Orange Roses, a Beginning

This winter has been long, cold and snowy.

Not at all pleasant.

However, the sun room has been just that. Sunny. I love working there in natural light. So with the help of many bunches of roses I am working on several still life drawings/paintings in Colored Pencil.

These orange roses present a real challenge. Orange is not an easy color to work with, and getting all the small shade differences in them to make the roses seem real is not easy. Something that is also presenting a challenge is the leaves. So many minuet value changes. How to work with them and have them come out as leaves, not just blobs of green.

Like all drawings the initial stages makes one wonder why you started this and if anything will come of it.

I first used erasable pencils to draw it in. Orange for the roses and stems and white for the vase. Using a light touch so as not to inscribe the surface of the paper.

I am working on Colourfix paper, in a neutral gray/blue. This surface has a sanded tooth, much like pastel paper. It can be hard on pencils, but it does hold many, many layers of colored pencil. It is also very durable and allows both blending and burnishing. It will also take many applications of solvents, whether you use mineral spirits or a blending pen. Not all papers do. Some are much more delicate and cannot take multiple layers.

One of the first things I did was try and locate the highlights of the flowers and leaves and underpaint them with white. This way, when I add the orange these areas will naturally be lighter than the rest of the leaves and petals. I also used crimson red on my darker areas of petals and purple on the darker areas of leaves and stems.

I do know that the vase and the distortion of the stems in water are going to give me fits, but if there is no challenge, is there any point in continuing?

White Rose

Today is bright and sunny after weeks of dull, gray snowy skies.

I am working on color correcting my white rose drawing. How do you color correct white?  In nature or the real world, colors are seldom absolute. Even something that is actually made a single color seldom appears that way. It will have various tints and shade due to the lighting, the complexity of the object and natural contours. As artists we need to be sensitive to this. It is how we get our 2-dimensional drawings to represent a 3-dimensional world.

So today I color corrected my white rose.

Actually the white rose is not completely white. They seldom are. They are usually tinted a bit cream, blue or in this case, blush.

Looking at the heart of the rose I see the blush shading to a deeper pink to peach and coral. I even see a little green and violet in this rose. All of this must be brought out in the finished work.

But the light is fading--so I need to stop until I can see all the find shading/tints and details.

Working Petal by Petal

Erasing the grid lines from each petal as I work it--locating and isolating each in turn. I am trying to work building the gradual blending from light to dark, noting both the shadows and highlights. As with all real objects, I have both cast shadows and contour shadows. This is what gives work depth. As I work I must keep in mind the shape. These petals are not flat. The go up, around and out. They have dimension. And the challenge is to show this in each petal. Color and value gradates up and out of the petals. While there is a natural change from the blush to white, there are also qualities to these hues. As the petal goes away from me, even the white will become darker, tinted as the light shifts.

There are also the bright highlights where the light source hits the rose dead on. These must be the brightest, purest whites of the piece. But even where the “color” is darkest. There will be light and dark qualities to the shapes. Parts in deep shadow will be almost gray to almost deep blush.

So I work with layers of blush, pale pink, salmon white and a full array of grays, warm and cool, with hints of very pale blue to blue-gray. Even a hint of green and violet.

White on White on White

Working on the white rose.

Just as with paints brands, colored pencil names and colors will vary from brand to brand. Light blue from one company may well be a totally different color than light blue from another company.Just how light is light blue? How deep is deep red?  Color ranges will be similar but each brand will have its own distinct hues and colors it chooses to put into a pencil.

Unsurprising this also can apply to white. In truth, white is not an absolute color, but will have qualities all its own. It can be bright, warm, cool, flat, shinny. Titanium white is not the same white as flake white or zinc white.

So working with white pencils will be the same. Each brand will have its own white.  And each brand and line of pencils will have its own qualities. There will be other differences too. Coverage, how transparent or opaque that pencil is. How hard or soft the "lead". And some brands will lean toward the warm (yellow) or cool (blue) tone. Even many of the grays will appear when viewed alone to be just about white. Only when compared and used next to the most opaque white will you see the qualities of the grays.

Many manufacturers have a range of gray. They can run from 10% warm to 90% cool. Other brands will have names but the numbers will indicate that they are different colors.

This is very good when dealing with white objects. Working with several white and a full range of grays will help to contour and object. Even if the viewer cannot detect where one pencil starts and another leaves off, she will see the object, in this case the rose as having dimension.

Using different white also helps to alter and manipulate other colors. It is hard to shade from light to dark, but using layers of whites and grays helps you to move the pigments towards the effects you want.

The order you apply the pencil can make a difference. You get different colors if you layer pink then white than when you put white and top with pink.

How much also makes a difference. Two light layers will blend differently than a heavy layer. So a heavy layer of white with a light layer of pink will look different from a light white layer and a light pink layer.

You can also burnish layers with a harder white, like a Venus or Veri-thin pencil instead of the much softer standard prismacolor pencil.

You might find that although the prismacolor is nice and soft you might find it more useful to use the harder faber-castel white for adding highlights. And the Veri-thin make a much sharper line.

Each brand will react differently with mediums and solvents also.

Getting it right takes work and practice and experimentation. So we all need to take time to play with our colors. Get to know them and how well they play with others.

Starting New Colored Pencil Drawings

I am starting several new colored pencil drawings.

Working on very toothy papers, I do not tend to draw free hand directly on my support. I will select materials, either an idea or a photograph (I only work from my own photos, so this is my work completely). Once I know what subject I want, I will play with it on sketching paper, doing thumbnails with simple designs. ea. I will block in basic shapes, shading etc.

Note on working with thumbnails. work within the general shape and size aspect of the work you are thinking of doing. Otherwise, the piece might not be as pleasing as you anticipate.

Once a general idea is done, I will do the more realistic sketch on tracing paper. it is easier to draw and erase on. This is especially true if you decide to draw a complicated image, such as the close up of a flower.

I will grid this work. Sometimes, as in the white rose I have started, I will print out on standard copy paper the photograph I want to use as the subject. This is reference. I will actually grid this, and use it to draw the design onto the tracing paper.

I usually work on tinted, high grit paper, such as sanded pastel paper, mat board or colourfix papers. These do not erase well. So I will transfer the design from the tracing paper to the board with light artists transfer paper. I find that these lines erase much easier and more completely than putting grids on my good paper with either white pencil or graphite. Sometimes I have trouble removing graphite from sanded and colourfix. Graphite also has a tendency to put dents into the mat board, and that you just cannot get rid of.

Another advantage of drawing on the tracing paper, and then transferring it to the good support is that you always have your starting drawing for reference if you get lost. And with a very complicated, detailed drawing this happens more than you might think. I

I do number my grid, ea. lower left corner is 0,0 and I mark each row and column along the way.

If I have a color copy, I also mark this with the exact same grid!

So now I have several drawing layed out and ready to go.

Brookgreen Landscape

 

 

 

Brookgreen Gardens is in South Carolina. It is a wonderful place to stroll among beautiful plants and art. It started as a sculpture garden and still displays sculpture among the many exotic planting. It also has a zoo of farm and native animal.

The price of admission is good for 2 days, and you are welcome to come and sit, sketch and photograph anywhere and for any length of time.

Well worth a visit if you visit the islands along the coast of South Carolina.
 

Landscapes in Colored Pencil

I see a lot of colored pencil drawings/painting both from artists friends here and others that I have made through the internet. Most are beautiful and most are of single subjects, still lifes or portraits. Few are landscapes in the tradition of the masters.

Color pencil simply seems to lend itself to find detail of a single subject. A flower a beloved pet or the arrangement of objects.

Doing a landscape in colored pencil is less common.

Most I do single subjects in colored pencil. I seldom construct a complete picture, something with a background, mid-ground and foreground. I have to wonder why.

I am working on a landscape in colored pencil right now. It is of a scene in Brook-green gardens, a public garden in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It is giving me fits. I am simply not used to working on a complete painting in colored pencil.

But I am finding that I must approach it as I would an oil painting. Even the way I hold the pencils is more like a paint brush, less like a standard pencil. So I am making brushstrokes with my pencils. Blending the colors as I would paint on a canvas.

Are you afraid of the darks?

 

Sometimes it can be intimidating to lay down that really dark layer. Afraid to go too dark. Even when you know, when all your artistic senses tell you that the dark is correct. It still can be difficult to commit to that rich full dark pigment.

 

While I don’t have as much trouble with this when I paint with oils, with colored pencil or any medium that you work light to dark I have trouble laying down the darkest colors. Without these rich tones however, you lighter hues just are not as rich and full as they need to be. With the truly well developed darks the entire piece will be flattened, monotoned and uninteresting. Unfullfilling. Without the darks the lights lack sparkle.

 

For the Birds

 

 

Here it is so far. My Heron.

 

So far I am simply trying to keep the shape of the bird, the location of the major feathers and keep from destroying the drawing. At this point, I am thinking, "why did I start this?"

 

I do this all the time.

 

Once I get into a project, I am sure it is beyond me and feel like a total failure.

 

I can't do this.

 

I am no good, I will never get these detail right, who wants to draw all these features any ways, and why, if I have to do it, I did not simply paint it, It would be easier!

 

Leave this to real artists.

 

I always feel this way,

 

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

 

 

Using Wax Blender Pencil

Working on a dark background can present real challenges for colored pencil. Unlike oil paints, you cannot count on pigments to overshadow the dark underlayment. Also, you do not get the reflective qualities of Titanium white, which is why canvases are usually coated in white paint before you start painting.

Titanium white is highly reflective. That is why it is chosen for this under layer. As the light passes through the layers of oil paint, it is reflected back and brighten by Titanium white.

White and super white papers perform the same function for colored pencils. Many do not realized just how transparent colored pencils are. But they are. Not as transparent as watercolors, but someplace more transparent than Quash. Now, you can get very good, very dramatic results using colored or toned papers and backgrounds, but you do have to know how to work with it.

For the small Heron drawing, on a dark toned paper from Colourfix, I am using a combination of studio white pencils, and a clear wax blender pencil from Prisma color. Putting down a layer of pure binder wax, which is what a blender pencil is, will give me a good base to blend in the many, many shades of white/blue and gray that make up this bird.

On this blue/gray background the pure wax is leaving a coating of white wax that will allow great blending. It will also add to the drama of the finished piece, acting as a reflecting layer underneath the pigmented layers.

Starting New Colored Pencil Pieces Part 2

 

Part 2

 

 Supporting the Art.

 

There are many, many surfaces you can use for colored pencil.

 

Anything you can drawing is valid. 

You can draw on paper, wood, copper, velum, tiles. There are few surfaces, however design with colored pencil in mind. Many multi-media papers list colored paper among the media acceptable, but many are actually difficult to use. 

What you choose depends totally on the end results you wish.  

Just about any surface that will accept charcoal or pastels has enough tooth to use. One consideration is just how much it can take. 

 

Charcoal papers tend to be thinner, lighter than pastel. With all the layering most Colored pencil artist do, most charcoal and even standard drawing papers tend to be too light and thin to take it.

 

Heavier pastel papers work well, and toned papers lend themselves to dramatic results.

I have been using Colourfix toned pastel papers for my more recent colored pencil pieces. They help to set the tone of the pieces, as well as providing excellent tooth and support for colored pencil. The rough, sandpaper finish provided more than enough tooth to hold multiple layers of colored pencil, and allowing the work and rework of the medium. It is also thick enough to allow the use of watercolor pencils, water, and solvent washes. All in all. a good choice.

For the Heron, I want the bird to stand out against the dim background, very similar to the mood of the location when I photographed the bird. It was in a dense forest setting, rather dim. And I want this feeling to come through the drawing.

 

For the landscape, I really want the humid, overgrown nature of the landscape to be highlighted. The medium toned paper will set the tone of the light, allowing me to go both darker and lighter. The photo was taken at the Brookgreen Gardens in North Carolina. Here, Many of the iconic plants of the south are on display.

 

 

 

 

Mallard Duck: Female

Continuing work on the female mallard.

Building the second layer of color. This surface will take even the cheaper pencils, the studio level and throw-away pencils, so I am using them on the bottom layers.

I did do a wash of solvent, especially on the water to mimic watercolor and the fluidness of water.

 

 

Although the complimentary colors are beginning to be covered, their inclusion is adding to the richness of the final colors. This will give much more dimension to the duck than the photograph.

Beginning a new Duck Drawing

New Drawing: Female Mallard

Working on Colourfix paper.

Sketch on colourfix paper

Working dark to light.

Starting with sage green colourfix paper, I used white to get the sketch onto the very dark surface. When working on a dark background I do find using vivid and light complementary colors helps to give the focal image more impact.

Note: Colourfix is a fine tooth Pastel and multi-media paper by Art Spectrum. This is an Australian company, but most on-line fine art retailers will carry it. I got mine from Cheap Joe's in North Carolina.

 It comes in a wide range of colors, formats and you can now buy the surface in jars to make your own papers. Worth trying for colored pencil.

 

 

http://www.cheapjoes.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=colourfix

Starting with the dark, I spent time studying the colors of the bird. I used shades of purple for the underpainting, purple, lilac and lavender Primsacolor pencils along with some of my studio whites.

Colourfix has such texture that you can use the cheaper, less satisfactory pencils in your stash in your underpainting. You can even use Crayola pencils.

I choose the colourfix sage green to enhance the feeling of dark undergrowth. These ducks were in shallow water in a very weedy stream.

This should give the feeling of deep, dark woods.

Already I can see way the duck will stand out in this image, even after I add the yellows and browns to the background vegetation. The duck will be the focal point. Yes I will have to add the details missing from the reference photo. That is ok. I am the artist and I can do this.



Underpainting and Reference photo

     With the purple underpainting, even when I add the browns for the feather colors, it will not be lost in the dark background color. With a good underpainting the colors will be richer and more saturated.



   I think this will be a good drawing.

Pelican in Flight

Starting, outline and beginning the background

Birds have always fascinated me. They are so different. Rendering feathers is totally different from hair and fur. And their body structures. To totally different depending on life styles, flight patterns, etc. So often when you really look at them you see such primitive body structures that have endured for thousands of years.


Having done a pelican roosting on a pier, the next one will be a pelican in flight. Here, you will be able to see the structure and breath of the flight feathers, wing span and attitude while it hovers in the wind.


While these are known as common brown pelicans, I find the range of colors and values on them fascinating. They are not a solid brown, but almost spotted and speckled going from almost a cream white to a brown so dark as to be almost black. the flight feathers are dark on the top, but a beautiful, silvery gray on the underside.



Starting to define Pelican

I had intended to draw it to matt to 11 x 14, a standard mat size, but I rather like the look of it coming out of the background, so will most likely have a custom matt cut, that allows it to come out of the "frame".

What do you think of a drawn border, bands of dark blue and gold?

Making a Portrait Look Like Her

Finally getting my Horse, Rider and Dog colored pencil painting actually look like the subjects. The horse was easy, the dog  a little  more, but the tick coloring is a challenge. But getting the rider to look like her was a little more trouble.

I had not realized just how much she looked like her mother until I tried to draw her. Also, you can plainly see her native American heritage in her bone structure. But finally it is looking like her. Finally both her youth and her heritage are showing in this piece.

I was interrupted in working on this by the necessity of going out of town on family business. Being interrupted made it hard to get back into the right mind-set for working on it.

Its funny, but sometimes you can draw for hours and sometimes nothing works. Its a strange gift.

Just a little more shading and it will be done.

Graying Out The Background

 

Still working on the mockingbird at the feeder

 

Once the blue back ground on my mocking bird drawing was dry I realized it was much too vivid. What you saw when looking at it, was the background, not the gray mockingbird.

 

The blue did not compliment, or complete the drawing, it competed or distracted from the subject. So it had to go.

 

But not completely. It needed to be grayed out. Rather than putting a wash of gray or black watercolor over it, or even a thin layer of orange (blue’s complement) I decided to use gray colored pencil, then blend it with the blue watercolor to mute but not eliminate the blue background.

 

While it will take hours to complete, it will be well worth the effort. The temptation to press down, to cover this large area quickly is great, but you have to resist it. A soft touch is also necessary. You will want to press down, using pressure to get the most complete coverage in one pass. This is not the best way. Slow and steady. Soft, even strokes will give the best coverage, most workable coverage.

 

For this background I did switch to Derwent’s color soft pencils, the Dove Gray. This is a medium toned warm gray. I like the color softs by Derwent because they are English pencils, a little thicker than my American or German made pencils. As such the cores are also a little thicker and not as subject to breaking as the thinner American and German pencils.

 

The background of gray went on fairly well. Watercolor does make a nice, medium toothed surface that takes the colored pencil much better than blank watercolor paper.

I am much happier with the overall effect, even though I have not yet finished blending in the background. You see the bird first here, which is what is important.

I am going to use a liquid medium to blend the gray over the blue for a smoother, more uniform look.

Colored Pencil Blending Media

Blending Color Pencil:  Spirits And Beyond

 

There are many things I have tried and heard of when using colored pencil.

sample squares

 

Previously, I used the wax blending pencil that is commonly sold to blend colored pencil, showing how well it works. There are drawbacks to this. One, it is hard work. You can only blend a small area at once, and it does add wax to the artwork, which contributes to wax bloom. None of this is insurmountable, and at times is an advantage. The wax bloom is easily removed with a soft cloth or the burnishing pencil. You can seal a finished work with reworkable drawing fixative, which is reduce future wax bloom. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing wax bloom on a work that you mounted and framed a month ago.

 

But Back To Blending.

 

Alcohol, in many forms can be used. Recently, while out of town, I wanted a blending medium that I could safely use outside the home. I have used Rubbing Alcohol at home, so I tried using alcohol wipes. The kind you get in the little foil wrappers. This does work, but you can to be careful not to rub too hard. The alcohol will remove the colored pencil. Something to remember if you do have to lift any pencil. But blotting with the wipe, then using a soft brush or cotton swab does blend pretty well. It might be a good option when traveling. Motoring down the highway with open cans of mineral spirits might not be a good idea.

 

blending pen or marker

Another option is using the blending pen or marker now sold by prismacolor. It comes in a double pointed pen, just like their fine art markers, and does work with wet marker to blend. This is portable, dries quickly and works pretty well. So it is a good option when traveling. It can have a bit of an odor, a problem for anyone sensitive to the smell of markers, but it did not both me at all. I like the results and can be used over the entire drawing without leaving any rings or residue. Work from light to dark, and wipe off the marker between colors on a soft cloth or paper towel. 

 

If The Spirit Is Willing

 

To see just what works and how well some of the other things I have heard of to blend color pencil works, I am going to do an experiment. There are many different substances recommended for this and talked about in books and on the internet, but you have to wonder just which are best.

 

Taking a sheet of Strathmore Mixed media paper, 140 lb, vellum, I drew a loose grid. There were 4 squares across the top, and 5 rows down for 5 different blending media.

 

The media tested were:

Media used

1. Blending marker
2. Sansodor painting media
3. Denatured alcohol
4. Vodka
5. Baby oil

 

I used two types of colored pencils, studio and professional grade. The studio pencils were from Derwent the professional pencils from prismacolor. No real reason to choose these, other than I already had them.

 

I colored in the blocks with 2 layers of the studio grade pencils and a single layer of the professional pencils. All squares are equal.

 

To be consistent, I used the same method to blend the pencil, a dry brush with a soft sable watercolor brush.

 

Blending Pen

sample with blending pen

 

For this, I was not able to use the dry-brush method. The pen comes with duo tips, one large flat and one small pointed, just like a fine art marker. Actually it worked quite good. Does a good job, with no staining. I have used it also to blend multiple layers of different pencils together and it did work well. You do need to go over every speck of the drawing. This can be good or bad, depending on how you work, but the pen blends quickly and dries quickly. It is very clean and easy to use, blends many brands equally well. It is not the cheapest to use, and I have not had it long enough to tell how quickly it dries out, but if you work in colored pencil a lot, it may or may not be an issue.

 

After the blending pen, the next mediums were all liquid and applied with a brush.

 

Sansordor

 



Sansodor pro samples
 

Sansodor studio pencils

This is a painting medium designed for oil painting and for that it works wonderfully. Which is why I have several bottles of this. I did find it a bit “oily” with colored pencil. It took a bit more work to get it to blend smoothly, but it did a good job. Any drawbacks were much more noticeable with the harder, studio grade pencils than the professional ones. With the studio, there was a little staining that did dry out the next day. But remember, this medium was not designed for colored pencil. It did dissolve the wax to allow you to work the pigment,  and it is very low odor.

 

Denatured Alcohol

 

This is a very pure liquid, which makes it good for many fine art applications. It does a really good job blending. It dries really fast, so you have to work quickly if you are blending many layers and colors together. The denatured alcohol is stronger, more filtered than regular rubbing alcohol. This make it better to use with graphite, charcoal and colored pencil. It also works well with the polychromes.

top row Denatured alcohol
middle row vodka 

 

Vodka

 

Actually you can also use gin, which I imagine would work similarly, but since I did not have any gin and did have vodka, I used that.

 

What makes it work is of course the alcohol in it. It is the alcohol that dissolves the wax. Surprisingly, I found the vodka did the best job of blending on the studio grade pencils. It also work on my stash of the cheaper brands as well as the prismacolor Very thins. Just a side note.

 

The fact that it works well might come in handy traveling when you can get a shot of vodka easily, but not other substances. It did not leave any residue or odor.  Who knew?

 

Baby Oil

 

Finally, I tried baby oil. Now this would never have occurred to me. Baby oil does not dissolve wax so using it to blend is not something I would have come up with. But I have had conversations with people on the internet about using baby oil to blend colored pencil and I wanted to see if it does work.

 

Baby oil studio pencils

It does blend it. Why it works I am not totally sure, but it does. Works ok with the studio grade, and very well with the professional ones. It is oily, of course, and leaves a bit of a residue at first. When I first tried it, I though, this is not good. But the next day the staining and residue were gone. This might be a good solution to anyone bothered by the smell of any other method. It does smell good. My concerns are more about long-term effects on the artwork.

 

Will It Take More Pigment?

pigment added to the alcohol pro pencils

 

 

One concern, especially with the baby oil, is would the artwork take additional layers? I have used both the wax pencils and mineral spirits for years with no adverse effects. Using the liquid medium for blending actually helps the artwork take additional layers. But I had not used any of these other mediums enough to see if they would take more layers, and I have heard that the baby oil would not. Once you use it, you are done.

Baby oil after more studio pencil added

 

Rather than rely on other people’s talk, I decided to see for myself.

 

The next day, after all samples had had time to dry out. I tried adding more colored pencil.

 

All samples, including the baby oil readily took additional pencil. I do think you have to let the baby oil set up over night to take more pencil. I also find that the sansodor needs more time to set up than the alcohol methods, but all samples worked just fine.

 

You can work wet on wet with mineral spirits, but it will effect your pencils. And I would be seriously concerned about my pencils working on the baby oil while still “wet” 

 

 

Blending Colored Pencil with Mineral Spirits

 

 While there are many methods handy to blend colored pencils, most of us have our favorites.

 

Just some of the brushes I use with CP

I do use stumps, and blending pencils, and even burnishing pencils. I have several stiff brushes I keep just for blending. And soft cloths and chamois leathers. But I have to admit I use mineral spirits the most when working with colored pencil. I like the way I can work multiple layers into smooth, graduated color. Since I like to work on thicker papers or even boards, the liquid mineral spirits are not a problem.

 

 

First off some basic information:

 

• Use artist quality mineral spirits, not hardware stuff. You want something pure that will not leave a line or residue on your artwork. I have made the mistake of using hardware store mineral spirits and lived to regret it.

 

• You do need to be careful you do not over saturate the paper when using mineral spirits. this is not a real problem on boards, but on thinner paper, it can wrinkle.

 



There are several techniques to using mineral spirits, and a number of different ways to apply it. I have used a lint-free cloth, a cotton swap and various brushes from very soft watercolor to rather stiff rounds. Each gives a different effect. Which method or technique you use will depend on the results you wish. Experiment.

 

I favor the dry brush method. For me, this gives the greatest control. It also allows me to blend the various layers as I would an old painting. You can also blend adjacent colors smoothly.

 

 

 

Some soft brushes I use with Mineral Spirits

Just what is dry brush with a liquid? It is when you dip your brush into the liquid, then wipe off the excess. so the brush is just damp, not wet. This gives you the most control. You want to make sure you only blend what you want, not the entire picture.

 

For this method I use a range of fine watercolor brushes. I favor natural brushes, but what you are looking for is a smooth, fine brush that gives you both the coverage you need as well as fine control. Something with a little spring in it.

 

• I do use a range of brushes with colored pencils, for a number of different tasks. These do include blending.

 

• Usually you will let the paper dry before you resume using colored pencil. But not always. Sometimes when the paper does not seem to be accepting any more colored pencil, a light wipe with mineral spirits, and it will take more. This is very true when you do not seem to be able to get the bright highlights you want.

 

 

So, now for the examples. I will show you just how using mineral spirits on my Horse, Dog and Rider drawing.

Here, you can see the flank of the horse, with the various colors of the coat in, but rather messy. I have not blended them at all. I want all those colors. You can see the grainy ness of the pencil, the unevenness of it.

The same area of the drawing after the application of dry-brushed mineral spirits. Here, the use of the soft, flat watercolor brush plays a large role in how much this now looks like an oil painting.



You can also see how using the mineral spirit has changed the entire painting.





Horse, Dog and Rider before blending

Horse, Dog and Rider after blending

Neither of these photos is retouched or color/exposure corrected.  You can see just how much more vivid the colored pencil is after the use of mineral spirits to blend.

What can happen over time with colored pencil is a wax "bloom" which dulls the drawing. The mineral spirits do help to eliminate this

For the leather I layered browns and French grays, then used mineral spirits to "blend" them into the rough, worn look of leather.

I also used several different reds on the sweater, then used a soft round to blend the edges of the colors to look more like fabric.

Brushing the neck of the horse, I was able to add back the whites that create a difference between the neck and the mane. I brushed mineral spirits onto the drawing, and then while it was still damp, used both white and cream to develop the mane.

 

 



 

 



 

Blending Colored Pencil 2: Using a Stump or Paper Blender

 

 

Blending is a necessary step when using colored pencil. In this, it is much like painting. One method to use is the blending stump. This is a piece of formed newsprint paper. It can have either two pointed ends, the stump, or simply be a rolled piece of blank newsprint known as a tortillon. This has only one pointed end and is hollow. This is softer than the stump. Both have their good points and bad points. 

Now, using this stump will work. I know many artist who use these tools with many soft drawing medium. They can be quite effective, but also quite distinctive. It also has the danger of crushing the paper fibers, making erasure just about impossible. The tendency is to really bear down on the stump, and this is what will cause the fibers to crush.  

I am not saying don’t do this. I use this method a lot, but know what you are getting. It can be a very effective way to blend layers of colored pencil.

Note: What I show here are store bought, but you can make your own with clean newsprint. They are simply readily available and cheap enough not to be worth it to me.

 

I do try to keep my pressure lighter and use the friction of fast movement to blend the colored pencil. The binder is wax and there will be some heat from the friction.

 

A few pictures will show you the effects of using these paper blending tools. First is a picture of sparrow I drew in colored pencil. It is unblended and simply the layers of colored pencil on paper.

In this close-up you can see the unblended tail and wood of the feeder. You can see how grainy the surface is, and how unfinished it looks.

 

There is a small start to the blending in the right corner near the tail, but over all, does not look that good. OK, just not great

 

Clearly this is not a finished drawing.

 

You can see in this next photo, the beginning of blending, and how dirty the paper blender is getting! It is quite possible to move the pigment around simply with the blending tool.

 

Care needs to be taken not to over blend, or to contaminant adjoining colors. Usually, I do start with the lightest area to blend. For this, I started with the darkest to show you the effect better. But normally, start with the lights and work to the darks.

 

You can and should keep this tool clean. It is easy to do with a sandpaper pad. It will also keep the point on the tool sharper, and thus more effective.

You can see the previously dirty stump has been cleaned off by simply sanding away the dirt.

 

Note: You can also see that I will touch up the points of my colored pencils with the sandpaper pad.

 

 

 

Here, the right half has been blended with the paper blender.

 

It does a good job, but the effect is rather distinctive. You can usually tell when this tool is used.

 

Not bad, and the effect is good, if this is what you want.

 

Practice with them and you will learn how much and when to use this tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last photo is with the blending of the picture complete.  Blending the pigments does increase the saturation. You will notice that the wood is much darker after blending. No more pencil was added, simply the use of the blender. I also used the blender on the bird itself, to saturate the pigment of the feathers.

 

This is just one way to do this. there are still several more ways to blend colored pencil.

You can use various solvents and a color blending marker.

 

I will show you how to do this another time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blending Colored Pencil - One

 

Blending can make a drawing look more saturated. It can also help achieve the color/shading you want. Even with the wide range of colored pencils available, there are so many more colors in nature, that it would be impossible for any company to truly make all the colors. One way to achieve the color you  want is to layer, then blend the pigments together.

There are many ways to do this.

Word of warning: there are always downsides to any blending method.

The one you choose will depend on the desired results,

the tools you have available and the support and pencils you are using.

 

Another reason for blending is to eliminate those little tiny white flecks that seem to appear and will not disappear even layer after layer. These are small flecks of the paper showing through the colored pencil. 

Because no paper is absolutely smooth, all papers/surfaces will have some texture, some amount of ups and downs. The rougher the paper, the deeper the valleys and higher the hills. The very texture that gives the paper the “tooth” you might want will also be the cause of some of this flecking or other undesired textures.  

Part of this can be controlled by making sure your pencil is always sharp and turning it as you draw. Also the length and pressure of the strokes will effect the coverage. Long straight strokes are more likely to be uneven and leave distinct flecking. While you might be tempted to really grind it in, I cannot recommend a heavy pressure. This will result in crushing the fibers of the paper, making permanently indenting the pigment in the paper. Any adjustments will be very difficult. also, it will be really eliminate the flecking. I do recommend a firm but light touch when using this medium, as this will give you the best control.

 

Blending pencil
Note: it will pick up some pigment.
Clean it with a sandpaper pad.

You can use a stump to blend, and I will talk about this in another post (not my most recommended method) but today we will work with a blending pencil. Many manufacturer of colored pencils will also supply a blending pencil. This is a pencil that is simply the clear, wax medium. You can use it to rub across the layers of already applied pigments, blending the layers together. Depending on the pressure, and the speed (friction from fast passes will blend more than slow passes) several layers can be blended into much smoother, polished color. This is what the pencil is for. Practice will help you know when and how much to apply.

 

If you press really hard, you will, of course crush the fibers. Sometimes this will actually work to you advantage, and is more effective on thicker paper. I can’t recommend it. I usually do not find it necessary. But I have seen it used very effectively on large dark backgrounds.  

Blending pencils can be use throughout the drawing process. It can be used to blend layers together and then more layers can be applied over it. Any wax bloom ( and there usually is) can be buffed away with a soft cloth. There is also a burnishing pencil, a bit harder than the blender and this can be very effective in the end to bring out a shine to the artwork. I usually hold back the burnisher until the work is done, as a finishing touch.

 

Here I show you a wood block, part of a new drawing of a bird at a bird feeder. The weathered block is wood, but the surface is worn and very smooth. 

 

 

 In this first picture, you can see the color has deepened and the background flecking has been eliminated on the right side of the picture using only the clear blending pencil. On the left the pigments are more uneven and in places the white paper shows though.

 

 In this last photo, the entire platform has been blended with the wax pencil into worn wood. Notice how much richer the colors are, although no new color has been added. Simply a layer of clear wax rubbed in.