Lets use our colored pencils !!, Step by Step Soap Bubble Options

[kim1963]

Remember the soap bubbles our mom use to make up for us from dish soap and water and a pipe cleaner? I use to love them ...Thats what inspired me to do this step by step drawing ...If you want to go throu the steps and post your drawings here that would be great ...its not fancy or by the book ..its just my way of getting my results with colored pencil.

Enjoy !

First : I start out by doing a light outline ...make sure it is light because you do not want pencil to show through when working with the light colors or indents in your paper from the lead.. I used a candy dish for the circle .

Second : I tried to place the lines where I see color change to give me a better idea when to stop one color and begin another .

Three : I use my white and go over all areas that show blue ..I then layer my non photo blue , and sky blue light until I get the right colors ( at this point I do not worry about blending )

Four : Then I added the Lavendar ..kinda stepping into the blue just a bit ...then add samon pink and perma violet..you can see by the photo how and where I am placing the color .

Five : Next colors is lime peal , sand and cream ..again I follow my outlines and only step into the next color ..but still i do not worry about blending.

Six : I then add my scarest part ..the dark colors starting with the lightest color first.. green orche, dark green, indego blue..cool grey 90%..again look at the drawing to see where I place those colors .
The dark green is where I think I made a bit of a mistake ( see I fear the dark ) in the real photo look close here and notice it is not as dark as I have it .. so layer the colors until you get the shade desired .

Seven : I take the white and cover everywhere but the green ...slowly blending the colors to give it a painted look ...press harder if you are not getting the results you want .
In the darker areas I use the lightest green color and slowly blend the greens ...making sure at all times to keep my highlighted areas as white as possible .

Last thing I do is take the lavender ..and purple and samon and and blend some into the green ...you will see in the last drawing .

I added the dark around the bubble because it just did not look finished .

If you have questions you can email me or put them here .

Attached File(s)

 bubble_earth.jpg ( 43.4K ) Number of downloads: 92
 bubble_1.jpg ( 22.42K ) Number of downloads: 60
 bubble_2.jpg ( 25.39K ) Number of downloads: 56
 bubble_3.jpg ( 29.44K ) Number of downloads: 68
 bubble_4.jpg ( 38.07K ) Number of downloads: 58
 bubble_5.jpg ( 41.7K ) Number of downloads: 61
 bubble_6.jpg ( 52.2K ) Number of downloads: 143

 

[Cyn]

This is beautiful, Kim, honey.. I was just saying in Brian's challenge that I just don't have the knack of colored pencils yet. I will have to try this. Thank you so much for the post and the work..

[kim1963]

No problem hun ...sometimes it helps to see how others layer colors ....also remember I am not one of the teachers .. i am only self taught so there is still so much for me to learn .

[bigs]

Ooooh!!!! Kimmy!!!!! I love this!!!

I am going to have to have a go at this - I just hope that I can do it justice!!

[TaniaBee]

Hi Kim.

Thanks so much for putting this up.
I can't wait to give it a try - As bigs said, I hope I can give it justice and get the reflections and different colours right they way you have captured them here. STUNNING

[Raidor]

what a wonderful and great idea - and the implementation is excellent succeeded

I think I need a few more colored pencils
and a little more time to draw

[ncgirl]

Thanks Kim! Beautiful drawing and good instructions, clear and not overwhelming to a nervous beginner . I'm starting to work with colored pencils and this is just the tutorial I need!

[kim1963]

It is easy to get over whelmed I know ...just start at the begining and know I was not happy until close to the end when it all came together and still I see my flaws lol

Its always good to try something that creats a challenge in you .

and your bubble does not have to match exactly ...if you do not have the colors I have then use something close to that ...these bubbles come in all colors because they pick up the reflection from around them .

If anyone has question you can feel free to ask .

[Laura01]

Kimmy,

This is beautiful and very informative...I have some watercolor pencils that I have been dying to give a whirl...can't say I'm going to get to it today...but maybe this weekend!!! Thank you so much for sharing...this may very well be a fun break from other stuff that I deserve to keep me fresh when I just don't feel like drawing!

{{{BIG HUGS}}}
Laura

[paulette4]

Great work Kim!
I saved the photo and I am going to try to get to it.

[kim1963]

Awsome ...I am glad it is going over well ...please let me see your end result or post your progress here .

[dolphin-paradise]

Looks really nice. Since I always draw with colored pencils I might try this out next week

[Ernest Friedman-...]

This is very cool, Kim -- I love how it "pops" at the last step. You did a great job including enough detail for people to follow your instructions. I will definitely give it a go!

[ncgirl]

Any advice on color mixing?

[kim1963]

How I do the color ( i call it layering ) is I go slightly over my line with the first color then the color that layes next to the first color goes slightly over that line ..creating a nice blend ...then in the end when I add my top color ( a color that is from the same color group but much lighter ) say if I use the white as i did over the blue areas .. it gave me a painted look ....this takes some getting use to and playing with so maybe try it on a practice piece of paper by taking say pink and skin tone next to eachother over layering slightly then wash over the whole thing with the white or cream ..you will see how nice it blends .. all colored pencils are different ..i use Prisma but I have seen some really great stuff come from just regular colored pencils .

[Goldlaus]

I would like to know what size your pictures are? Is Letter Size (DIN A4) ok?

[kim1963]

The pictures I posted for you to draw from are pretty large so you can see the detail ....I have no clue on size's but if you need them smaller I can send them to you .

[Goldlaus]

Sorry Kim, my mistake!

I wanted to know the size of the paper you are drawing on. My drawing paper is 30 x 40 cm (12" x 16"). My scanner is not so big. Is the bubble big enough if I draw them approx. Ø 10 cm (4") to show all the detail?

Sorry for my bad english!

[kim1963]

Yes it should be big enough it is what I used to go from ....my paper size I used was 8x10

[paulette4]

Um-m I was bad I have water colour on the brain right now and I ended up doing it in water colour.
I will post it in the learning water colour thread.