Let's have a fun thread while practicing with our coloured pencils - can you tell I'm a grown up kid?!

I'm starting us off with my cockatoo - inspired by my granddaughter's colouring book but otherwise pure fantasy. My leaves don't exist in nature I'm sure.... not on the same bush anyway! I just wanted to experiment with leaves. Also pardon my ladybird - that was a total afterthought - I just couldn't resist adding a little red! It's enormous by comparison so I beg for artistic license.

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Perhaps it was silly of me to draw a white cockatoo in white paper but with schoolkids coloured pencils and yucky paper had I tried a more colourful cockatoo it would have looked even more weired.

So what do you say - shall we have some fun?!

Well, if you're doing that well with school-kids cp's, then I'm gonna sit on the front row & watch you when your Prismas arrive!

Well done!

J

Its a great cockatoo:) I love the colors, (even if its with icky paper) It looks awsome!

Rose thats a great job .....I love the colors you used .

Gee Rose I can't do that well with expensive pencils so have at it! I might just join in later

Thank you girls but that is not the purpose of this thread.

Some of you are just superb with CP. I wish to see your experiments. And while you're at it tell us what colours you used, what shading technique , how you layered the colours, how you blended them.

I wish to learn.

And Jeanette - if you happen to read this post... in another thread you pointed me to a tutorial but I think you forgot to add the link. I would appreciate having it. Thanks.

Perhaps a little challenge would be in order to get people to participate. Just a simple image that people can practice techniques with. Here is an image that you can use if you like.

The challenge is to recreate it in coloured pencil.

Here's a link that you may find useful Rose - and others.

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Rose i love your drawing its very good if u can do that with kids pencils then u will be fab with ya new pencils when they come cant wait to see more colour pencils drawings of yours rose

Jeanette your little nutcracker is soooo cute. I will try this challenge but can't promise it will be before Christmas!!!!

Here is an addition to your Color Pencil thread.....


This is something I have been working on for awhile now....It probably has 20 to 30 hours in it so far and, as you can see, it is not complete.

This was taken from a stock photo that caught my eye. Unfortunatly, (or fortuantely depending on your point of view) it was shot using a flash, so I have had to fiddle with the shadows and hightlights a bit.

In general, I like how it has turned out. However, I am still not completely happy with the highlights (suggestion welcomed), but I am at a bit of a loss as to how to correct them. I did print the photo out in color and in grey scale which did help some in sorting out the highlights and shadows.

I used Prismatic colored pencils and the paper is Bristol board....Jury is still out on the Bristol board. I have found that you can load the 'tooth' up on Bristol board VERY quickly and then you are stuck when you try to make changes. Also, the darker colors seem to 'stain' the Bristol. Even if the color has been erased it still has a ghost image that is difficult to deal with.

I guess because of its size 22" X 19" this piece looks better when viewed from about three or four feet away rather than up close.

....Oh, yeah, this is my first attempt at color pencil.

Chris


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That's looking very nice Chris.

My Prismacolors have not arrived yet (though I have been most thoroughly assured that they will). Still that's no reason why not to have fun with colours - the few cheap ones I have.

I had so much fun with these couple of lessons. The second Sunny Blue I did with my water coloured pencils and gave them a little wash... makes a lot of difference doesn't it!

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Very cute,Rose!! I love watercolor pencils. There is a big difference in the whole picture after you add the washes to the paper. Not saying that regular colored pencil drawing is bad. There have been many pictures I have done in watercolor pencils and added washes that I like better before than I did after I added the water. I guess it just depends on how the picture turns out. Great job with your practicing!!! Keep up the excellent work. I can't wait to see more!!!!

Rose,

I like your water color pencil work....I have done a bit of water color with colored pencils, but I usually end up getting it too wet and my paper buckles.

Chris

Chris - I don't think it's possible to add water to any paper that is less than 90lbs. Even my 80lbs buckled a wee bit in the above drawing and I really did not add a lot of water. But there is a lot of paper that is good for water washes out there. It's fun, really!

Ooooh! Good job both Rose & Chris!

I agree with the paper needing to be fairly heavyweight before using it for watercolor pencil. But, even a lightweight WATERCOLOR paper will be ok if you stretch it first (soak it well then tape or staple or clamp it down until it's dry.) I always leave the tape/staples/clamps on until I finish a work.

Also, a nice drawing paper will be ok with W/C pencils if you merely dampen the pencil drawing and don't use a lot of water. You can't really do a wash or wet the pencil to get a puddle of watercolor though.

A flimsy, cheap paper seems to buckle no matter what you do.

OK, guys! More! More!

J

Well today was really the first day I've had to just play so I took advantage to use the small set of Prismas that I got. I'm posting both the ref (from MorgueFile) and my version of it! First of all, I didn't have any pencils that were the right colors for this painting so don't know why I even chose this reference. Second, I drew it on a black cardstock that I bought on sale & thought I was buying black ArtAgain! This stuff turned my yellows green & wouldn't hold but a couple of layers of pencil. I even sprayed it with workable fixative. Anyway, here it is:

First the reference - isn't it gorgeous?


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Now here's my version - go ahead & laugh, laughter is good for the soul!

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All hand drawn, no tracing no grid. It took so long to get this far & since I don't even like it, I'm not going to bother to put in any leaves or water. Oh, well, I learned a lot, especially to pay attention to what I'm buying!

Happy New Year everyone!

J

Very pretty J-lynn!! Why would you think people would laugh at the picture? You did a great job!!! The tonal value and details are perfect from what I can see. Absolutely no or very little mistakes to the eye. Just add the lily pad leaf and your good to go!!!

J, Venus is right. One would generally compare a drawing with the reference if it were a portrait and one wanted to check likeness and so on. But what we draw has value in and of itself. It does not need to be compared to anything.

I look at your drawing as an entity in itself and I see something very pleasing.


And you inspired me... so I too drew a lily. I still haven't got my Prismas (if I don't get them this week I'm going to throw a tantrum! ) and my pencils are driving me crazy - a couple of them are even losing the lead/wax/pigment or whatever you call the coloured insides in half inch bits!! I'm wondering though if that is the fault of the pencils or my sharpener. On the other hand my good quality graphites don't misbehave like that and I use the same sharpener.

Anyway - here's my lily. I too did it freehand with no grid. It didn't scan very well and it's looking a little bluer than what I drew but not too far removed.[attachmentid=1550]

I think you should finish it. What you have here is excellent. Small number of colors or not, this is very good!





Yet another lovely flower....I have had that same problem, large pieces of the pigment dropping out when I sharpen. Sometimes it is caused by the pencil in question being dropped. The led (pigment) inside the wood fractures. When I get close to the broken section it will drop out.

Chris

Rose wow another beautiful flower!!! I think I have some competition when it comes to drawing flowers now!!! You and J-lynn both did wonderful jobs!!! Rose as far as waiting for your pencils...don't feel bad I ordered some Derwent colored pencils from ebay and the woman left a message on hubs feedback that she sent them out on Dec. 22nd and here it is Jan.1st and I still have not received them and they were coming from somewhere in the US. (Not even over seas). To top it off president Gerald Ford died so our postal service will also be closed another day now and not open until Wednesday the 3rd because tomorrow is his memorial service and its being held in Michigan. So hopefully they arrive Wednesday. Good luck with yours coming in this week though!!!

Rose! that's beautiful! So glad I inspired you! I hope you get your pencils soon as the right materials make all the difference!

Thank you all for the nice comments on my drawing but I think you misunderstood my "laugh" comment. I was saying it was ok to laugh at me for buying one kind of paper when I thought it was something else plus trying to use very limited colors on a subject that contained very few of the colors I had on hand! I posted the reference so you could see how far off I was colorwise. The ref is so soft & delicate & PINK! lol

I really doubt if I do the leaves as the flower took hours & I don't know if even the leaves would improve the drawing. The only saving grace with that paper is that it's acid & lignon free.

Anyway, I was rather pleased with the drawing itself. I don't like to copy anything exactly & except for portraits, as Rose said, there's no need to.

Oh, Rose, Chris is correct about pencils sometimes being dropped & the lead breaking inside the casing. Also, sometimes your sharpener will cause breakage if the lead is not centered inside the casing. If your pencils don't have the end covered up, look to see if the lead is in the center on the pencils that are especially prone to breaking.

J