Welcome to my tutorial. I have received alot of emails from other artist asking me to explain how I create my work. Hopefully, this tutorial will answer those questions. In this tutorial, I will begin with the tools I use.
TOOLS
Medium: Colored Pencils - Prismacolor
Paper: Strathmore 500 series (Vellum) White
Blending Stump (various sizes - from small to large)
Drafting Table: It's important to keep your work at an angle, this will help you keep your perspective.
Kneadable eraser: For lifting color if necessary.
Masking Tape: This is for holding the paper in place on the table. It is best to use painters masking tape so that when you pull the tape off after the art is complete, the paper will not be harmed.
Electric Pencil Sharpener: I always use Boston (they last forever).
Patience and Time: These are sometimes harder to find but with a little effort you will succeed:)
THE OUTLINE
After you have prepared all the tools that you will need, now it's time to sit down and begin the outline. The outline is the most important part of the art. If your outline is incorrect then no matter how well you render the colors, the image will still look wrong. So spend as much time as necessary on the outline to make sure all of your proportions are correct. Some artist like to use the transfer method while others prefer to use a grid. Personally...I freehand my outline and also sometimes use a grid. The choice is yours. Use whatever your comfortable with.
My next work is going to be a portrait of a wolf. Actual size is: 13.75" x 19". I always work from back to front. When choosing your colors for the background (assuming you are using a photograph as reference) do not rely on the photograph to give you a true representation. When choosing colors it helps to go outside and study the colors in person. If your drawing a tree go sit down by the tree and really study the various colors. Choose your palette by doing this. Obviously, most of us do not have immediate access to a wolf ,but I have seen them in person before and have made a mental note of their color variations. Photographs seldom if ever give a true representation of colors (especially prints from an ink jet printer). As a side note, as an artist we are allowed to use our imagination, so if you think your tree will have more of an impact using more green or blue or whatever color you think will suit your image better as a whole, then by all means use your imagination.
THE FIRST LAYERS
First layers Adding darker values
The way that I work is pretty unconventional. I choose an area to work on and then complete that area before moving on to the next. They don't teach this in art school but it works best for me. It's basically like building a puzzle. Once you have a few pieces together you can go back and make any necessary adjustments.
The colors I use for the first initial layers are:
Periwinkle - Beige Sienna - Sienna Brown - Olive Green - 70% Cool Gray
I Layed down these colors lightly in this exact sequence. Then I went back with my darkest color, 70% cool gray, and rendered the darker values. After this is complete, the real fun begins! Burnishing.
Burnishing means to render an area completely so that the paper does not show through your colors. The first color I burnished with is white. A side note: when burnishing it helps to use small circular motions. This will help your colors blend more evenly. After my initial burnish I used a blending stump to further blend the colors (again using small circular motions) I'll continue using the blending stump after every burnish. Then I went back over the area where needed with the colors I used previously (with a light touch this time) For the darker values, this time, I used indigo blue in conjunction with 70% cool gray. After this I burnished again with white. I'll continue this process until I'm happy with the results.
This is how I basically create my art. The post to follow will show my progression on the background. When the background is complete, I will start on the wolf. As I start this, I will explain in detail how I create fur so please keep checking back regularly. If you have any questions or comments, please write to me . I'll try and help you in anyway that I can.
Updated - July 17th
Since my last posting I have decided to go in a different direction with the background. The techniques that I outlined in my previous post still apply. I was going to go with more of a "woods" theme for the background but after some thought I decided that a background that has more color variations (cool colors) with more dark and light tones would compliment the main subject more so than my previous idea.
As you can see the background is almost finished. I just have a few more layers to apply to the top of the background to even out the lighting. I had the previous background about halfway complete when I decided to change it. If this ever happens to you all you need to do is to take a razor blade (very carefully) and scrape off the pigment. Obviously, you'll need to use the razor flat against the paper. If your using a paper that is too thin this will not work. This is why I recommend using a thick heavy paper (strathmore 500 series vellum). After I had removed most of the color (you'll never get it all off...that's ok because burnishing will hide allot) I went back over with my new colors - Dark green, cool gray 90%, periwinkle, olive green, and beige sienna. I burnished all of these colors together. I burnished the darker colors where I wanted darker tones and burnished the lighter colors where I wanted lighter tones. Then I decided I wanted to lighten up even further (in specific areas) the lighter tones so I burnished those areas with white. With this particular paper you can burnish as many layers as you like until your happy with the outcome.
If you enjoy burnishing with colored pencils like I do, you'll notice that every so often the wax from the pigment will start to rise to the surface leaving a filmy residue. All you need to do is take a soft cloth (toilet paper works great) and gently wipe away the film. After a couple of wipes, the bloom will be gone permentely. I mention earlier that to further blend colors I use a blending stump. Blending stumps are best used for smaller, tighter areas. They will not be much help on a large blended area like I'm working on now. So, to further blend a large area I simply use my finger. Actually, the natural oils on your fingers work great with the wax pigment! I know of another artist that uses mineral spirits (odorless) to blend colors. This creates an interesting effect but it's really just a short cut to burnishing less and may, over time, compromise your paper which, of course, will eventually destroy all of your hard work.
That's about it for this installment. Having to change the background halfway through was not alot of fun but when it comes right down to it, the final goal is to be happy with what you've created.
On the next post I will start on the wolf and I will explain how I render eyes and fur.
The next post will be July 23rd, 2007.
Until then, Happy Drawing!
In this post I'll discuss how to create fur and how to render realistic eyes.
As you can see from the image above I've got a pretty good start on the wolf. When I create fur, I start much like I did with the background. The colors I using on the fur are: periwinkle, cool gray 70%, cool gray 90%, olive green, cool gray 30%, light umber, and white.
The first thing I did was to define my medium tones, dark tones, and light tone. If your working from a photograph, it will help you to print out a grayscale of your image for reference. This will greatly help you in defining your dark and light tonal areas.
As you can see I've used basically the same colors in the wolf that I used in the background. Doing this will greatly help the main subject look like he is really in that environment. If I hadn't done this, the wolf would have looked "pasted in".
Once you have your dark, medium, and light areas defined, now it's time to add the impression of hair. I always start with my darkest color then work my way to my lightest color. As you can see I make small lines where needed and longer lines where needed (depending on what part of the wolf I'm working on). Obviously, the wolf's hair is shorter around his mussel area than would be on the top of his head. Pay careful attention to the various lengths of hair as you progress around the body. And also, just as important, pay careful attention to the direction of the hair. If you do not render the hair direction properly your entire work will not be believable.
To render the eyes I used golden rod, cool gray 50%, cool gray 30%, periwinkle, cool gray 90 %, Olive green, light umber, and white. I started building my color using a light touch. First I used golden rod, then periwinkle then cool gray 50 %, Sienna Brown, the added a touch of cool gray 90% where needed and then I burnished the area with golden rod. Then I went back and defined my dark tones and medium tones. The I went back and burnished with golden rod again (lightly in some areas and heavy in others) Then I added some highlights using white. Please keep in mind when burnishing to use small circular motions, like I mentioned earlier, the colors blend much better using this technique.
Well, that's about it for this post. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. On my next post I'll show my progression on the wolf's body. Until then, have a great week and remember to enjoy all the beauty around you.
The next post will be July 30th, 2007.
Until then, Happy Drawing!
It's been a week since my last post and as you can see I've rendered most of the wolf's head. The background still isn't like I want it. I need to go back and add more dark layers to the top right area so that the lighting will stay consistent with the rest of the background. Once that is complete, I'll start back on the wolf. The working title for this painting is "Ghost Hunter". This painting has a bit of a dark and mysterious feel.. I think this title lends itself well to this work. So far I have a little over 2o hours work in this and by the time it's complete, I will probably have over 35 hours. This is a typical amount of time for color pencils. My wife, Wendy, bought me a set of pastels for our last anniversary and I think I'll give them a try on my next piece. This will be a challenge since I haven't worked in pastel since art school (many years ago).
If you have any questions concerning my progress so far, please feel free to email me here. This original painting and prints will be available for sale upon it's completion, so if you are interested, please email me by clicking the link above. Until next time, I hope everyone has a great week and remember to enjoy all the beauty this world has to offer.
The Next post will be on August 6th, 2007
I hope everyone has a great week!
Welcome back to the tutorial. You can see from the image below my progression since my last post. I wasn't able to get as much completed as I would have liked but when your raising a young family you take your free time when you can get it. I'm pretty happy with the results thus far but obviously have a little ways to go yet before it's complete.
In my last post I mentioned that I was going to adjust the lighting in the top portion of the background. I have achieved this by burnishing further with periwinkle, cool gray 90%, and olive green.
The final post will be on August 14th, 2007
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Here is the finished painting. Thanks everyone for your interest in how I create my work. I hope this tutorial has helped you. If you have any further question, please feel free to contact me.
