a wonderful day relaxing and drawing with your family. The variety of animals and people are a treasure chest of opportunities. The delight and amazement I see in my son's eyes as well as all the other children is irreplaceable. That is what I try to capture in my drawings.
Anyhow back to the subject at hand. This is a snow leopard that is one of my favorite exhibits. I did a whole series of this particular animal and sold them all in one day at a fair. There is something mysterious about cats whether they are domestic or wild. You can just never tell what they are thinking. What does all this have to do with color pencil drawing? Color pencil is a very clean and easily transported media. You don't need anything except the pencils; a drawing pad; a sharpener and a small tin to keep your shavings in until you can dispose of them properly.
ARE YOU DINER? Color Pencil 15 X 27 inches
Light layering with the color pencil is what gives the illusion of depth and life to a drawing. I first do a loose pencil sketch of the subject with a HB or #2 pencil using very little pressure so that the color pencil will cover it. I must admit it is always better to render the drawing on site while experiencing the sites, sounds and smells of the day. It seems that it helps to enhance the creative process and you don't have to rely on memory. However if I don't have enough time to render the subject at the Zoo I always carry a camera so I can take lots of photos of the interesting subjects at the Zoo. Then back in my studio I can render the subjects at my leisure.
Let's take a closer look at the process of layering. Following is a series of examples from beginning to end to show the process.
First we will draw a circle with a HB pencil using Very light pressure. Then using a PC976 Canary Yellow Pencil (Berol), lightly fill in the circle.
The next step would be to think about where you want your highlights and shadows. In other words decide where you want your light source to come from. If you were drawing the sun you would have to think about how high in the sky the sun would be. Remember while drawing the sun DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO IT!!!! As in the rendering of the cat above I chose to create the illusion of a setting sun. That is what we are going to render in this example.
Using a PC1003 Spanish Orange pencil start to create the shape by varying the pressure used in covering the first layer of yellow. Leaving an area of lights to work with later. Next layer a covering of 921 Vermilion Red again varying the pressure and width of the covering. Always layer from the outside of the circle toward the center.
Next we will start to add and adjust the color layers as we go. We will be using 922 Scarlet Red and 925 Crimson Lake as well as 937 Tuscan Red. We will also be using the colors we have already used to adjust and intensify the illustration. As you can see each subsequent layer adds an illusion of depth to the work.
Now we will use varying degrees of 938 White and PC976 Canary Yellow to Burnish the work. Burnishing means using harder pressure to blend the under layers together. The one caution I have here is that color pencils will some times have an effect called wax bloom, which is a haze that develops when a lot of the media is used. There are a couple of ways that I use to get rid of this problem. One is that I use cotton puffs to polish the drawing surface like you would a car with wax on it. This process has a draw back in that you must do this a couple of times to settle the color. The other solution is to use a coating of Fixative of some kind to cover the work.
In the final rendering of this sun like ball you can see how the layering created the illusion of 3-dimension space on a 2-dimension drawing. We will create the illustration of the snow leopard in a different lesson.
On the following page I will list a bibliography of books that cover the Color Pencil in depth. Please go to your public library or invest in some of these books. They are invaluable resources for the budding artist.
In subsequent lesson we will be discovering the use of color pencil in shadow, portraiture animal and human, still life and landscape drawing.
| Book | Author | Publisher |
| The Encyclopedia of Color Pencil Techniques | Judy Martin | Running Press |
| Colored Pencil Drawing Technique | Iain Hutton-Jamieson | North Light Publishing |
| Drawing with Colored Pencils | Morrell Wise | Walter Foster Publication |
| Colored Pencil Artist's Pocket Palette | Jane Strother | North Light Publishing |
| The Colored Pencil | Bet Borgeson | Watson-Guptill Publications |
| The Complete Colored Pencil Book | Bernard Poulin | North Light Publishing |
| The Best of Colored Pencil | Colored Pencil Society of America | Rockport Publishers/North Light Publishing |
| The Best of Colored Pencil II | Colored Pencil Society of America | Rockport Publishers/North Light Publishing |
| The Best of Colored Pencil III | Colored Pencil Society of America | Rockport Publishers/North Light Publishing |
| Creative Colored Pencil | Vera Curnow | Rockport Publishers/North Light Publishing |
| Dynamic Color Drawing | Judy Martin | North Light Publishing |
This is by no means a complete listing of all the books that are available on his subject, just what I have in my library and at my disposal. There are also many fine videos available through your local library or art supply store.
Please be sure to check this site often for new lessons and assignments. Also feel free to send me photographs of your work along with a short Biography for the student Gallery. You may also want to contribute to this site with a lesson of your own. In any case you can reach me at.
Raymond. F. Bohac Jr.
Executive Director
HomeSchoolArts
802 North Mulberry Street
Mount Vernon, Ohio 43050
Voice Phone: 740-397-5678
Fax Phone: 740-397-6797
E-Mail: teacher@homeschoolarts.com
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