Colored Pencil Skills

The project

Trace the skills sheet pages onto drawing paper. Slowly, carefully and neatly practice applying and blending color using colored pencils. Use the following student work as a reference.

Supplies

Use Prismacolor colored pencils to complete the skills sheets. I will supply the drawing paper.

What is "dry" and "wet"?

To achieve the "dry" look, layer color on the paper but do not apply so much pressure that you fill in the little valleys in the drawing paper. The texture of the paper should show through a little. Apply layers of color until it is as dark as you want.

To get the "wet" look, you apply color on the paper, then burnish the pigment into the little valleys with a colorless blender or a white pencil. No water is involved in the "wet" look, just solid, rather shiny color.

Living a Lie — The Colorless Blender

Blending is achieved by slowly layering one color over another color. For example, to blend yellow to orange, layer yellow thicker in one area and apply less and less pressure on the pencil to fade out to white paper. Then layer orange thicker in the white area and apply less and less pigment as you move toward the yellow area.

The colorless blender does not blend. The colorless blender will not move pigment around. It will only smash two or more pigments down into each other.

Empty Promises — The White Pencil

The white pencil does not color white. For example, drawing on top of red with the white pencil will force the red pigment into the valleys of the paper causing the red to appear brighter and more solid rather than lighter.

Try drawing white highlights before adding any color to the paper. If the grain of the paper is filled with white pigment in the highlight areas, it is harder to accidentally fill it with too much of another color.

Technical Pen Skills

Use the Micron technical pen(s) provided in your graphic design kit to complete the pen skills practice.

Strive to fill the rectangles with smooth blends from very dark to very light. To get the "shadow" side very dark, layer the pen strokes as you layered color in the colored pencil skills practice.