Why Colored Pencil?
My Start with Colored Pencil Drawing
While I work with watercolor, acrylic paint, and oil paint, colored pencil remains my primary medium for creating original artwork. This often leads to the question, “When did you start drawing with colored pencils?” My journey began in 2017 during my tenure at an arts magnet school.
Colored pencil was a medium my students enjoyed and it was fun to teach and use. Our budget for supplies was small, so wasting paint was out of the question. We used paint sparingly, but since there was a repurposed card catalog already full of colored pencils, we used them for many projects.
During a recent conversation with a former student who graduated high school this year, she told me she still practices using the shading and coloring techniques she learned when she was in my class. It made my heart so happy to hear not only that she was using these techniques, but also that she was still creating art.
Before Colored Pencils
In college, I was a drawing and painting major with an emphasis in drawing. I focused mainly on drawing and mostly did graphite pencil, charcoal, and chalk pastel work. Chalk pastel is messy, and I never really loved how it felt on my hands. I know I looked crazy walking around campus covered in chalk and there is no telling how many pairs of jeans I ruined. So finding colored pencils was very exciting!
My First Original Colored Pencil Drawing
My first full-sized colored pencil drawing was created in 2018. It was a pretty large drawing (12x16) that took around 5 months to complete, since my time was limited to working on it in the evenings and on weekends. The way it turned out and the process had me hooked and colored pencil has been my medium of choice ever since.
Benefits of Colored Pencils
Colored pencil drawing is portable. You can pack up quite a selection of pencils and a drawing pad in a small to medium-sized bag. Drawing with them can be quite precise, and I love the control I have using them. They also give a gorgeous texture and finished look on paper. To an extent they are also erasable if you make a mistake (though you do have to be careful how many times you erase as it degrades the paper).
Colored Pencil Drawing Resources
Chalk pastel exposed me to layering and blending colors, but there were still many colored pencil techniques to learn. Thankfully there are some great resources out there like books on colored pencils and some great YouTube artists, too! Hopefully the following list will be helpful to anyone interested in getting into colored pencils.
Kirsty Partridge
Kirsty Partridge is an awesome colored pencil artist based in the UK. Her videos not only helped with learning colored pencils, but also drawing in general. She is a great resource for drawing portraits.
https://www.kirstypartridge.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng5c5eMgwM4
Lachri Arts
Another of my favorite colored pencil artists is Lisa Clough from Lachri Fine Art. She is an amazing wildlife and animal artist. She uses a variety of media such as colored pencils, pastels, watercolor and paint. She has taught me so much about blending and using color.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRV1jRlitTZBPj7OPHS87RZ-FT5z9y9B8
Books
The Colored Pencil Painting Bible by Alonya Nichelsen
https://brushandpencil.com/product/colored-pencil-painting-bible/
Two books I purchased used from McKay’s Used Books, which can probably be purchased used are as follows:
Colored Pencil Portraits Step-by-Step by Ann Kullberg
Mastering Colored Pencils by Arlene Steinberg
Thank you for reading! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Jennifer
