Simple and beautiful this apple comes to life under our eyes. Check it out.

colored pencil drawing tutorial

also look for the circulism tutorial.

This tutorial is an invitation to draw that beautiful green apple using circulism and blending several colors.

Here are my choices of colored pencils and the mapping I did as a preparatory study.

Elena, I know this is not your piece, it is one you are working from, but i wanted to tell you that your cp work is very very pretty.

this is very cool I will have to give this a try .

Thank you Kay. You are very kind.Don't you feel tempted to join me and Kim and try this apple?

i have been tempted to drag out my cps for quite some time now, but between learning perspective, trying to learn watercolors, and keep my household somewhat fit to live in I have been so busy, but yes, i am very tempted to pull those out and switch yet again

the more the merrier

I started working on my apple and I already used about 6 pencils on this tiny area that is not finished.This is about 30 minutes work.

But it already looks good.

Not very happy, folks. One more hour and the wax in my Roseart CP which are the more diverse in hues is already showing blocking me to build more layers.

Elena - do you use "workable fixative"? I believe it can be used to create some "tooth" over the top of pencil so you can put more layers down? Never used it myself (never done much coloured pencil work).

Perhaps others more technically knowledgeable could comment on this?

elena, that is still looking quite good, i think that may be the difference between artist grade pencils and student grade pencils as opposed to the artist.

student grade contains more wax, and artist grade seems to carry more pigment in the wax..so you would get more color left behind..

Just curious , if this is on Stonehenge.

To answer in the order of receiving:
Dave I have fixative and seldom use it mostly on charcoal, now i guess my sepia sanguine work requires this fixative too, but never heard of CP.Anyway this is just an exercise.

Kay, the artist used Prismacolor and I had to make up the colors by combining children stuff like crayolas and Roseart which have wax with Caran d'ache only 7 hues of this.

Nancy, the paper is good, Canson mi teintes and the fact it looks different from the reference is that I printed the reference on Canson while my work is directly on the same paper, not a print.

Oh Elena, I know exactly what you mean. I'm just trying to make ma fist colored pencil drawing and face the same problem. Than more I try to add layers, than worse it gets. At the end it becomes sticky mass which doesn't look good at all. I don't know what to do about it or what I'm doing wrong. I use LYRA pencils.

My mess
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One element very important whether you draw with good or poor quality pencils is the pressure you put on the pencil.Need to be very gently applied to the paper and I have a feeling that when you rush a drawing and put pressure to get quick results instead of building layer over layer of pigment the wax is released fast. This is actually what i did even if i know it's a mistake.
But your sky looks good, sipsik. Also try to cover more paper before finishing with an area. Just go back to it when you have a general idea of the whole piece.

That's exactly what I was trying to do, apply gently to the paper and this is the result. I didn't put pressure. Do you have any more ideas?

kim and jeanette are like really super good with cp's and will be happy to offer some advice when they read the thread..

Thanks for the post Elena. I wish I had some time to participate. I'm working on a few projects and can't seem to spare a moment.

Just a few words on Wax Blum.

Although I don't do a lot of color work, I avoid wax problems by using water color pencils. Water color pencils contain no wax. At least mine don't. No wax, no wax blum. I also found that layering is a bit easier and I'm able to get the color saturation I want without completely filling the tooth of the paper.

I also read a while back that after a CP drawing sits a while, a day or two, the wax comes to the surface. Once the white film is visible you can lightly remove it with a coton swab or tissue. Then spray it with fixative so that it doesn't come back.

THanks RJ.I have both watercolor pencils Caran d'ache and wax based crayolas and rose art. My caran d'ache are only 35 so i have to borrow from other sets if a want a wide palette.

It is a pretty apple and tempting. I just may join in too and we can see how the layers hold up and the process I use.

I've never had wax bloom on any cp project that I've done, but I usually don't have a heavy hand when applying colour, and I rarely burnish cp.

mi-tientes is ok for CP, depending on pressure used. When light pressure is used that means that you're barely applying pigment to the paper and it takes a fair bit of time to achieve layers. You can of course increase pressure as you build the layers.

As has already been said, the quality of pencils will affect the outcome. You can get good results with less expensive pencils but you have to layer carefully to ensure you don't max out your layers before you need to.

Jeanette, I am really happy having you here. please join the fun

Well, I went to the store and tried different pencils there today. Totally different effect, even with cheap ones. They said in art-store that LYRA pencils are good for drawing on aquarelle paper. I'm going to make a present to myself and buy new pencils.

Thanks to everyone!

Here is my attempt at the apple .. it was fun to do .. fruit is not my strong side lol but I think it looks ok .. aside I put too much reflection and the blending could have been better .

My first time with Colored pencils and Circulism.. Ummmm Folks .. The hand is about to fall off !!! never made so many circles in all my life !! I did this one at work so I don't have a work in progress for you all to see.. Trust me I followed the tutorial best I could..

That is gorgeous -- it looks almost like watercolor. A beautiful soft touch, you have.

Thanks Ernest .. coming from you I am thrilled .. I wasn't quiet sure how it was all going to come together .. but step by step .. I even amazed myself .. I'll be dreaming about circles tonight.

I see it's the time to harvest our apples. Very good jobs so far Kim and especially Carol.

Kim and Carol how much time did you invest in your apple drawing?


Here is my follow up.One more hour.

4 hours approximately for me..
Your Apple is coming along nicely Elena .. I love Kims choice of color.. !! just beautiful..

One more hour. Total time 3:30 hours.
Carol I asked because the artist spent on this apple 7 to 8 hours.

I did not keep track .. Carol your apple has a very nice shine and roundness to it .

Actually...Like Kim .. I didn't think to keep a real record.. I just knew because I was doing it at work.. I knew when I started it and when I had to stop.. Oh I suppose I could have taken longer but Golly ya'll .. I really was thinking today my hand would not function.. I work fast at anything I do.. I am not a turtle when it comes to a task at hand.. Get it ? Hand...
So many discussions about time .. I feel it depends on the person and the skills performed within that time frame .. Hours or days even.. who really cares ..surely time given ,,,results are better but... it's the end results for me..

I don't think this is what's happening in this thread, but personally I find that most of the time when I mention how long it took to do something, it's because deep down, I know I rushed it, and I know it would have been better had I taken more time. So saying "this is a 20 minute turtle" is my way of saying "try to imagine how awesome this would be if I had tried a little harder"

I expect to see some gorgeous Granny Smith from Ernest, Kay and Jeanette. I bet that Steve will come up with a prune
If we have enough apples we might bake an apple pie

Oooh what lovely apples you've produced.

Kim, you've got some really strong contrasts and colours going on that makes the apple stand out well.

Texaslady, this is equally rich in colours, almost jewel-like. I like it a lot. The openess of the background is a good contrast to the apple's smooth surface.

Elena, your apple looks good so far. You have a shine to it making it very realistic. It looks like a very tart apple.

Here's my version of the apple. My only criticism of the tutorial is that there isn't a master line drawing or a reference image, making it more difficult to represent shading and colours. I followed the tutorial as best I could and here's the result after about 4 hours. I still need to make a few adjustments as my horizon line isn't straight on the surface its resting on and the background isn't complete. However, it was fun to do.

And I agree, time isn't a factor as there is no stopwatch on anyone to complete in a specific time. However, it does give individuals an idea of what can be achieved in a time frame. For instance, a beginner may try to do this in 20 minutes then wonder why it doesn't look as it should. Drawing is rather like baking, unless you read the recipe, use the correct ingredients, techniques and baking time, you could end up with something other than what you planned.

I nearly forgot, I did this piece on an Earthbound sketchbook which has recycled brown paper in it. I used Prismacolor pencils.

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Jeanette, my post with the total time is my final drawing.Here it is again.
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And yes i love tart apples.In my childhood though I ate tons of Jonathan apples.I still remember the smell coming from the woodn trays where they were kept in an unheated room in the winter. That perfume will stay forever with me.

I guess the time factor can be a guide to the artists evolution from beginnings to a mature stage. In my first attempts at drawing i was taking far more time twice or three time as long as I take now in completing a drawing in any media. With experience and working almost everyday I was able to reduce that time without lowering quality but rather creating richer pieces.It also depends on the size of your drawing. Mine is 5x7in. I don't know the artist's size but maybe if he did this on a 8x11in. it makes sense to invest 7,8 hours.

Wow!! lots of gorgeous apples, you guys all rock, elena it is nice to see you 'slow down' and what a gorgeous apple you have produced.
Jeanette, yours looks like glass..wow..

Thank you so much, Kay.
Just for the record, a green apple, as Jeanette mentioned in 20 minutes by a beginner, me, in April 2008 with crayola Cp.I must say I am very proud with my progress in one year and a half.And I am grateful to DS that by emulation and support of members and teachers, moderators I could come this far.

cheese and tomato tutorial

here is another tutorial if anyone is interested


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I saw this one yesterday while looking around the internet .. wondered if any one else would see it as well.. Guess I'll have to give this one a go .. I'm at work an it's not an easy day today to squeeze the time ..but..... I'll try..

I guess i look at the whole time thing as competition lets see who can produce a better drawing in the shortest amount of time ...even when I just sketch I do not keep track but when I am really trying to work on a drawing time is no factor at all I just do it until I am done .
I will also add my colour pencils prismas are exspensive to waste them buy doing a 20 min drawing that I would serve me no purpose I cant justify that .

I think I just may try your cheese and tomatoe Kay.

Time is irrelevant for me too when I draw. Only thing, sometimes when I get too deep into it, I forget about everything around me and when I kind of wake up, I realize that's 4 or 5 o'clock in a morning and I won't get propper sleep again.

But I think, it's all about personality. Maybe for some people is time very valuable and that's why they measure their time. It's OK, I think, no harm for anybody else. World would be so boring if we would be all the same. So Elena, be yourself and we will love you just for who you are!

The whole thread seems to take a new direction with the time issue. I just asked because I was intrigued by the tutorial when the artists mentioned he did this in 7-8 hours.But again this depends on the size of his drawing. That's all. Then i found out that this can be done with great results in half that time(Carol's apple is a proof).
The whole idea was to draw the apple in your natural manner and usual pace.I usually time myself without rushing a drawing for the time's sake. I want to compare with past and future works and compare also quality related to time.
So far the longest time I stayed on a drawing in colored pencils was 4 hours.
This apple was accomplished in four session. 30min+1hour+1hour+hour.
But if the artist didn't mention his time I would have probably never ask you about it.
I apologize to those who took it as an offense.

No offense was taken Elena.. I was just answering your question the best I could..I think what you are doing is wonderful.. To test yourself and understand that you need more time..
I just have never done that.. Perhaps we all have our own way of testing..
My biggest bugga boo is I sometimes don't know when to quit .. to leave it alone .. I can spend too much time and mess the whole thing up..

Ya know .. Ya think Long ya Think Wrong..

Here's my Cheese and Tomato.. I had to laugh.. The cheese is a bit too orange .. From the step by step lesson when we got to the little green thingys in the cheese .. I thought .. that sure looks difficult and it will never look like the originals.. Well lo and behold and My Fat Granny they appeared out of no where.. Fun when it works !!
Thanks Kay for the challenge !!

Carol, that is just gorgeous..what a great job..
I need to clean up, put all watercolors away, pick up all brushes and paper, get rid of my water tubs, and get the table all cleaned off, then I shall have room to put my cp's and give em a go..I haven't used them in quite a while, perhaps they miss me, and will be prepared to do something pretty

I tried it as well and it was fun ...thanks kay

I found this one .. I think I will try its quit a challenge.

http://www.bigcatart.com/CPtutorial/

Kim,,, This was along with the other ones here and Lucky me, I saw it too.. I got to reading on it and the illustrations are very very good ..
Now to tackle something that intense will be a true trial in patience .. I am probably the most impatient person on the face of the earth .. and that's bad when you mix it with inspiration..I'm always pushin' when I should be pullin'.. One calm day of boredom and I may do it.. .A beautiful Tutorial !!

Oh and I love your CP.. not as orangey as mine .. You got the right colors !!

GalFriend .. get your big girl panties on and clear that table.. It has been a great ride.. I think you'll love it..Take some asprin first .. Hand gets a little cranky..
I am like you .. Just can't stick with one doggone medium without moving on to another one .. Sort of like that saying .. I'm a Jack ( Jill ) of all trades and a master of none..

Excellent Kim, It looks so awesome..yummy