Coloured pencil technique What makes this medium so special and supersedes pencil in drawing? Human beings eye adores both colour and light. Coloured pencils are portable and a good medium to start with both in free-hand drawing and architectural presentation. Coloured pencils are easy to work with step-by-step to avoid making mistakes. It is easy to correct mistakes once happen using an eraser. And here are some tips: #1- Mixing : Mixing coloured pencils is visual, not actual as in water. Using hatching is the most suitable technique. The second colour hatching lines will fill-in the paper space left in between the lines of the first colour. Firstly; practice using only a single colour to help improve your blending, layering and graduating skills. #2- White and black: White in the coloured pencils technique is the whiteness of the paper itself like working with graphite pencils. When using coloured paper use white pencil for white areas. It is possible to use white pastel crayon. One can use white correction ink for the highlight spots, especially in coloured pencils architectural presentation. Black in this technique is the mixture of the three primary or any of two complementary. Mixing of a blue with a brown could do the job too. Check the colour wheel; complementary are any two opposite in the wheel. 1
To refer to a colour wheel check this link: http://what-nikki-did-next.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/colour-wheels.html Here is a table for the complementary : Primary Secondary Complementary Complementary Complementary Avoid using the black pencil for the black areas or for areas in shadow, this will make the drawing look like not real and artificial. You can use it only to add certain dramatic effects. Actually, there is nothing called a black pigment in nature. The black is a shade in itself, and it is actually the result of lacking colour. 2
#3- Depth in : Warm (red, orange, yellow etc.) tend to stimulate retina s nerves more than other that s why they will appear bigger in area, and thus will look near in perspective. Vies versa cool (blue, green, purple etc.) will appear deep away in perspective. In coloured pencils technique add some warm to the parts of surface which are near the viewer. Add some cool to the parts far away from the viewer to give it more depth. We call this colour perspective. Blue is the coolest among all while red is the warmest. Colour perspective: First one is an interior perspective of a mall. Second one is a landscape sketch. #4- Starting with a base colour: Coloured pencils is a demanding technique needs more than one layer of hatching. Start first with a base colour for the surface, a second layer of mixed to modify the base and to add some spark and life to your drawings. A third layer of some both warm spots and cool ones to add depth. 3
Use of coloured papers is very common with this technique; this will help in reducing the amount of hatching work; especially if paper colour is same as the base colour of the main object or the largest element in your drawing. In this case use of white pencil is essential for white areas in light and for highlight too. You can use white correction ink for the highlights, especially in architectural presentation. Try creating different moods, by drawing on different coloured papers. #5- Colours in shades: Surface in shade colour, is its colour plus it s complementary plus blue. Blue is available in each shadow. Impressionist artists were using purple instead. #6- Reflections: Reflections are available in nature and sometimes are very effective in changing the whole mood and in changing the atmosphere of a space. They could make the space looks more cheerful and pleasing if are used properly. A living room with orange curtains facing south will have nice warm reflections in a shiny sunny day. Actually reflections are there with all kinds of surfaces of any surface colour and texture, but in different degrees. Each surface reflects its colour on the nearby ones and gets some of its reflected. So, when drawing two objects adjacent to each other, a red and a green one, add some green touches to 4
the red one and add some red shades to the green one. In a way this will help in adding unity to your artwork. There is a say: that the most perfect drawing; is a drawing that each colour in it is available in all its parts but in different ratios. This will add unity to any artwork. Unity and variety are two important elements in any piece of art. To add some variety to your work, here are some tips: Try to apply all elements of design in your drawings; line, texture, shape, value, space and form. Make sure you have some warm colour areas and some cool areas in your drawings. Make sure they are well balanced. Try using different pressures (light, medium and heavy), to achieve different depths and different tones of colour. To add life to your work, try varying the colour intensity, saturation and hue in your artwork. 5
Don t try to keep your drawing too clean. Preliminary line traces are in my opinionserve as a nice background to the art work, as well keeping some sketchy lines are providing good study to how you are building up your sketches. If you are unwilling to do so try using a light coloured pencil, from your colour palette, to draw out your sketch outlines. To help prevent stain on your drawing caused by your hand keep a clean sheet of paper under your hand. Paper Surfaces Hot Press paper- smooth surface with very little tooth. Cold Press paper - rough or textured surface. This type of paper tends to eat up pencils quickly. It is suitable specially, for water colour pencils. Watercolour Pencils Water colour pencils are very similar to colour pencils, but they do have a water soluble core. Notice that when use water on a watercolour hatched area the resulting will be darker. One of the aims after using watercolour technique is creating contrast in texture between the rough hatching and the smooth spots of areas treated with water. If you are going to be using a wet technique, tape down your paper to a board, to prevent buckling of paper. 6
The brand that I work with the most is, Derwent Watercolour Pencils They are super creamy and they have a wonderful selection of. Derwent Watercolour Pencil Sets are available in Tins set of 12, 24 or 36. Use dry as a conventional colour pencil and then wash over with a brush. Pencils are non-toxic. 7