After a long hiatus, I am once again doing art on a steady basis. At present, I am getting up to speed on a medium that I haven't ever done, that of coloured pencils. Most days during the last two months I have practiced with top-of-the-line pencils (oil-based Faber-Castell Polychromos), but with inexpensive paper. I chose my various subjects from a notepad cover, my own photography, an art book of Toulouse-Lautrec's work, and a Pinterest board of mine, titled Drawing Ideas. I also watched some videos such as The Virtual Art Instructor among others. There are so many fantastic artists showing how they do art plus they respond to questions in the comments section! I remember back in the day when I would take nightly art classes after my full-time library job was done, what all the instructors, with the rare exception, would do were to walk around, saying nothing. On the other hand with YouTube artists I don't need to sit through a boring class as I can stop watching the video plus I didn't waste time going to and from a lacklustre course. Additionally I can switch teachers without a hitch, and they can be offered patronage if so desired.
After familiarising myself with the medium and feeling more confident, I was ready for an upgrade to high-quality paper, specifically, Clairfontaine's pochette dessin, papier blanc à grain, 224g/m2, A3. With the aide of The Calm One, a sheet was carefully and neatly halved. The lush colours laid down like velvet on the plushy paper! Once that initial delirium passed, all kinds of problems began to pop up, but I knew the paper was resilient enough to take on those challenges. What visually grabs you in your subject is what precisely needs to be captured. My being instantly smitten by the below photo was because of several characteristics—the exquisite buoyancy, close to weightlessness, throughout the picture plane; silky smooth petals contrasting against the fuzzy texture of the sepals; plumpness of the roses; the warm colours of blue-green and peachy-pink set against a cool, dark background; specific details like dew drops/sharp light and dark contrasts/fuzzy little hairs edging the sepals & petals; five levels of distance, starting from the nearest to the farthest:
Basic preparation goes a long way such as practising on a separate piece of paper the effects I wanted to achieve along with choosing the appropriate colours by holding individual coloured pencils close to the subject. For those that came near to a good match, I made a colour menu, keeping in mind some of them might need to be deleted and some added as the drawing progressed.
I lightly drew the subject with a HB pencil. A good deal of time was spent to get placement and form as close to the original as possible which necessitated a good deal of erasing. On with the colours! Eventually my drawing advanced to the stage represented by the below photo on the left. How did I get to the final result shown by the below photo on the right? By spending nearly as much time refining it that I did to get a reasonable facsimile, albeit, a dull one, in fact, downright gloomy. Why was it like that despite being a decent rendition of the subject? The roses themselves lacked a contrast between light and dark while the background was much darker which competed for attention. The background was lightened by adding white and lifting off colour with facial tissues/an eraser to a certain point which was not enough to make the background less dominant. My guess is instead of layering black with dark phthalo green, if warm grey V (274) was used, the colour would have been light enough. Therefore, the roses needed to be brightened to hold their own. After more colours were layered on, mostly carmine rose and cobalt green, they were smoothed with the less vigorous blending stump so as not to lift off too much of the added colour.
The upper stem's thickness was made less to match the lower one by fading more of its edge into the dark background. Baby oil was used all over not only for additional blending but also to bring out the vibrancy of the oil-based pigments even more.
There are several ways to highlight details. One method is incision which is pressing the paper with a tool with a rounded point. To replicate fuzz/moisture under the rose's tip which remarkably resembles a dolphin's mouth, I applied dots with a deadbeat ballpoint pen. Though there are purpose-built tools, I figured since I share our abode with the deadbeat ballpoint champion collector of the world, that it wasn't necessary to get a special gadget. When the colour is put on, it doesn't fill in the marks, leaving a trail of visible white dots. Another way to highlight is scratching the paper with the colour already drawn in with a craft knife. That is how the slightly longer 'hairs' were done above the rose's tip . . .
. . . and along the sepals.
Yet another highlighting technique is lifting colour with erasers which are available in kneadable form (so a particular shape moulded by the artist can lift that exact shape), squat little sturdy rectangles that can be kept clean and somewhat shaped by rubbing them against rough sandpaper, and delicate eraser tips held by a holder. The strong highlights on the lower rose was first made by outlining their shape with a HB pencil and then steering clear of that area when applying colour. A light film of colour eventually drifts into any uncoloured area, so the highlights had to be made more evident by erasure.
The dewdrop on the upper rose's tip was made with both colour and scratchings. Since the light is coming from the left side, the strongest highlights needed to be on the left side of the dewdrop. The bulging bit in the middle of the rose was made more pronounced via shading.
Darker carmine rose accents and cobalt turquoise was shaded in to make a sepal look like it was pulling away from the rose.
Was I satisfied with how it came out in the end? Despite not rendering the subtlety throughout the picture plane, that is, one of graceful cheerfulness, because the roses finished being much more vibrant than their background, I did accomplish all the other aspects which I found alluring in the photo of two desert roses. In addition, I now know how to simulate a whispering of colour permeating the entirety of a drawing which requires keeping the contrast less demarcated by maintaining the background and subject in tonal values fairly light to moderate. Keep in mind, a flat subject melding into a dark background as in my first version, appearing foreboding and a bit mysterious, could be used if that effect is desired. My final version was neither one of lightness or gloom, but more dramatic, resulting from a pairing of a moderately toned background with bright subjects. Being familiar with as many perspectives and techniques will allow me to grow as an artist.
À la prochaine!
Polychromos colour pencils used for this drawing:
White, 101
Cream, 102
Warm grey II, 271
Cobalt green, 156
Cobalt turquoise, 153
Geranium lake, 121
Rose carmine, 124
Deep scarlet red, 219
Earth green, yellowish, 168
Dark chrome yellow, 109
Dark phthalo green, 264
Black, 199
 |
| Final Draft |
After familiarising myself with the medium and feeling more confident, I was ready for an upgrade to high-quality paper, specifically, Clairfontaine's pochette dessin, papier blanc à grain, 224g/m2, A3. With the aide of The Calm One, a sheet was carefully and neatly halved. The lush colours laid down like velvet on the plushy paper! Once that initial delirium passed, all kinds of problems began to pop up, but I knew the paper was resilient enough to take on those challenges. What visually grabs you in your subject is what precisely needs to be captured. My being instantly smitten by the below photo was because of several characteristics—the exquisite buoyancy, close to weightlessness, throughout the picture plane; silky smooth petals contrasting against the fuzzy texture of the sepals; plumpness of the roses; the warm colours of blue-green and peachy-pink set against a cool, dark background; specific details like dew drops/sharp light and dark contrasts/fuzzy little hairs edging the sepals & petals; five levels of distance, starting from the nearest to the farthest:
- 1. lower, larger rose
- 2. higher, smaller rose
- 3. the two stems
- 4. blurred leaves
- 5. dark green background
 |
| Pinterest photo from which my drawing is based |
Basic preparation goes a long way such as practising on a separate piece of paper the effects I wanted to achieve along with choosing the appropriate colours by holding individual coloured pencils close to the subject. For those that came near to a good match, I made a colour menu, keeping in mind some of them might need to be deleted and some added as the drawing progressed.
I lightly drew the subject with a HB pencil. A good deal of time was spent to get placement and form as close to the original as possible which necessitated a good deal of erasing. On with the colours! Eventually my drawing advanced to the stage represented by the below photo on the left. How did I get to the final result shown by the below photo on the right? By spending nearly as much time refining it that I did to get a reasonable facsimile, albeit, a dull one, in fact, downright gloomy. Why was it like that despite being a decent rendition of the subject? The roses themselves lacked a contrast between light and dark while the background was much darker which competed for attention. The background was lightened by adding white and lifting off colour with facial tissues/an eraser to a certain point which was not enough to make the background less dominant. My guess is instead of layering black with dark phthalo green, if warm grey V (274) was used, the colour would have been light enough. Therefore, the roses needed to be brightened to hold their own. After more colours were layered on, mostly carmine rose and cobalt green, they were smoothed with the less vigorous blending stump so as not to lift off too much of the added colour.
The upper stem's thickness was made less to match the lower one by fading more of its edge into the dark background. Baby oil was used all over not only for additional blending but also to bring out the vibrancy of the oil-based pigments even more.
There are several ways to highlight details. One method is incision which is pressing the paper with a tool with a rounded point. To replicate fuzz/moisture under the rose's tip which remarkably resembles a dolphin's mouth, I applied dots with a deadbeat ballpoint pen. Though there are purpose-built tools, I figured since I share our abode with the deadbeat ballpoint champion collector of the world, that it wasn't necessary to get a special gadget. When the colour is put on, it doesn't fill in the marks, leaving a trail of visible white dots. Another way to highlight is scratching the paper with the colour already drawn in with a craft knife. That is how the slightly longer 'hairs' were done above the rose's tip . . .
. . . and along the sepals.
Yet another highlighting technique is lifting colour with erasers which are available in kneadable form (so a particular shape moulded by the artist can lift that exact shape), squat little sturdy rectangles that can be kept clean and somewhat shaped by rubbing them against rough sandpaper, and delicate eraser tips held by a holder. The strong highlights on the lower rose was first made by outlining their shape with a HB pencil and then steering clear of that area when applying colour. A light film of colour eventually drifts into any uncoloured area, so the highlights had to be made more evident by erasure.
The dewdrop on the upper rose's tip was made with both colour and scratchings. Since the light is coming from the left side, the strongest highlights needed to be on the left side of the dewdrop. The bulging bit in the middle of the rose was made more pronounced via shading.
Darker carmine rose accents and cobalt turquoise was shaded in to make a sepal look like it was pulling away from the rose.
Was I satisfied with how it came out in the end? Despite not rendering the subtlety throughout the picture plane, that is, one of graceful cheerfulness, because the roses finished being much more vibrant than their background, I did accomplish all the other aspects which I found alluring in the photo of two desert roses. In addition, I now know how to simulate a whispering of colour permeating the entirety of a drawing which requires keeping the contrast less demarcated by maintaining the background and subject in tonal values fairly light to moderate. Keep in mind, a flat subject melding into a dark background as in my first version, appearing foreboding and a bit mysterious, could be used if that effect is desired. My final version was neither one of lightness or gloom, but more dramatic, resulting from a pairing of a moderately toned background with bright subjects. Being familiar with as many perspectives and techniques will allow me to grow as an artist.
À la prochaine!
Polychromos colour pencils used for this drawing:
White, 101
Cream, 102
Warm grey II, 271
Cobalt green, 156
Cobalt turquoise, 153
Geranium lake, 121
Rose carmine, 124
Deep scarlet red, 219
Earth green, yellowish, 168
Dark chrome yellow, 109
Dark phthalo green, 264
Black, 199