Spring in Colored Pencil

Tags

Brunzeel Aquarelle, Canson, colored pencil, Crayola, illustration, iris, nature, pencil work, Prismacolor pencils, Spring

Spring scene (Iris) in colored pencil

The story behind the sketch:

Spring is so colorful it just begs for a medium that will express some of that. This scene was at a friend’s home, & was chosen & sketched spontaneously.

My experience in doing this sketch:

Colored pencil is fun–that’s the best word I can think of to describe working with it. It may not produce the most realistic or sophisticated results—although some artists have achieved such through careful use of layering & blending techniques. It’s great for outdoor sketching because it’s clean, portable, & lets you work in color without paint. This sketch was relaxing to do, & it evokes a nice memory of a beautiful place when I look at it.

The technical stuff

Substrate: Canson “Sketch”, a smooth paper with just enough tooth for pencil work. Prismacolor pencils were the main ones used, but Crayola, and other “kid’s” colored pencils were used too. A Brunzeel Aquarelle was used and a General’s colored pencil too. (Unless I’m doing a work of fine art that will be exposed to light over a long term, I don’t worry too much about using expensive pencils. The ones designed for artists are definitely more pigment-dense & softer, but sometimes one of the kid’s brands will have just the color I”m looking for.)

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Early Bloomer

Tags

artwork, botanical drawing, drawing, flowers, graphite, iris, nature, plants, sketches, sketching

The story behind the sketch:

This year, all the blooming plants are out about a month early, so we’re already enjoying my favorite flower, the iris.

Although this flower is a colorful dark purple and white, I wanted to see if I could still capture its essence in black & white.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Sketching flowers in all their detail, is , for me, a sort of meditation. In the best moments, the flower is all that exists in the world. I suppose that is Zen.

The technical stuff:

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the paper I used, as it was very old stock; it has a texture that sort of looks like parchment; just slightly toothy; good for getting a velvety look on the petals . I believe the graphite stick is a 6B, although I apparently, at one time, started to use the wrong end of it, where the grade was marked. ( Whoops!) A 6B pencil was used to get the delicate markings on the upper part of the fall.

It took a light touch and a sharp pencil to do the veining on the white upper petals. On this sketch I didn’t do any blending. It’s all “straight from the pencil”, using line to create gradations in tone.

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.