3 Colored Pencil Brands and When To Use Them

What a wonderful way to reconnect with my life in Florida! My first class back at the Rookery Bay Learning Center was “Flowers in Colored Pencil,” and it couldn’t have been more inspiring.

I hadn’t created much art in the last month or so due to my relocation, and I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on my pencils again. To dive into the colorful world of florals, birds and butterflies was perfect! It was the artistic jumpstart I needed to get into the swing of my new life in Florida.

In the class, we covered a lot of territory. I demonstrated a variety of colored pencils. Each one of them gives a totally different look to your work. Here are examples of my personal favorites.

Using Colored Pencils

This first example (above) is Verithin pencils. These dry, sharp leads are perfect for the colored pencil technique called layering. They also can be blended with a stump, if put down lightly. I love the look of layering, for it allows the paper to still show through, giving a somewhat pixilated look to the drawing. It’s great for creating flowers that have a more matte finish, or are somewhat fuzzy.

For shiny subjects, I prefer Prismacolor. This heavy wax colored pencil can be burnished up, (heavily applied) to create the look of a painting. The heavy coverage Prismacolor provides is perfect for creating shiny petals and brilliant, bright colors. As you can see here, they are also good for glass and creating textures. The texture of the bricks was scratched out with a craft knife.

For more of a pastel quality, I demonstrated how to use the Derwent Coloursoft pencils. These are a clay based colored pencil. When applied to suede board or velour paper, the look is much like that of a pastel painting. You can see the softness these pencils provide.

In my workshop, I realized that this was a lot of information because of the looks on my students’ faces as they tried to keep it all straight. Stay tuned, and I will go into more information and instruction on each of these colored pencil techniques in future blog posts.

The most important thing to remember is that practice is the key to learning. Never be afraid to experiment and make a few mistakes. That’s the only way to gain experience, and learn what NOT to do. The more you do, the better you will become!

So go out and have fun. Colored pencil is a wonderful medium to play with and enjoy for the pure fun and creative nature of drawing. Come back (or check out my books here) and I’ll show you how!

Until next time,
Lee

Lee Hammond has been called the Queen of Drawing. That may not be fair these days, since in addition to providing the best drawing lessons, she has also created fantastic books and videos filled with the same easy to follow acrylic painting techniques, colored pencil techniques and more. Click here to see all of the instructional books and DVDs that Lee Hammond has to offer!