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Tackling birds in coloured pencil (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Liquid Len
- Start date
Nature__lover
Well-known member
forgot to say, I especially love that sparrowhawk because people often put birds in rural settings in paintings and drawings. But I get sparrowhawks in my garden so I know this is a perfect setting 
another thing I'd like to ask.
What coloured pencils does everyone recommend? I was going to get some prismacolour but they are really expensive.
another thing I'd like to ask.
What coloured pencils does everyone recommend? I was going to get some prismacolour but they are really expensive.
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JTMB
Well-known member
Here's one viewpoint on colored pencils, which I used to use quite a bit though currently not so much. I strongly prefer Faber Castell Pitt pencils to Primas - although that doesn't help with the cost. The reason is that Prismas have one huge weakness with a number of people. The 'lead' in Primas is spot-glued or spot welded to the wood cylinder in several places over the length of the lead. What this means is that if a Prisma is dropped, or sometimes just when sharpening, one of those attachment points may break. That in turn means that a length of the lead is no longer attached and may literally fall out while you are using it. Or, when you go to sharpen it, the unattached part falls out. This can (and does in my experience) get very annoying. Faber Castell pencils, on the other hand, are bonded the entire length of the lead, so that this is not a problem.
Secondly, Prismas are wax-based and Pitts are oil-based. So if you layer heavily with Prismas, you will get a surface sheen or 'wax bloom' that alters the appearance of the surface. This is not a significant problem with Pitts.
This having been said, lots of people use Prismas with excellent results, so as with any brand there are folks who have the opposite preference.
As to Derwents, I never have used their 'regular' colored pencils. I use their Inktense, Graphitint and regular graphite pencils and find them to be good products but of course the first two are water-soluble so they are a different animal than Prismas or Pitts.
Secondly, Prismas are wax-based and Pitts are oil-based. So if you layer heavily with Prismas, you will get a surface sheen or 'wax bloom' that alters the appearance of the surface. This is not a significant problem with Pitts.
This having been said, lots of people use Prismas with excellent results, so as with any brand there are folks who have the opposite preference.
As to Derwents, I never have used their 'regular' colored pencils. I use their Inktense, Graphitint and regular graphite pencils and find them to be good products but of course the first two are water-soluble so they are a different animal than Prismas or Pitts.
Liquid Len
Well-known member
hi Nature_lover ...
Prismas are very difficult to find in the UK; I use a combination of Derwent Studio & Coloursoft pencils, plus Caran D'Ache water solubles used dry. If find they work together well but, as I said earlier in the thread, try before you buy is the best bet.
Good luck!
LL
Prismas are very difficult to find in the UK; I use a combination of Derwent Studio & Coloursoft pencils, plus Caran D'Ache water solubles used dry. If find they work together well but, as I said earlier in the thread, try before you buy is the best bet.
Good luck!
LL
Liquid Len
Well-known member
Finally, the Sparrowhawk piece is complete(?) - if I manage to leave it alone, that is! Tweaking is dangerous and I'd hate to take it over the edge by 'fiddling'. One or two problems and challenges along the way and it almost went in the bin twice, but I'm fairly pleased with how it's turned out.
Now I'm on a bit of a roll, I need to be thinking about my next coloured piece, in addition to a large number of b&w vignettes for the forthcoming bird atlas that I'm working on. No rest for the wicked, eh?
In the mean time, I've posted a couple of my monochrome vignettes for interest, both done on scraper(scratch)board. Apologies for the scans as they reveal a bit too many 'imperfections' at the size they appear!
LL
Now I'm on a bit of a roll, I need to be thinking about my next coloured piece, in addition to a large number of b&w vignettes for the forthcoming bird atlas that I'm working on. No rest for the wicked, eh?
In the mean time, I've posted a couple of my monochrome vignettes for interest, both done on scraper(scratch)board. Apologies for the scans as they reveal a bit too many 'imperfections' at the size they appear!
LL
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phil baber
Clipped Wing
Lovely. LL.
That Hoopoe is a perfect piece. And the Cormorants ROCK!
Is it me, or has the house behind the Sprawk gone out of focus? And how did you do that?
That Hoopoe is a perfect piece. And the Cormorants ROCK!
Is it me, or has the house behind the Sprawk gone out of focus? And how did you do that?
timwootton
Well-known member
Brilliant monos - very nice indeed.
Liquid Len
Well-known member
Is it me, or has the house behind the Sprawk gone out of focus? And how did you do that?
Thanks for the kind comments guys. You rumbled me Phil! I suppose now it qualifies as a 'mixed media' piece rather than pure CP. To make the foreground 'pop' a little more, I scanned it into Photoshop, reduced the saturtion slightly and applied a smidgeon of gaussian blur to the background. Cheating? I'll let you decide on that one. Its purely a means to justify an end and, as its an illustration rather than a piece of fine art, if it works - do it! o
LL
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Thanks for the kind comments guys. You rumbled me Phil! I suppose now it qualifies as a 'mixed media' piece rather than pure CP. To make the foreground 'pop' a little more, I scanned it into Photoshop, reduced the saturtion slightly and applied a smidgeon of gaussian blur to the background. Cheating? I'll let you decide on that one. Its purely a means to justify an end and, as its an illustration rather than a piece of fine art, if it works - do it! o
LL
Very nice, LL.
When you were asking what the first piece needed I was wondering whether to stick my neck out and say that the background needed knocking back. Then I saw the finished piece! Wow, that made it just so. Cheating? Not to my eyes. Clever stuff.
phil baber
Clipped Wing
Haha! Nice!
What is good is that we should always have the option NOT to give away our secrets. I mean, would a magician readily give up their secrets?
I think NO!
Mystery is the Mother of guessing. And I still don't get it LL. But it was well done!
ps You're not a fan of the inimitable Hawkwind BTW, are you?
What is good is that we should always have the option NOT to give away our secrets. I mean, would a magician readily give up their secrets?
I think NO!
Mystery is the Mother of guessing. And I still don't get it LL. But it was well done!
ps You're not a fan of the inimitable Hawkwind BTW, are you?
mcw
Active member
Off topic on the cp thread, but back to mono - nice to see you are using scraper /scratchboard, but I'm intrigued to know how you get on with the 'new' stuff. The old British Scraperboard had a great finish - clean and almost white, which took a pretty fine line - whereas the new stuff is a dirtier grey colour and has a shiny finish which resists many types of ink. Apparently the mfg process changed for the dreaded health & safety reasons. I hardly use it now as it just doesn't give the same result.
Mike
Mike
timwootton
Well-known member
mcw
Active member
Thanks for the welcome, Tim. I should be getting on with some work instead of gawping at this stuff - but that probably goes for all of us. But I've b*ggered my ankle so I can't get out and do or see anything useful - only managed to hobble around half of birdfair last week on crutches, after a bit of daubing on the mural. Good thing I hadn't booked my usual stand this year, I'd have had to sit there waving a couple of sketchbooks.
Cheers, Mike
www.michaelcwood.co.uk
Cheers, Mike
www.michaelcwood.co.uk
Liquid Len
Well-known member
I don't believe in keeping secrets Phil, if they can be of help to anyone else! I may well try Woody's suggestion and go back into the original art with a torchon but, while its effective on papers, I have found it just pushes the pigment around on the surface of the film rather than doing what you would like it to, with disastrous results! Has anyone else any experience of/with this?
Hi MCW. Yeah, the ESDEE scraperboard can be pretty unpredictable sometimes and isn't the whitest of grounds but, for repro purposes, it still scans/prints OK. I tend to use Edding Profipens and Pitt artists' markers (shades of grey) rather than Indian ink with dip-pen and/or brush as I find them more convenient. It's even more essential that the tools are kept sharp with ESSDEE to get the best definition of line.
In answer to your question Phil ... 'We are the Warriors on the Edge of Time ...'; plus early Genesis (check out 'The Battle of Epping Forest') and 70's prog generally. It's the music I find myself listening to most whilst working. A little light-hearted diversion here; what genre(s) of music do other artists work best to?
Best,
LL
Hi MCW. Yeah, the ESDEE scraperboard can be pretty unpredictable sometimes and isn't the whitest of grounds but, for repro purposes, it still scans/prints OK. I tend to use Edding Profipens and Pitt artists' markers (shades of grey) rather than Indian ink with dip-pen and/or brush as I find them more convenient. It's even more essential that the tools are kept sharp with ESSDEE to get the best definition of line.
In answer to your question Phil ... 'We are the Warriors on the Edge of Time ...'; plus early Genesis (check out 'The Battle of Epping Forest') and 70's prog generally. It's the music I find myself listening to most whilst working. A little light-hearted diversion here; what genre(s) of music do other artists work best to?
Best,
LL
phil baber
Clipped Wing
timwootton
Well-known member
. . . depends on time of day for me. Daytime it's inevitably Rado 2 or, when playing, TestMatch Special :t:. Evenings are 'The Boatman's Call' - Nick Cave, any U2 albums, 'Grace' - Jeff Buckley, Portishead or a YouTube mix which could incorporate anything from Blondie, Radiohead, ACDC, The Mighty Quo, Mazzy Star, Rush (and I confess, Silver Machine may have slipped in there from time to time). Gregorian Chant gets dusted off periodically and I'm partial to a smidgeon of Ludvig van on occasion.
RussB
Going for Gold
Hi Len,
Just got to say I'm utterly stunned by the Sprawk. I've never come across CP work technically executed as well as this - nowhere near! Perhaps I've not been around enough.
This stunning work and Nature Lover's excellent pieces have shed a whole new light on the medium for me. How I could use them in my style of drawing though, I've absolutely no idea.
Russ
Just got to say I'm utterly stunned by the Sprawk. I've never come across CP work technically executed as well as this - nowhere near! Perhaps I've not been around enough.
This stunning work and Nature Lover's excellent pieces have shed a whole new light on the medium for me. How I could use them in my style of drawing though, I've absolutely no idea.
Russ
