This week, after organizing my coloured pencils into a binder like case I got on Amazon last fall, I started playing with these tools that I’ve always had, but haven’t used a lot. To give a bit of structure to my play, I started two workshops on Udemy that explore the use of coloured pencils as an artistic medium, as follows:
I’ve always enjoyed working with this artistic medium, but admit I’ve never explored it enough to really discover it’s possibilities. For example, I love the hyper realistic drawings by CJ Hendry and ones by Jesse Lane. I love how both artists work from their own reference photos that they shot.
C1: Section 1: Coloured Pencil Basics: 2-3
C2: Section 2: Materials & Mark Making Methods: 16-21
In practicing the introductory techniques presented in the courses, I started creating a non-representational abstracted piece on 8x8 watercolour paper, which has more tooth to the texture of its surface.
Techniques I’ve used include:
blending, burnishing (layering);
experimenting with mark-making such as:
circling or circulism;
using gradients & varying the pressure of marks made (alternating between soft, medium and heavy pressure);
playing with lines.
Here are some process shots or the piece I’ve been playing with…
The above photos were also posted on Instagram.