This tiger is complete and drawn in color pencil.

For the most part I will call this color pencil finished. I will sit it here in my studio and I am sure as I look at it I will add to it. 12 x 13.25″. I didn’t capture the realism I know that could be displayed in watercolour…..

“Gettin” there! CP takes time and understanding realism in any medium is a building layering process. Never give up on your artwork! CP is not even my strong suit, watercolor realism is my love. Plus, the fact I was working in graphite when I entered college back in the day. Watercolor picked me! I had this class called painting 101 with Dr. Sawyer. Well, put it this way; I went to church this morning and I will only state positive remarks. After six weeks of painting fire hydrants in the hallway I was seeing them in my sleep. I think his goal was to teach us form and shape? One Wednesday afternoon after black and white darkroom studio I had watercolor fire hydrant class; really looking forward to it. I had a self portrait picture photo from dkrm. for another assignment and anyway after an hour of painting these  fire hydrants I disappeared to the back of the classroom. I pulled out my work from dkrm. and just started painting the watercolor displayed in my header;  “My first watercolour”.  I need to state I earned a “F” on that painting from Dr. Sawyer.  I think he didn’t like me because I told him once in class his people were too orange! Politely though. At any rate sometimes you think for example “I’d like to be a painter?” and fate or “Arthood”  has something different in mind. That is what I mean when I say “The medium has already picked you, so now you need to discover which one it is”. Do not put so much pressure on yourself as an Artist. Explore all the mediums and enjoy the talent God has given you. About three more hours I will have this done. Aman. I only started to draw in cp again because of one of my students is drawing a tigar in cp and I need to know the “ins and outs” of cp so I can teach and guide him the best I can. The whiskers I am painting in with craft paint?

This color pencil is starting to get to a point where I see the realism. Color pencil is a medium and skill all it’s own. In college there should be a 101, 102 etc. level cp drawing class just for cp techiques. Firstly, the Prisma color pencils are expensive to be able to purchase all the colors you need right away. Adding different brands to your collection is very important because as you learn how the brands relate to your developing techiques you need supplies. The paper is also one of the very important necessity; without a quality surface to work on you are wasting your time and pencils. I recommend an Illustration board or a rag based type board found in a { Fine } Art store.  A quality board will give you “Press-ability” which can be used to your benefit in creating realism. You may not start out with the goal of a portfolio piece, but your artwork has a better chance to be successful starting out with quality materials. Tip: Never wipe cp with your hand, use a soft brush to wipe off excess cp.

Any questions about color pencil or any medium you can email here and I will get back to you.

Color pencil is an art all it’s own. Using just one brand of cp can limit the range of effects you can achieve by using the reacton of different brands. The brands react differently to each other. Experiment with different brands  to see the range you can display.