30
votes
Accepted
Why do pencils offer a larger color variety than watercolors?
The answer is quite simple really: you can mix watercolours (and paints in general), whereas you can't easily mix coloured pencils.
For example: If I have two different blues - a light and a dark - ...
- 2,325
22
votes
Why do pencils offer a larger color variety than watercolors?
Something else that may help to explain the difference is that watercolor painters can be quite picky about which paints they choose for mixing. Each watercolor paint is made from 1 or more pigments, ...
- 321
15
votes
How do I prevent pencil colour drawings from fading away while I'm still drawing it?
Building on @Joachim's comments above, yes, the direct sunlight can affect the color and make them dull. Hence, when you are not working, you should store the paper in dark
(or use some protective ...
- 151
13
votes
What eraser can I use with wax core coloured pencils
Lifting something like the Prismacolor line with a hand-held eraser is going to require a lot of elbow grease. So, when the need arises, either for a misplaced line or trying to get an effect, then ...
- 3,443
12
votes
Accepted
What can I do to stop my colored pencils from falling apart?
Prismacolor pencils are notorious for lead breakage, but the creamy lay down keeps folks coming back. However, there are some things you can do to moderate the problem, in general (I'm going to answer ...
- 3,443
11
votes
Accepted
What are good options in colored pencil blending, especially for a traveller?
An alternative is to travel with watercolour pencils. I have recently started to use them, and the blending solvent is water (obviously!).
The pencils can be used dry—like normal colored pencils—or ...
- 1,338
11
votes
What are good options in colored pencil blending, especially for a traveller?
PrismaColor has a colorless blender pencil.
Further, you could layer colours (start with the darkest) and use a (near) white pencil to burnish the colours. Make sure the tip of your pencil is sharp ...
- 1,999
9
votes
Dim lighting with colored pencils
If the light is coming from a candle, or group of candles, you're going to have very dramatic chiaroscuro lighting.
Shadows should be very black, with not a lot of grey tones. Keep in mind that only ...
- 97
9
votes
Accepted
What are the preferred ways to fill areas with pencil colors in 2d drawings?
I am the OP of this thread. Following is what I tried again:
Here the color pencils are same, but the drawing sheet is different (145 GSM) and the technique is different.
This time instead of ...
- 3,721
8
votes
Accepted
How to draw mandala when I intend to color it with pencil colors?
I can only think of a few options.
Don't worry about masking or hiding the sketch. Make bold, dark outlines on purpose. Sketch the pattern you want in graphite, then draw the lines very dark (in ...
- 4,356
7
votes
Accepted
How to get dark colors on paper through pencil colors?
In the drawing of the hummingbird you posted, darker colored pencils are being used. Children's sets usually have bright, basic colors.
However, you may have some luck getting darker colors by ...
- 1,223
6
votes
How to draw mandala when I intend to color it with pencil colors?
You can try to do your drawing with a graphite pencil, but you need to take with an xH hardness grade where x refers to a number. The higher this number will be, the harder the writing core will be ...
- 416
6
votes
Accepted
How do I effectively blend with Artist's Loft colored pencils?
A common technique for pencil blending is to use either a colorless blender pencil (they make one for this brand) or to use solvents to blend, normally something like Mona Lisa odorless mineral ...
- 3,443
6
votes
Accepted
What is a non-photo blue pencil?
It has to be a particular shade of blue.
From Wikipedia, it is apparent that non-photo blue refers to a particular colour rather than a particular kind of pencil:
Non-photo blue is a particular ...
- 1,996
6
votes
Accepted
Does it make sense to use water color pencils instead of normal color pencils for dry coloring?
Student vs professional is usually a difference in pigment and pigment amounts, the binders are typically the same. So, from that respect, I wouldn't expect a lot of difference in the important aspect ...
- 3,443
6
votes
What Faber-Castell Polychromos color codes do I need to paint this?
There are a couple of ways that you can go about matching...
The first is trial and error testing on scrap paper. It's tried and true, really, because all you do is look at the color options in your ...
- 3,443
6
votes
What's the difference between cheap pencils and crayons for coloring?
Quality will be much higher with pencils. The softness of crayons dramatically reduces your precision when drawing, and they have a tendency to "skip" - I guess because of the higher amounts of wax ...
- 316
6
votes
Drawing with white ink on a colored/pastel pencil artwork without the pen clogging up
I'd suggest you use white acrylic ink with either a dip pen or a fine pointed brush (whatever suits you better).
- 61
5
votes
Dim lighting with colored pencils
What helps me most when drawing is to study a couple inspiration images. I take the time to look very carefully at the colours (for example, when drawing and colouring clouds). In a dim lighting scene,...
- 1,144
5
votes
Accepted
What are the specifications of the paper required for pencil color drawings?
There are several characteristic for a paper that should influence your choice :
The weight
The higher this value will be the thicker and the studier the paper will be. It is usefull to have a ...
- 416
5
votes
How to get dark colors on paper through pencil colors?
The color set you have used is actually not suitable to produce such fine art on paper like the bird. Rather you would better understand if you take a look on the leaves (greenish bulgings), the ...
- 284
5
votes
What are the preferred ways to fill areas with pencil colors in 2d drawings?
The recommended method of filling in space with colored pencils is by using small circular strokes. This way, the color is applied evenly and with minimal gaps or streaks.
Demietra's method will be ...
- 1,223
5
votes
What are good options in colored pencil blending, especially for a traveller?
Possibilities for blending depend on the extent and/or stylistic appearance of the blending you want to achieve. You can blend mechanically by using readily available tools that are small and ...
- 231
5
votes
How do I prevent pencil colour drawings from fading away while I'm still drawing it?
Given:
The speed of the fading (especially since you cover your art when not working on it).
There seems to be some smudging/fading in parts of the graphite (graphite is usually very light-fast).
You ...
- 151
4
votes
How can I effectively remove the coating from woodless colored pencils?
I wish I could test this personally but I do not have those pencils. Have you tried plastic or steel wire brushes?
Image from Amazon
The steel(metal in general) ones might remove too much material. ...
- 11k
4
votes
Drawing a newborn baby
If you're drawing for a hobby, some tips for beginners can be found here and here.
Firstly, you can improve your drawing by:
Drawing newborn baby anatomy - I found a cute example for you here.
...
- 96
4
votes
What's the difference between cheap pencils and crayons for coloring?
Cheap or expensive, crayons are softer, pencils are harder. Pencils will scratch off crayons but I see no problem with using crayons over pencils.
However, cheap crayons are really not worth it. ...
- 41
4
votes
How to create a glitter gold effect with colored pencil
The phrase my first painting teacher used the most was "Contrast in Value-!" The best way to make anything look realistic is to pay attention to the lights and darks, or "value" of the colours. I ...
- 51
4
votes
Prevent black colored pencil from blending into adjacent colors
Lots of good advice here, but you may also want to consider using a fixative to preserve the drawing as you work it. Fixative, found in convenient to use spray cans although you can get it in liquid ...
- 3,159
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible