Ok, I am good with colored pencils to an extent. Meaning I can do great flowers, birds and butterflies, but I am trying my hand out with my portraits now and for those of you with experience and do colored pencil portraits I would like some opinions on my progress. Also, any info on blending materials and burnishers or whatever would be helpful too.

Here is the reference photo and what I have done so far with my portrait. The reference is very old and I don't know if the color is faded because of how old it is or not. I do like the brownish tint to it though.

Hi, I am new to this forum and by no means an expert at drawing, but here are some thoughts! I like what you have done so far, it is sometimes hard to use old reference photos as they were sometimes "touched up" by someone hand painting details in (eg eyes or teeth where the image is blurred). So, bravo so far! When I am using colour pencils I use a cotton bud (or q-tip in the US?) or a cotton wool ball for larger areas to blend colours. I have also read about using alcohol but have not had great success to date with that! Caution is needed depending on what sort of paper you are using. I think the key is work up your colours slowly and don't go in too dark too soon, and remembering nothing is one solid colour but lots of different reflected colours. Hope that helps!

http://www.prismacolor.com/sanford/consume...lash=pencil.swf gives a little information about blending and layering that I found useful, especially about using alcohol and q-tips.

Celtic, thanks for the information!! I am afraid to use anything on it right now, probably because it is my first colored pencil portrait and I dont want to mess it up. I found my colorless prismacolor blender that I purchased from the art store by me that seems to be working wonderfully. (Keeping fingers crossed..) Now I just need to find a fixative that works well for colored pencils, or do you even need a fixative?

Blade, thanks for the link...I will definately be checking it out tomorrow (being as how its after 2am here, I just wanted to post my next little phase to the picture. I am definately ready for bed and my hand feels like it is ready to give out..lol.

I really appreciate the the comments and help that the both of you provided me with. I was just tired of doing portraits in regular pencils and felt like I needed a change of the drawing scenery. So far I am very pleased with the results. I think the way the eyes are looking are a bit off from the reference photo, and some minor little changes would make it look more like my grandmother but there is definately a strong likeness wiether it is exact or not in my own opinion. I could be wrong but I don't think so. Besides I am sure if I were to show it to my father or my uncle (his brother) they would both definately want it.. So here is my next post of the picture with the hair and graduation cap completed. I noticed that the right veiwer's side of the hair was alot harder than the left being as how we american's call (ratted hair) compared to the left side being perfectly maintained..If that makes sense. So here it is so far....

Good morning!

Venus, I like the portraits very much, it's going to get great.

Which coloured pencils do you use? Because on this depends how or with what you blend.
Prismacolours (wax-based) have a special Blending pencil and Lyra (oil-based) too. both pencils work on both brands.
To blend with alcohol is a good way for blending wax-based pencils. But I found it a bit difficult. And I don't like the smell.

For the beginning you can blend every CP with a white pencil of the same brand.
I prefer the special pencil for blending (do you remember my pear-drawing? I blended with such a pencil) but the white pencil of your CP works pretty good too.

Blade,
Tx for the link. I watched it right now and wished it would be longer.
I own two books of Gary Greene (the artist in this video) and his tutorials for CP are the best.
But to SEE him drawing is so great!

Hi Venus - I blend more or less like Martina said. It doesn't really need to be a white pencil... a lighter shade of the same hue would do as well. And for blending and burnishing the point of the pencil would need to be a little dull. When I want to make sure I'm not lightening my colour I use the colourless blending pencil. And sometimes when I want my burnished colours to look really deep and homogeneous I use the marker blender from Prisma - the one that has a fine point at one end and a thicker felt tip at the other.

As for your portrait, it's coming along fine. The only thing I wish to remark about is that i would like to see more shading on the inner corner of the left eye (viewer's right) and along the whole length of the nose. The way it is now the nose looks a little wider than it should be.

You're doing great!

Martina, I am using Prisma Color Erease Pencils and a brand called Blick Studio pencils that I got from Blick Art Material store online. They are very much like the Prismacolor pencils. They blend and go on smoothly like the prisma's. ( They cost half the price!!!) I bought the set of 72 which is their largest set for under $50 US Dollars. As for the blending I am using a prisma colorless blending pencil. Which I have found works wonderfully to give the blend that I like. So I think I will stay away from the alcohol and q-tips as of right now and maybe work with a different portrait. I do know that I like my colored pencil portrait better than my graphite ones. Not that they come out bad or anything I just have more fun when using color.

Rose, Yes I see where you are talking about now with the nose looking much to wide and where the shading needs to be added. Like I said it was very late last night when I stopped working on it and I needed a break as well as my hands. I am sure you know what I mean. I just want to do a really good job on it as I am thinking of matting and framing it and giving it to my dad for father's day, which is still a ways a away but I know how much he will love it. I just found the original portrait of my grandmother in my younger sister's possession and he had thought he lost it a while ago. I want to do the same for my mother with a picture of my grandmother for her but I need a better photo of my other grandmother when she was a teenager first so I am going to have to make a trip over to see her soon and get one from her. Thats ok though cause I really need to visit her. I am sure she won't be around much longer...being she is almost 83.

As for my portrait, I probably won't have any updates til later this afternoon. my children have spring break this week and I promised them a visit with their neices and nephews...same ages as them I might add..LOL. So I have to put it on hold for a good part of the day. So, thanks for the replies, Everyone..so far I appreciate the help and exspetise of you all. (Lord, knows what I would do without Drawspace!!! My husband still thinks I spend too much time on my art for no reason...uugghh men!!!)

The portrait is in early stages so far and looking good Venus. Take your time and build the values and colour layers slowly.

And step away from the blender pencil! Its way too early in your drawing to even contemplate that. Put it down right now. Good girl.

Burnishing is a final step for coloured pencil. Once you use it, you cannot add more layers of colour to your drawing because you effectively fill all the tooth of the paper by 'smooshing' (yes, that's a technical term ) the pigment into the paper.

I did a colour portrait of myself as a child using a black and white reference and the only reference to use in that is the values themselves. The rest, you need to wing it. The skin is made up of many colours, yellows, reds, blues, greens, purples all making up shadow and light. I've attached a copy to give you an idea of some of the colour range. And this is only partially done with no burnishing in sight...

[attachmentid=4185]

Jeanette, thanks for the reference of the portrait of your self. I saved it on my computer to use as a guide for my next attempt (same portrait too). I do think I went a little fast on it and I think using the blending pencil kind of messed up the tooth of the paper while it was in the early stages, after reading your advice. So I went ahead and finished it. I am happy with the results of it for being a first time colored pencil portrait but there are many areas of the face and eyes that I would like to change for my next attempt. I probably won't start the next portrait until after I gather some info for the upcoming class. So if you can see anything in the finished portrait now, please feel free to leave comments and critique it so that I can make the nessisary changes.

You shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes because that's how you learn.

Rsine, that is sooo true and I did make alot of mistakes when I did this particular portrait. I started using the the colorless blender way to early. I mean I like the finished results by I lost tooth on the paper way to early for more layers of colored pencil as Jeanette said. To begin with I used my Bristol 'smooth' paper and there isn't much tooth in it anyways. I think when I restart it I want to use a colored peice of paper that I just got from Blick Art Store Online. I love different colored paper with colored pencil work on it. It also saves from doing backgrounds..LOL. I know my dad will be happy with this particular picture though.

I am loving your portrait, Venus. I have been working with colored pencils for a few years now and none of them look as good as yours. I am wondering what the others are using for paper. I love the video on prismacolor.

Judyvan

Judy, when I did this portrait in colored pencils, I used the bristol smooth board by strathmore. It works wonderful for holding the colored pencils. I also used a different brand colored pencils than the prisma's, I used Blick Studio pencils. They work just as well as prisma's just half the price for a set of 72. I was wanting to try them out so I am in the process of redoing the portrait this time with prisma's and same paper..I just needed another portrait so I could give one to my dad and his brother.

Here is the new portrait I am working on...

wow venus i really liked the first one but man o man the second is fantastic!!!!! i really love it. your doing a beautiful job on this one. keep it up. cant wait to see the finish portrait. wow awesome work
Lori

wow venus i really liked the first one but man o man the second is fantastic!!!!! i really love it. your doing a beautiful job on this one. keep it up. cant wait to see the finish portrait. wow awesome work
Lori

wow venus i really liked the first one but man o man the second is fantastic!!!!! i really love it. your doing a beautiful job on this one. keep it up. cant wait to see the finish portrait. wow awesome work
Lori

sorry i dont know what happened, i must have clicked more than once. thats never happened before
Lori

LOL Lori, its ok I think we all go through the sdtuttering phase...just kidding. yes, I am taking my time with the seconf one. I have been doing other things today instead of working on it that way I have a little breather break and don't get burned out on doing the same portrait. I am liking this one alot better to and the first one I just got a call from my uncle almost in tears. I sent him a copy through his email and he absolutely loved it. Funny thing is I have been online off and on waiting for an email reply, but he called instead which made it that much more special. So I have the first copy done and doing the second, so I will give one to him and one to my dad. I am sure they will both love them.

Venus, you are a natural with colored pencil and i love this second one also.

Judyvan

Venus I LOVE your colored pencil drawing .. cant wait to see it finished ...skin tones are hard to do and i think you have it pretty good .

Thanks, Everyone for the compliments!! I really appreciate and LOVE hearing them. But now I am finding myself asking myself which one resemebles her more? They both look totally different?? I tried doing the same thing with them both but one has a child like face and one has a more mature face, does that make sense? I mean I like them both and can see see the differences. I haven't yet finished the second one. I have the face and the hair done, but still need to work on the cap and gown. So what I am doing is asking for opinions with both partial pictures. Like a comparison to the two. I know on the second one I did the eyes a little darker (kind of like adding too much makeup). Where as with the first I payed special attention not too. I just got a little carried away with the second. I am also just using the color-erase pencils instead of the Blick studio pencils..I like the color-erase pencils because they give alot of details. Plus they are reasonably cheap for the 24 set. Ok so here are my two pics for advice...along with the original reference.

Ok here is the 2nd finished portrait of my grandma, still not sure which one I like the best...

This one is very good too, but I do love the first one! The face of your grandmother is warmer, more affectionate (very!!!) and her eyes looks so soft.