Colored pencils are one of the easiest artistic mediums to learn how to use. In most situations, all you need to get started sketching with coloured pencils is a sheet of paper and the pencils themselves.
What is a colored pencil?
Colorful pencils are made out of a core of coloured pigments encased in a wood shell. While clay is commonly used as a binder in graphite pencils, coloured pencil pigments are bonded with wax or oils, as well as other binding agents and additions. These binders aid in the movement and blending of colours over the paper.
A Quick Background on Colored Pencils
Throughout the nineteenth century, coloured pencils were used for checking and marking, to lend a contrastive hue to papers marked in graphite or black ink. For marking up draughts, newspaper and print editors, for example, preferred red and blue coloured pencils.
By the early twentieth century, the widespread manufacture and usage of coloured pencils as an artistic medium was well started. Colored pencils are frequently employed by hand-illustrators in addition to finished coloured pencil artwork since they are easier to erase than other mediums.
Colored Pencil Tips and Tricks
• Pressing harder with a coloured pencil will add more pigment to the colour, but it will not darken it. Layering a slightly darker bordering colour over a lighter colour is the greatest approach to darken it.
• Colors should be mixed to get the desired colours, tones, and tints. You won't have the right pencil in your box for every colour you wish to draw on paper. Some of these colours will have to be created by carefully blending and combining the colours you already have.
• Layer your colours and be patient. This will always assist you in extracting additional depth from your image.
• When layering colours, experiment with deeper blues or browns before darkening completely with black.
• You may still layer on top of a gently drawn black coloured pencil to give the hue a more intriguing tint.
• Layering pigments over a colour, using a lighter version of the colour or a lighter colour neighbour, is a common way to lighten it. Keep in mind that you may need numerous layers for this.
• Use a brush to move colours, combine them, and assist the pigments in filling in the white areas left by the teeth of the paper.
• Hold the pencil sideways while shading to shade with the widest edge of the pencil lead. This will assist you in keeping your layers light, smooth, and under control.
• Use a hand-sharpener and make sure the blade isn't dull. Colored pencils are delicate, and you want to use as much of the pencil as possible for your artwork. It's aggravating when a pencil breaks in the sharpener, so keep yours sharp.
• Before you start sketching, consider the tooth of your paper. If you're drawing on rougher paper, it will affect how you plan and execute your skills, as well as how you embrace the general texture of the paper.
