Colored pencils might once have been regarded as a child's tool for coloring in, but times have changed and it is now considered a "Fine Art" medium. There are so many beautiful examples of drawings done in colored pencil that it is truly inspiring and makes you want to pick up a pencil.

Here is a quick tutorial with some starting practice of techniques you will need to know and then a step by step lesson to get you up an running.

Topics in this article:
Paper Pencil types Techniques	Pencil Sharpness and Pressure Blending and Vibrancy Tutorial

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A quick note on paper:

Colored pencil can be used on a variety of surfaces. Watercolor and pastel papers are good to use. These papers can have a bit of texture which makes completely covering the paper difficult as the base color will always show through.
I like using colored paper for my work.. Ingres works well. This gives you an overall tone to your picture that helps give it continuity.

For those who like to do fine detailed work, HP or HOT (smooth) papers will be most successful. You will be able to get a smooth finish and completely cover the paper with color.

Lightweight papers or cartridge papers are not the best choice for a painting, as the don't stand up well to the pressure from the pencil point and can't take many layers of color. That is one of the keys to color pencil work, the layering of color to get a depth and vibrancy to your painting. But you can use these papers for your preliminary sketches.

Acid-free mountcard can also be used successfully. It is smooth, comes in a wide range of colors and stands up the the pressure of the pencils.

Tip: You might be able to get some off-cuts from your local picture framer at a reasonable price to try and experiment with.

 

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Pencil types:

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Basic Techniques:

A wide range of marks can be made with your colored pencil.
Make a smooth block of even color by using a "back and forth" motion. Lay color directly next to each other, but be careful to not overlap the strokes. This is because if you do you will create a striped effect. This gives you a nice even base color that you can then add subsequent layers.
Short, random strokes can be used for producing texture and can cover an area quicker than a block of even color.
Using open, random strokes allows you to use other colors over top for vibrant color mixing.
Cross hatching is also a way of coloring paper in blocks but in a more "loose" style. It also allows you to use different color combinations for intersecting effects and color mixing.
Short even strokes, flicked upwards create the look of grass.

 

 

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Pencil Sharpness and Pressure:

If you work with a pencil that is dull, it will skip over the valleys of your textured paper allowing the background color to show through. This can give a nice effect but if you want complete coverage you will need to use sharper pencils and smoother paper.

A dull pencil can also be used to cover an area quickly with a block of color, but edges will not be sharp and clean.

Sharp pencils are good to cover paper more completely, filling any dips in the surface and give increases control in edges and detail. Keep rotating the pencil as you use it to keep a sharp point.

Pressure is also important. The softer the pressure the lighter the color, but also it doesn't "fill the tooth" of the paper with color too quickly making it difficult to layer any additional colors.

While starting out with a lighter pressure is advisable there is a place for using heaver pressure. You can get a very beautiful effect called "burnishing" where multiple layers are mixed under pressure for a vibrant polished result.

 

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Blending and Vibrancy

 Lastly a note on blending and vibrant color combinations.

As in watercolor painting, colors can be dull and uninteresting if used directly from the tube, --or in our case the pencil. Rather than trying to match the color you are looking for exactly with the pencil, try for a layering of colors. This gives your picture a vibrancy and depth that no single layer of color can.

 

Quick Colored Pencil Tutorial

Stage Three: This is where it gets a little repetitive. I used the same strokes, only much smaller and finer for the leaves. This helps fill in any white space on the paper and creating a denser look to the leaves. I also used broad even strokes to help blend areas that needed to be soothed out a little. I went over the yellow areas carefully to make sure they where well blended and just give a light glow.. and I strengthen the shadows of the tree using the Blue Grey pencil. Here I also added some extra "drooping" branches to brake up the silhouette a little and give a more natural look.

The trunk was finished off by vertical strokes to look like bark. These where uneven and loose with some strokes showing more than others. I also went all over the browns with the Blue Grey pencil to darken and pull them together. Finally I added more random upward strokes for my grass in Cedar and Olive and also Copper Beech (brown). This was for the "shadow" cast by the tree.

Tip:

One thing I like to do, no matter what I am doing.. a painting, drawing or sketch is look at my work throughout the process via a mirror. This really gives you a different perspective. We get so used to looking at our work that we almost "stop" seeing it clearly. Using the mirror and looking at the reflection is like looking at it with a different pair of eyes. You can instantly see problem areas, perspective issues or if shadows and highlights are not correct.