I felt very confident after watching a few Janie Gildow videos and reading her book on colored pencils. Granted I did not do a single suggested exercise...as that's not me...I like to just jump in and figure it out as I am going along. Most the time that kind of madness is fine but as soon as I got to Swains art store I felt like a fish out of water and felt myself getting very nervous!! Luckily I had already researched the type of paper I wanted to use as I only like to use papers with plant based sizing...so I headed first to the paper isle to get some Mi Tiente...man was it flimsy but okay...now to find a piece that wasn't totally bent up. Obviously since they are so thin it must be hard to handle without getting quite a few dents in it...note to self...try Dick Blicks art store next time!! Then there were a million Prismacolor pencils to choose from with no color chart in sight! Ugh!
But with my paper and pencils in hand I headed home to start!
I had already drawn out my tiger, now I just had to figure out how to transfer it onto green paper.
I rubbed an old 3B graphite pencil then charcoal over the back and transferred it that way, altho this method did not work very well as I could barely see any lines on the top portion of the paper. There has to be a better way to do this!!
My inspector, Dakota thought I did a pretty good job but still chewed up my paper and pencils when not paying attention! (never leave artwork unattended when there's a kitten in the house!)
I started with lightly redrawing the top portion then jumped in on the eye, and so on. Omgosh, was it fun! Messy yes, lots of wax everywhere and my tips kept breaking, so a lot of sharping...but boy time just flew by!! I made a few mistakes with placement and color but I just scrapped it and it worked out just fine!
This beast is night and day from graphite, actually once I got into a groove, lost all my trepidation regarding it I thought it was waayyy easier than graphite (in my humble opinion!) I wasn't slaving over a million details like I do with graphite!
I am definitely hooked but there is SO much more to explore with colored pencil and I am SO eager to try it all now that I am over my fears about it!
4 comments:
What a fantastic start you've made. He's going to be outstanding. You're right, graphite is harder. I had to laugh when you talked about breaking the tips of the pencils. Though I work in watercolor, I use colored pencils for accents and always break the tips too! I think I'm just pressing too hard, trying to get the final effect immediately instead of building up layers. I am not a patient person!
Considering this is your first real attempt at cp, I think it is FANTASTIC!! In fact, it would be fantastic even for an experienced cp artist! I agree, graphite IS more difficult to master than cp is...at least that is my humble opinion too! LOL
Another paper I just thought of that you could try is Terraskin! It's actually made from stone/rock/mineral, not trees! You would have to check though if they use animal-based sizing. It is a very cool kinda paper and works beautifully for cp, though there are some quirks to using it...and it can be REALLy hard to find an undamaged, pristine piece at the art store, as it dents and marks VERY easily! However, it does come in pads, so you could probably buy it in that format and avoid the damaged sheets that way.
WOW!!! I just LOVE that you exploring color pencils and expanding your skills - the results are looking AMAZING!!! I'm a big fan of color pencils myself and if you think of it as 'grown-up crayons' it won't feel as intimidating. I can see that your animal drawings will be branching out into color =-)
PS: I've been collecting Prismacolor pencils since the age of 13 and still have a few of those original pencils!!
Oh my gosh....that is FANTASTIC!!!
I love the tiger you're creating
and the brave leaps you're taking:):):)
Oh this just makes my heart leap,
friend. Something so beautiful about this.....thanks for the sweet inspire:)
-Jennifer
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