Color Pencil Drawings

N K Srinivasan

I started exploring color pencil as a medium just 5 years

ago…it has been an interesting and tricky journey. I got a
box of 25 pencils of Prismacolor …I tried my hand at
portraits of babies and small children and a few landscapes…
I also tried painting with color pencils using photographs –a
technique suggested by several masters in this medium…
I liked and was indeed inspired by the works of the master-
artist Ann Kulberg…I liked her books and also books by a
couple of other authors…I checked out several books by
early pioneers like Bet Borgeson from Sunnyvale Public
Library,CA…a well stocked shelf of art books there.….

Soon my interest in color pencil work was worn out..I found

the medium tedious, terribly slow and also literally painful---
I found my hand, fingers and shoulders aching…may be I
overworked or my technique was wrong…I have been
‘painting’ only small ones…never bigger pictures than 9in by
12 in…I decided to stop work with this medium---went back
to my favorite media like water-color and acrylic….

During last year I came back to color pencils with a new

perspective….Color pencil drawings and sketches could be
great and less tedious and painful to produce…I got a few
sketching instruction books to spur me on this path.

Meanwhile I acquired several high quality brands of color

pencils ---Faber-castell Polychromos, Lyra Rembrandt
Polycolor, Steadtler and Caran-d’Ache ….I also got water-
color pencils ----Derwent and Lyra-Aquarell…..I was weaning
away from Prismacolor ones for several reasons…I found
Prisma to be more waxy, thread breaking easily and even
the leads not centred properly in some pencils. [About the
same time,I was also trying my hand with oil pastels---a
greatly neglected medium…see my article in scribd.com on
this.]

My trails with water-color pencils were far from satisfactory.

I felt the colors on the paper or support were thin---may be
alright for some landscape work.

Then I started exploring color-pencil medium for drawings

and sketches only….I feel that it is in this area that color
pencils can make work interesting---less painful or tiring---
a powerful medium.

You can use color pencils for outlining, accenting and above
all –for shading. Hatching and cross –hatching with color
pencils can have dramatic effect on any picture..I also
combine this with simple graphite pencils , HB and 2B
grades.

By the way, what is the difference between painting and

drawing in the context of color pencil work ?...in simple
terms, painting involves short strokes, while in drawing you
can make long strokes…In painting ,you will use very light
pressure and several layers; in drawing you can apply some
pressure ,have strong lines and a few layers[2 or 3 to blend
different colors….Another point, painting involves sharp
pencil point; in drawings, not necessarily sharp points
always.

I took out some graphite pencil drawings, erased the

shading and added color with color pencils. I also made
strong outlines with bright colors….
Well, these are not new techniques----art illustrators,
especially those doing children books ,have been doing this
for decades……But now you have better color pencils, more
range of colors and less waxy medium…..and more
techniques from experienced artists…
I pulled out my old boxes of these pencils and tried my
hand…it was like meeting old friends after some years.

I am not discounting the use of color pencils for paintings—

especially portraits…I admire the works of Ann Kullberg and
those of Lee Hammond with her use of photographs….But
the medium is nevertheless tiring and time-consuming…..

I would recommend color pencils for drawing and sketching

more often…then the techniques used have to be different…
You can use strong pressures, not dozens of layers over one
another and also use sides of pencils to shade or blend….

You can blend colors in any drawing…making the lines soft

and creating subtle shades/hues not attained easily by color
pencils…..
Why not try color pencils with children art work…there are
many sets of these pencils in scholastic/student grades at
fraction of the cost compared to the artist quality materials I
mentioned earlier.

Coming to ‘subjects’ for such drawings –apart from still life

drawings with bowls of fruit or pot and pans…explore
drawing birds of different combination of colors and wild
animals and ,of course, pet animals……..this can be exciting
lesson for any school student….the pleasure you get when
you draw your favorite bird of great plumage is immense…
Children love doing this for several hours…this ,perhaps , is
the domain of color pencils for class use….not just serious
portraits.

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