Help with Colored Pencils
Esbpca
While I have been involved with anthro work for over two years now, I have not
visited a newsgroup yet, so here I am. I am a halfway decent artist and novice
writer in the fandom, and have looked up to other artists like Steve Carter,
Terrie Smith, DarkNatasha, XianJaguar and others to let you know what kind of
style I have been building. I have gotten fairly decent with coloring with
Photoshop but was wondering if anyone had basic tips for pencil coloring. I
would appreciate it a lot.
Emmett Smith "Alasdair Palemoon"
http://www.geocities.com/esazuremoon
M. Mitchell Marmel
esb...@aol.com (Esbpca) wrote:
> Hello everyone,
Hidy!
> I have gotten fairly decent with coloring with
> Photoshop but was wondering if anyone had basic tips for pencil coloring. I
> would appreciate it a lot.
1. Practice, practice, practice!
2. When in doubt, see #1.
3. The main difference between Photoshop and crayons is that crayons
don't have an Undo key. Colored pencils are much the same.
4. Do a lot of experimenting. See what happens when you change pencil
angles, pressures and so forth. Try color combinations-see what works.
5. Study other people's art. See what works and what doesn't.
6. Above all, remember #1!
-MMM-
Cerulean
>was wondering if anyone had basic tips for pencil coloring.
You can always make something darker, but you can almost never make
something lighter. The white pencil is a tool for smoothing out the
grainy colors underneath and making them solid.
--
___vvz /( Cerulean = Kevin Pease http://cerulean.st/
<__,` Z / ( DC2.~D GmAL~W-R+++Ac~J+S+Fr++IH$M-V+++Cbl,spu
`~~~) )Z) ( FDDmp4adwsA+++$C+D+HM+P-RT+++WZSm#
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Brian Graeme
develop your skills accordingly until you feel confident enough to try it on
an original... It's far gentler on the nerves and far less of a loss if you
screw up...
Secondly, learn blending with the pencils... This can be done two ways,
either bearing down on the pencils (which tends to eat them faster, but
gives richer colors), or by using a colorless blender... I've tried using
marker based colorless blenders in the past, but found them to be
problematic, both due to the wicking properties of the paper involved, and
due to the markers' annoying tendacies to dry out and carry colors over (oft
times resulting in colors you don't want to blend being mixed with
others)... The alternative is colorless blending pencils, which essentially
amount to pigment free colored pencils... They tend to be both cheap and
relatively benign, irregardless of the pencil colors being blended (without
the aforementioned hassle of carrying over colors or unwanted effects due to
the wicking)...
Thirdly, try experimenting with multiple mediums with the pencils, I've
found that colored inks work nicely in conjunction with pencils, either
markers, dyes, watercolors, or colored ink pens (such as Microns)...
-----------------------------------
"Esbpca" <esb...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020919183254...@mb-bg.aol.com...
M. Mitchell Marmel
"Brian Graeme" <doge...@attbi.com> wrote:
> Secondly, learn blending with the pencils... This can be done two ways,
> either bearing down on the pencils (which tends to eat them faster, but
> gives richer colors), or by using a colorless blender...
Note: Dark Wolfie (wol...@wolfiespack.com) gets spectacular results
using paper pencils (pencils made of bonded newsprint) and turpenol
(synthetic turpentine). The turpenol actually melts the colored pencil
and gives it a really cool texture.
-MMM-
Brian Graeme
-----------------------------------
"M. Mitchell Marmel" <marm...@drexel.edu> wrote in message
news:marmelmm-DE3B90...@velox.critter.net...
William Earl Haskell
I've used lighter fluid and those "blender" sticks (tightly rolled thin
paper - often French, though mostly from China these days, like so much
else - used to be the common among the draftsmen making maps at the oil
company I worked at years ago - they also used airbrush for larger maps
- then they discovered computer-generated graphix and color printers and
that was that.
When drawing with regular pencils I just wad up a bit of thin tissue
paper and scuff the graphite a bit, as a preventative measure, using an
erasor to clean up.
Samantha Ann Patterson
Esbpca <esb...@aol.com> wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
>While I have been involved with anthro work for over two years now, I have not
>visited a newsgroup yet, so here I am. I am a halfway decent artist and novice
>writer in the fandom, and have looked up to other artists like Steve Carter,
>Terrie Smith, DarkNatasha, XianJaguar and others to let you know what kind of
>style I have been building. I have gotten fairly decent with coloring with
>Photoshop but was wondering if anyone had basic tips for pencil coloring. I
>would appreciate it a lot.
>
STRONGLY affected by your choice in surface to apply them to. Rough paper
and smooth paper will give different results, coloured paper can really
emphasis the richness of the colour in the pencils in a way that white
paper can't. Textured papers and laying your paper over textured surfaces
can add a depth and body to your pencil work that you can't get with a c
computer program. I think the most important thing I've learned about
working with real media (as opposed to virtual, not slurring computer art)
is to flourish from your mistakes. If you draw outside a line, it's not
the end of the world. Just think of a way to use the error to take your
art in a new direction. Control has it's merits but don't spend too much
time trying to control your art. It will deaden the liveliness of your
hand.
Some other notes:
Different coloured pencils have different characteristics. For instance,
Prismas are much softer than Derwents, so you may use one type for color
and another for fill.
Experiment with the mark. How does short lines or hatching look in a
scene compared with long lines, or contoured lines or stipled dots? When
you think of a scene, don't just think of the colour, think of the color
of everything around the object and how they reflect in it. Think of the
texture of the object. The long sweeping strokes in a blade of grass,
the ripples in water, the scales of a fish. Beyond that, realize that the
mark itself has it's own life and meaning. Hard straight lines often
represent anger, scribbled, tangled lines confusion and fear. Try working
with these things. A good exercise is to draw the same scene 5 different
ways, trying different methods of stroke and texture in each. It may seem
like a boring exercise but you can gain a LOT from the experience.
Experiment with media! try using differnt types of paper, or doing
rubbings of textured objects.
Blending tools: Looking for smooth colour or a glow? Applying marker
over coloured pencils will 'melt' the pencil marks and make a smoother color.
Once it dries, you can go back over it for texture. A 'colourless blending
marker' is an excellent tool for this. I've also experimented with
oil-painting medias to do this. turpentine, linseed oil, and mixes
thereof brush over a penciled piece will make the colours float and flow
almost like watercolour. It will also allow you to glaze with your pencils
and make a sharp gloss.
More on mixed media: Another interesting think you can do with
coloured pencil or crayon is to watercolour over it. Watercolours will not
stick to the oil-based marks. The result can make for some great
texture effects.
Finally, I suggest: Take an art class at a community college. It's
quite inexpensive and there is a LOT to be said for working in a class.
You get exposed to what other people are doing which gives you new ideas,
you get discussion of your work and peer critique which can help you grow
as an artist. There's the catharsis of having required projects finished
for a grade. Art instructors also typically know the cheapest place to
buy good materials in your area, and then there's the actual lesson content
of the class on top of everything else.
-Samantha