I have just recently started using colored pencils and I was wondering, how is it possible to give your drawings a background without wasting the pencil?

Jonathon,

A good background is never a waste of coloured pencil, but if you don't want to use them for a plainish background then why not try a watercolour wash before you start with the pencils. I usually draw my image on another piece of paper and get it right [saves ruining the surface by erasing] and then I transfer the image to the paper I will use. When you have transferred the image then you could do the wash avoiding where the pencil will go [although a little overlap won't kill it] and when its dry then you can attack with the CP's.

Some simple things I've done is to buy colored paper. How about trying pastels. One can cover a lot with the pastel. If you feel like trying a new technique try airbrush with an acrylic.

What I do sometimes is draw the subject in colored pencil then after I scan and upload the drawing onto my computer, I digitaly add the background color.

Colored paper ain't that bad (look in my gallery)

And about the pastels I think I need to get me some

Here's what I'm talking about.

What you can also do is draw your subject on white paper like a negative then after you've uploaded image onto your computer, invert the colors so that the white background is black like this.

Also when you're adding background color, it's not always necessary to fill up every inch of the paper.

Awww SWEET!!!!!

It looks like I get to pull out my favorite free image editing program, gimp.

p.s: just wondering, maybe I'm being too nosy, but what timezone are you in beacuse you posted 5:15-5:40 I don't know about you but unless it's for work/school related if someone got me up that early they better have a life threatning emergency or I'll make them have one. . .

. . . lol jk I wouldn't go that far but I would be mad

Here's another one I did. The subject is in colored pencil but I used chalk pastel to fill in the background. The advantage is that chalk pastel can cover a large distance very quickly and blends very easily. The disadvantage is that it can be very messy to work with what with all the chalk dust.

Jonathon, another way for backgrounds is prismacolor has art stix I believe they are called. they almost look like pastels but are made of the same wax material their pencils are made of. I know a lot of colored pencil artist that use them specifically for their backgrounds on larger pictures.

Venus! Haven't seen you around in a while, hope everything is going well in your life. A couple of those "stix" came with my set of Prismacolor pencils, but I didn't really know what to use them for. Thanks for the tip.