WIP - Day Eight

Yesterday I thought I had finished and, as usual, I placed the piece on a small easel on our coffee table.  Every so often I look at it and think, OK its fine.  Later in the evening my husband remarked that the line on the jaw made it look like the boy was holding up a mask to his face.  I looked at it again and could clearly see what he meant, it did look more like a mask than a face! 

Taking his critique, today I worked on the jaw line and neck areas ... adding more shadowing and softening the sharp line.  Believe me, I was really concerned about overworking it and had to get up and walk away several times.  My husband and I finally agreed that this is a good as it is going to get ... so, I hope you like the subtle changes ....

I think I have decided to title this piece "Tender Young Thoughts",  what do you think?

Happy Day!

Karen Anne

WIP - Day Seven - Finis

Ended up I needed to take a day away before I could complete this illustration.  Basically, I applied about 7 or 8 layers of various shades of blue to the shirt, after which I applied a light mineral spirits wash using a paper stub.  Once I had allowed the mineral spirits to dry, I went back with a Prismacolor Soft Core black pencil and ever so lightly enforced the darkest part of the shirt shadows.

It seemed I should be done, but something just seemed to be a bit off.   I didn't want to over work the drawing so I decided to add some more indigo blue and black to the back ground because it just didn't feel right.  Figured if I correct the back ground, then maybe I'll find what is bugging me.

Once I had added the additional colors to the background, I took a Q-tip that been dipped in mineral spirits and delicately dabbed at those colors ... I wanted a bit of a smoky, shadowy look and thought this might be just the ticket.  Too my utter surprise, once I had completed this the entire picture seemed to pop out at me and say "We're done!" ....

I then sat it on a small easel and settled back to watch a re-run of "Murder She Wrote"; wanted to distract myself from the work and kinda study it every so often.  I become so involved in a piece that I really can't see it anymore, I see what I am intensely working on but not the whole piece.  I find that by distracting myself with a good TV mystery I can slowly see what I have done and where I need to go next.

After about an hour, I saw his eyes needed just a "bit" of color added ... so I took the piece and went over to my area, added just a wee bit of black shadowing and then I was happy!  I am very proud of this piece, still don't have a title but it will come, and pleased to share the final results with you at this time.

Take care, be happy, let art bring happiness into your life.
Karen Anne

PS ... The above scan just does not capture the colors, so I am adding another ... it would be great if I could show you the true colors ... but it is half way between the above and the following ...

 

This one captures the vibrancy (somewhat) of the colors ... but not the softness of the real textures ... so if you can imagine the softness of the first and the vibrancy of color in this ... you might be able to see what I actually did...

WIP - Day Six

Day Six started off slow, I visited with internet friends, got caught up on some correspondence; put a ham bone with trimmings in a pot with some onions, celery, carrots, and misc. herbs to make a stock for some Ham and Potato Chowder tomorrow night .... mmmmmm ... the house is really smelling good!

Then back to the drawing table!  Today I worked a bit on the hair and face, and then placed my full attention on the hands ... hands are hard to do, so wasn't especially anxious to get started.  Especially since I am not all to sure about a formula for skin tones.

As luck would have it, I recently met a new i-friend and today she provided me with the following which I am finding to be quite helpful and thought I would share it with all of you!


Skin Tone Groups ...
There are 6 value groups to build with. You need to move either up or down the groups but don't skip values. You should not see your strokes. Start with a light wash of
Value gr. #1: Cream then Light peach. Move on to the next group. Use light to medium pressure. (I use light)
Value gr. #2: Jasmine, Deco pink, Pink rose, Beige.
Value gr. #3: Yellow ochre, Peach, Mineral orange, Blush pink, Rosy beige.
Value gr. #4: Goldenrod, Clay rose, Pink, Light umber, Pumpkin orange, Burnt ochre.
Value gr. #5: Dark brown, Terra cotta, Henna.
Value gr. #6: Dark umber, Tuscan red, Black. You should be able to achieve any skin tone with these colors.
Don't skip over any value groups!!!!! You can skip colors within a group.

Back to the drawing board ... I followed the above from #1 to #6 and finally carefully blended all the colors together using a paper stump dipped in mineral spirits.  I think the hands came out pretty well.  Next I started layering various shades of blue to the shirt.  I began with a light blue, used a darker blue to add some shading, went over that with an even darker shade, followed by a light application of the original blue.  I'll be adding more tones of blue tomorrow and then apply the blender pencil or the mineral spirits ... or perhaps a combination of the both ... we'll see.

 

All in all, I think this piece is coming along quite nicely.  

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

WIP - Day Five

It's hard to believe that this is Day Five!  Today I basically worked on the hair color; first I applied several layers of different shades of brown and then blended them with the colorless blending pencil.  When you use a blender pencil (or mineral spirits), colors have a tendency to change a bit, one of the dark browns I had used turned to a charcoal black when blended.  Lesson learned?  Test out your colors with a blender on a separate sheet of paper so that unwanted results don't show up on the piece you are working on.

I didn't really like the results after using the colorless blender so I turned to a paper stump dipped into mineral spirits.  This perked it up a bit, but I still felt something was amiss.  I added fine lines of tuscan red, dark brown and terra cotta (Verithin pencil) and this seemed to be helping achieve what I was striving for.  Yet still, I was not satisfied with what I was seeing.

Finally I fell back on my trusted and faithful tools ... my art illustration pens!  I used orange, light brown and dark brown, diligently applying several lines of each.  At last I was gaining the look and feel of hair.

Another nice little trick, it is always nice to see some white strands of hair in the piece, an easy way to do this is to place a piece of tracing paper over the art paper and, using a fine point ball point pen, draw the strands onto the tracing paper.  When you apply your colors these lines are deep enough that they don't pick up color and provide the light strands you may want.

Having a few minutes to spare and not wanting to work on the hair any more today, I began working on the shadowing of the hands using a soft core pencil in peach.

Here are the results of today's efforts .....

 

Oh, yeah ... I didn't like the way the eye on the left side of the sheet was looking so I "erased" what I didn't like using an X-acto knife blade with slow gentle strokes and then added some corrections with verithin pencils.  It still needs some more work, but not today!

Take care and Happy Day!

Karen Anne

WIP - Day Four

Today I remembered that I should have started with the background first (whoops!), so I switched over to that area of the picture and began layering different colors to get the effect I was looking for.  I wanted a deep black for behind his head and a lighter greenish black around his face and hands.

First I applied a layer of a mossy green over the entire area, followed that by a deep blue, then a deep red, dark brown, and finally black .... I kept the colors lighter by his face.   Then I took my Prismacolor Premier colorless blender and blended together all of these back ground layers.  (I had used a Derwent colorless blender earlier, but it is rough and doesn't blend nearly as well as the Prismacolor one.)  This provided a nicely mixed waxy base.

 The final step was to apply a mineral spirit wash to the background with a Q-tip, using small circular strokes.  For now, I feel the back ground looks well enough to focus on another area of the picture tomorrow.  I'll probably do some touch up on the background later, but it's good enough for the time being.

Oh, I did also work on the face, neck and ear shadowing just a bit; and applied some pinks to his cheeks and nose.  This time using the Prismacolor Premier colorless blender for blending.

I think this is turning into a "test different techniques" illustration, if I mess it up during the process I will have learned.  If it turns out good, well that would be great!

Til tomorrow...

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

WIP - Day Three

On Day Three I added some more shadowing to the face, colored in the eyes, added lashes and eye brows and began working on the hair.  I have used the mineral spirits (applied with paper stumps) for all the blending, I think I am beginning to get the hang of this blending with mineral spirits.  Go slow and easy.

I was having trouble working on just the face, I needed more in other areas so that I can see where the shadowing needs more emphasis and I decided now was a good time to beginning working on other areas of the drawing.

I now think I am off to a good start .....

T

Til tomorrow ...

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

WIP - Day Two

Our two youngest grandchildren spent the night and I didn't get much work completed on the piece as I would have liked,   I did manage to add more shadowing to the face.  This time I am trying out mineral spirits applied with a paper stump for blending the colors.

At one point, I had muddied the shading so badly I was ready to toss the piece, but I really hate to waste a good piece of paper.  Instead I used an X-acto knife blade to gently scrape away the offending mess, praying I wouldn't mess it up further.

I finally put it aside, feeling like it was only good for experimenting further with different techniques.  After a couple hours, I went over to see what I could salvage and much to my surprise, it didn't look half bad!  I had forgotten a key rule when using mineral spirits ... you have to let the paper completely dry before moving on!  When mineral spirits are used for blending they tend to turn the paper a grayish hue, making the area look muddy; once the paper is dry you can see the true results.

Day Two (I still haven't titled it)

 

Guess I will continue and see where the piece leads me......

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

 

WIP - Day One

Well now, I think I am ready to begin a new colored pencil drawing using the techniques I am learning from "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Unltrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen.

I really want to work on the flesh tones in my next illustration so I picked a photo that is mostly head and hands.  I made a rough sketch and cleaned it up by tracing over it using tracing paper to provide clean lines, after which I traced it onto Stonehenge 100% cotton art paper for coloring.  Once it was on my new piece of paper canvas I began working on layering on flesh colors and laying out my shadowing.

Today I found that by using my pencil in an under handed fashion I have more control of the lightness which I apply.  I've noticed that when I use my pencil in the traditional fashion (for writing) I tend to apply too much pressure and too much color too soon (boy, that's a lot of too's).

Following is the progress which was made today .....

                    Photo                           Tracing Paper Sketch               Begin Flesh Tones


I still have not decided what I will title this piece, so if you have a suggestion, please let me know!

Happy Day!
Karen Anne Brady

"Bowl Of Cherries" Day Six ... Finis!

Today mark's the completion of my "Bowl Of Cherries" illustration.  It has been an interesting, challenging and educational journey that I have thoroughly enjoyed!

Last night, using masking fluid, I placed a small spot on each cherry so that when I began to color in the morning the dried masking fluid would leave white areas on each cherry as a highlight.  I was so intent on getting the spots on correctly that I also spilled a nice dollop onto the deck rail (whoops!) but not to worry .... I just let it sit to dry and then lifted it off, all the while hoping I had not damaged the illustration.  Thankfully, it did not!

For the cherries I started out with a base of yellow, followed by different shades of oranges, and reds. burnishing each with a canary yellow Prisma Premier pencil.  Once I was satisfied with the colors I removed the masking fluid and revealed the highlights, they made a big difference!  All in all, I think this picture turned out pretty well, at least I am happy with the results.

 

I want to thank each of you who has followed me on this colored pencil adventure, I have very much enjoyed your company.

Finally, if you'd like to learn this and many more colored pencil techniques, pick up a copy of  "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Unltrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen at BrushAndPencil.com.  It is certainly one of my better investments and I highly recommend it to all colored pencil artists!

Happy Day All!

Karen Anne Brady

"Bowl Of Cherries" Day Five

Today I added more shadowing to the face, along with more details (eye lashes, eye brows, etc.).  Added the hair and completed his "Cherry Earring"!  I have to admit, however, that when it came to the hair I did use brown, black and orange ink pens to achieve the fineness of the strands of hair, in addition to the colored pencil layers.  I didn't do any blending in the hair because I like the strands to show ... to me it provides a more natural look and feeling.

 

Next I decided to work on just the bowl that holds the cherries.  For a reference I pulled out an old bowl that has been in the family for eons!  From since I can remember, Jim's Mom would fill it will whole nuts at Christmas Time and it would be sitting on the coffee table during the entire Christmas Season offering up tasty nuts of all kinds with several sets of nut crackers.   

Anyway, back to the drawing, I completed the bowl with several layers of brown shades and some yellow and ochre....then I used a "stub" (a paper stick that has been tightly rolled and sharpened on each end) to burnish the multiple layers.   

 

Tomorrow I will begin working on the cherries, Jim's parents had many cherry trees in their backyard; I liked the flavor of the Bing cherries best, but the beautiful colors in the Royal Ann cherries has always intrigued me, so I will be filling this bowl with Royal Ann's!

As an aside, today I contacted Alyona Nickelsen to make sure it was OK to be referencing her name, her book, and her website in my blog.  I was quite delighted when she responded back and said it was fine for me to do so.  She is quite a remarkable woman!  

That said, if you like working with colored pencils it would be a wonderful asset to your art library to purchase her book  "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Unltrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen at BrushAndPencil.com.  Her blog also has available a wonderful wealth of information, be sure to check it out!

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

 

"Bowl Of Cherries" Day Four

I began today by removing the masking paper from the arms and neck areas.   I began with a light peach Prisma Premier pencil and added darker shades in layers, this time I used my lightest peach colored pencil to act as the burnishing pencil after which I added shadows using terra cotta and dark brown followed by some additional light burnishing with the terra cotta color.  Then onto the cherries ....

 

Next I removed the masking paper from the head and started coloring in the flesh of the face.  In the past I have a troubles adding pink to the cheeks so this time I put a layer of a light pink in the cheek areas after which I started layering different shades of peach followed by terra cotta for the initial shadowing.  At this point I was getting tired and decided to call it a day....

 

There are no instructions in the book  "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Unltrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen at BrushAndPencil.com for coloring flesh so this is all ad-libbed using the techniques I have learned.  We'll see how I do tomorrow!

Happy Day everyone!

Karen Anne

 

 

"Bowl Of Cherries" Day Three

Today I completed the woodwork on the deck rail.  For the wood I burnished the layered colors with a burnishing pencil and then used a black raspberry Prisma Premier colored pencil to add details and some additional shadowing.  I also completed the tablecloth on top of the table, after applying several layers of oranges and reds I burnished the layers with a burnishing pencil and then I used the tip of an Xacto knife blade to scratch a scored design.  Once again, I sprayed the finished work with workable fixative (meaning I can color over the fixative once it has dried to make any wanted changes).

 

With the completion of the woodwork I decided my next move would be to work on the lad's shirt, so I used the knife blade to cut away the masking paper leaving the shirt exposed and ready for coloring.  I felt a plain shirt was just .... well, too plain ... and I added a little celtic design to add some character.  Kids love to wear clothing with some fun design.   

First I colored in the design and then added a layer of light blue to the shirt, I burnished the blue using a white colored Prisma Premier pencil.  Slowly I added more layers of deeper blues, burnishing each of those layers (lightly) with a burnishing pencil, after which I applied a light coat of workable fixative.   The following is the result of all of today's efforts .....

 

I'm not sure where I will go tomorrow ... the boy or the bowl of cherries ... hmmm, something to ponder while I study the piece tonight.

Remember, if you want detailed instructions for using these techniques, refer to "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Unltrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen at BrushAndPencil.com

Happy Day!
Karen Anne Brady

"Bowl Of Cherries" - Day Two

So far today I have completed (for now) the shrubbery in back of the deck rail.  I applied several layers of different green colored pencils, indigo blue and black, and some dark brown in a camouflage type pattern; after which I applied mineral spirits with a Q-tip in a dabbing manner.  Once this was finished I added more black to add contrast and a bit more brown to the green, but I was lacking highlights I wanted so I took an exacto knife with a sharp blade and scratched little bits off of the top of the green areas and this provided some dimension to the background without its overpowering the composition of the illustration.

After which I applied a coat of workable fixative so that I would not smear the background area as I begin work on the deck rail.  I also lightly traced around the figure of the boy and the bowl of cherries with the same knife blade and removed the masking paper just from the rail area, leaving the boy protected from smudging as I begin coloring the woodwork.

"Bowl Of Cherries" Background completed

 

Well, I have now started working on the top of the deck rail and have the slats in the rail blocked in.  With the rail, I am using a burnishing pencil to blend the layers of color, then I used a sharpened pencil to add in detail of the wood grain.  But, I have been working on this so intently that I am too tired to do any more coloring ... so I am calling it quits for the day before I begin making all kinds of mistakes.    The following is the rest of today's progress.

 

Til tomorrow ... Happy Day!

Karen Anne

PS  These are techniques I am learning and applying from reading and studying the book "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen.
If you want to learn more about these techniques in depth, I highly encourage you to purchase this book, it is truly amazing!