Currently Browsing: Color Pencils 115 articles
Color Pencil Loves Watercolor
Color pencil loves watercolor (and gouache) because they dry to a surface that still allows the application of color pencil. And when you use the color pencil with light pressure on top of dry watercolor passages on a slightly textured paper you get a lovely broken color effect. (You can see that in the […]
The Weird Connectivity of the World
A few years ago I sketched this man a couple times from different photos I found on the Sktchy App, now called Museum by Sktchy. After I posted them (both done within a few days of each other and posted at the same time) a local friend wrote to me and told me that I […]
Pushing a Sketch
It’s very rare that I don’t finish a sketch. If something goes awry during the sketching I typically keep pushing just so I can see what’s possible. I learn a lot at moments like that. On this date I was using a granulating blue on a pen sketch of a little black dog. I usually […]
Different Drawing Approaches for the Same Subject
Just this week I was asked by nine people how I start my drawings. I use different approaches to start my drawings depending on what pen I’m using, the paper size, and even just how I feel my eyes are doing on any given day. For a more detailed response I explain that I have […]
A Project on Projects: Do It Anyway December
A couple weeks ago I asked the Tier 3 subscribers on my Patreon Blog what they wanted to talk about in the upcoming webinar. Their responses surprised me: project generation and color theory. OK the color theory questions weren’t surprising, but the project questions were. I sat down and started thinking what to do, […]
Protected: I Need To Draw More Cats
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
When Your Pen Leaks Make It a Feature
Here’s a sketch from 2018 when I was doing some experiments to find my favorite toned paper for mixed media. I was testing a bunch of different chipboards. They soak up watercolor and gouache but you can use acrylic markers on them. Most I found were too expensive (when you locate them and pay postage) […]
Stonehenge Aqua Review Part 3—Color Pencil on the Hot Press Surface
This is part three in a multi-part review of Stonehenge Aqua. Please click here to view part one. If you wish to read part two please click here. At two future posts will deal with the hot press version of this paper and a wrap up. If you think I’m fussy about which brand and […]
It’s Fun To Change Media Now And Then
Sometimes if you’ve been working steadily in one medium it’s good to take a break and do some sketching with a totally different medium. I’d been sketching so much with pen and watercolor before the Minnesota State Fair that I decided to start a sketchbook for color pencil quick sketches. (I say quick sketches because […]
Working on Hahnemühle’s Expression Watercolor Paper
I would have sworn that I had already written a review of the Expression (100 percent cotton, cold press, 140 lb.) watercolor paper I’ve been testing. I received a block of this paper at the same time that I received a block of the Harmony paper which is also 140 lb. and is acid free, […]