Little Girl - Finis on Day Three

I finished my little girl today and I must say, overall, I am very pleased with the results. 

Today I worked on the wood couch arm and the couch cushion, implementing many of the techniques from the book "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen. 

The many layers of color on the wood created quite a realistic rendering, even the couch cushion doesn't look too bad.  I also added more shadowing to her hair and face. I like contrast.  Then the background was looking pretty pale so I added another dense layer of an olive green shade of my Prisma colored pencils and then slowly dabbed minerals spirits with a Q-tip to the freshly applied color. 

These new techniques I am learning are taking some adjustments on my part, but I am liking the results I am able to achieve.  This new world of the use of colored pencils is quite inspiring and most exhilarating!  Try it, you may find you like it!

"Little Girl in Plaid and Black"

Happy day to all!

Karen Anne

Little Girl - Drawing In Progress - Day 3

Today I mostly worked on her outfit, but I did add some contrast to the skin tones and hair.  I was able to achieve the black in the dress by first laying a base of deep blue over which I colored black; then I took a small paint brush, dipped it in mineral spirits and dabbed it onto the black of the bodice, this evened out the pencil strokes.

Then, using a flat wide brush, I gently stroked the mineral spirits onto the black of the skirt which left it looking a bit like velvet, which is what I had been hoping for.  I can now see that I must have mixed up my colors when doing the plaid because some areas look pinker than other parts.  Oh well!

Finally I began working on the grain of the woodwork on the mission style couch.  Looks like there is a good chance I will finish it up tomorrow!

If you would like to learn more about these techniques, refer to "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen.   This is a highly informative book and one of the best investments I have ever made!

Happy Day!
Karen Anne