Essential Materials For Starting Out In Coloured Pencils

The immediacy and portability of coloured pencils make them a great commencing issue for numerous artists. Below I will be talking about the distinct varieties of coloured pencils and some of the necessary devices I use for my colored pencil art and drawings.

What are the unique sorts of pencils?

I use colored pencils on a day-to-day foundation and whilst colored pencils are reasonably simple to fully grasp, there are distinctive styles of colored pencils that are suited for unique kinds or approaches.

Colored pencils vary in quality as discussed in 1 of my preceding website posts. Wax colored pencils are significantly additional prevalent than their counterparts which are oil centered pencils. There is a school of assumed that you shouldn’t use equally jointly, but I use both collectively in my pet portrait commissions and I hardly ever have any difficulties. In point, coloured pencils can be made use of in conjunction with all sorts of other media as well these types of as acrylics, pastels and collage.

What are the discrepancies between wax & oil pencils?

The two oil and wax pencils provide clean, satin like finishes. As a general rule wax primarily based pencils are ordinarily softer in texture whilst oil dependent pencils are likely to a more difficult composition.

Wax Pencils

Softer pencils indicate that you can apply extra layers with them and the pigment travels further more across the paper. Layering is simpler assuming you never push on too challenging. You’ll discover that wax primarily based pencils burnish additional by natural means. Burnishing is a phrase to explain the tooth of the paper no for a longer period demonstrating through the coloured pencil levels. It brings out the glow of the pencils you’re utilizing aka sprucing. Making use of your pencil work in levels will offer extra depth and you can blend as you go. A fantastic setting up place for wax dependent pencils are Derwent Coloursoft or Derwent Chromaflow.

Oil Pencils

Oil primarily based pencils final extended than wax based pencils and also continue to keep a sharper point for for a longer period. The sharp points are considerably less most likely to break. Oil primarily based pencils are usually more durable, on the other hand, they are continue to vulnerable to breakage if mishandled or dropped onto a hard surface. If they are costly pencils, be sure to be thorough when using them in particular if you make a dwelling from your art. Broken pencils include up if not cared for. Oil based pencils are likely to start off to blend a lot quicker when blending and layering. The colors have a tendency to be a lot far more vivid than wax centered pencils. 

Most oil pencils have a diploma of wax in the core. The outcome is that thick levels can be crafted up, whilst the decreased ratio of wax implies that the likely for ‘bloom’ is decreased. Bloom takes place when the wax in a coloured pencil drawing rises to the leading layer and results in what seems like a high-quality grey powder coating. This can materialize in pencils with a superior wax articles. Oil dependent pencils contain Derwent Lightfast, Caran D’Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos which are bought as sets or separately.

In Summary

In the long run some artists favor wax dependent and other folks favor oil primarily based and artists like me favor both. It is up to the particular person employing them to decide.

The expense, availability and familiarity of wax based mostly pencils are the primary reasons why they are a fantastic beginning stage. They are marketed in sets typically setting up at a set of 12, and some are accessible to get independently. Choosing colors separately often will work out superior, for instance, if you are drawing pet portraits and have to have a superior vary of browns.

Watercolour & Pastel pencils

Watercolour pencils are multi practical, use them dry like a typical coloured pencil, or soaked wherever you have drawn to attain watercolour outcomes. Commonly a watercolour pencil has a brush symbol on the barrel of the pencil. Derwent Watercolour Pencils or Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Pencils make excellent beginner’s sets.

Pastel pencils are a terrific addition to a pastel artists instrument box. You are able to accomplish finer details with it is sharper position. Pastel pencils are very fragile and treatment needs to be taken in particular when sharpening. Professional pastel pencil sharpeners have a shallower blade angle than normal pencil sharpeners so it is gentler on the pencil. Some pastel pencil brands do not advise that you use a pencil sharpener and recommend the use of a blade or a stanley knife to sharpen them to a finer point.  Derwent Pastel Pencils or Faber-Castel PITT Artists’ Pastel Pencils are fantastic alternatives for beginners.

What is the best paper to use? 

I discover paper is a tricky a single to decide mainly because this is a person of the most personalized things about how an artist functions. I get assistance on which papers I need to use, or what papers other artists use, only to attempt it and not like it all. Paper has to be fantastic high quality, primarily if you are a expert artist and providing your do the job. There are a couple of issues to search out for to realize what paper you are finding and no matter whether it is proper for you.

There are so lots of distinct styles, weights, smooth and rough. If you are a coloured pencil artist you need what’s regarded as “tooth”. Tooth is effectively what grabs at the pigment, the additional tooth then typically the rougher the paper is but also implies you can layer a lot more. You are going to locate that sleek papers or ultra clean papers identified as “plate” have substantially less tooth and aren’t as quick to draw on unless you are knowledgeable. You can equate tough toothy paper to be like drawing on a variety of sandpaper and the ultra easy papers to be like drawing on glass. Generally a paper in-in between these two are ideal, indicating it’s not so tough that your pencils get obliterated on them but not far too sleek that you just can’t layer. A great newbies decision of paper are Daler Rowney Medium Grain Drawing Pads or Strathmore Collection 400 Drawing Medium Surface Paper Pad

Unique paper styles explained 

Rougher papers these as ‘rough’, ‘cold pressed’ or ‘not’ watercolour papers have a coarse texture to them if you glide your hand above them. Rougher paper is also excellent for pastel pencils as it holds onto the pastel pigments, indicating it is considerably less probable to smudge whilst you are functioning on it. It also permits you to include particulars you couldn’t achieve on smoother paper.

Smoother papers such as ‘hot pressed’ watercolour paper is the paper I use for my artwork. It’s smooth more than enough to attract on but has enough tooth to give me some texture and allow for several details. I get the job done on Arches Aquarelle Incredibly hot pressed. Arguably the ideal paper dollars can invest in, Arches Cold Pressed paper is similarly just one of the best for watercolours also. Running your hand more than this paper feels clean but you can however truly feel the minimum volume of tooth that’s there. 

Plate or vellum papers are even smoother paper and as the identify suggests it is like drawing on a plate area. Strathmore offer you a plate paper with the Strathmore 500 line staying major of the line. Running your hand above this paper is as clean as it will get.

Does the weight of the paper make any difference?

Paper fat is measured in GSM. GSM stands for Grams per Square Metre. The more substantial the GSM then the thicker the paper is. For my colored pencil function I use paper that is 300gsm. Papers can go from copier/printing paper which is ordinarily in the 85-100 gsm range, all the way up to 1000gsm even though that significant a selection is venturing into cardboard territory.

What does ‘archival’ suggest?

Fantastic art papers are 100% acid totally free. This indicates that the paper will not discolour, split down or “yellow” about time. Much less expensive paper is more probably to yellow above time. Hence, it’s vital you select the accurate paper to draw/ paint on or else your perform could be ruined.

It normally usually takes a prolonged time for the paper to break down and discolour, sometimes quite a few numerous many years. Even acid free papers will probably split down above time with out right treatment. This comes about above hundreds of yrs in distinction to less expensive papers which will break down in yrs. Archival papers should really contain no groundwood or unbleached pulp. They want to meet up with rigid restrictions on metallic material, and be free from optical brighteners applied to whiten the sheet. You are ready to inform if the paper is acid absolutely free as the paper will point out on the cover that it is “acid free” and “archival”.

Other important drawing materials 

A drafting brush is a wonderful brush which sweeps absent any dust particles or pigment on the paper. Most artists use their arms to wipe away dust or pigment but this is extra possible to go away a mark. Drafting brushes are developed to have ultra high-quality hairs to pick up the tiniest particles.

Sharpeners come in a lot of forms. A handbook sharpener, this kind of as this M&R Brass Bullet sharpener, is a very good beginning position. Lots of suppliers now provide substitute blades for when your latest blade gets blunt. Some sharpeners are also multi use in which you can sharpen pencils of different dimensions this sort of as this Jakar Trio Pencil Sharpener. Electric sharpeners are also an possibility but these are additional expensive and not suited to everybody. Electric sharpeners have a slice off procedure which indicates they automatically cease as soon as the pencil is sharpened.

Erasers also appear in varying forms. Most erasers will be very firm to the contact and involve pressure to get rid of pencil marks or pigment from the paper. These erasers occasionally have a tendency to remove the tooth of the paper. If you are careless with them they can even dent or leave a gap in the paper. The other form of eraser is recognized as a knead-ready eraser or putty eraser. You can mould this to any condition and it is a lovely tool to use if you want to eliminate pencil marks devoid of eliminating any tooth of the paper. The kneadable eraser virtually feels like a buttery and significantly softer version of blue tack.

You can even use blue tack as an eraser also !

Christopher Durant is a professional colored pencil artist from South Yorkshire. He sells his prints and authentic artwork on the internet. You can continue to keep up to date with the most current updates from Christopher as a result of his Facebook website page.