| They are soft and submissive. Among their beautiful | | | | make the image very light and fill in the surrounding |
| colors are vibrant blues, sunny yellows, rich greens, | | | | areas with dark colors. Or you can use contrasting |
| glowing purples and juicy oranges. They come in | | | | colors, for example, red-image, blue-background--look |
| pretty tins, sporty nylon carrying cases and polished | | | | closely to see that the image is standing out from |
| wooden boxes. They smell good. Their enameled | | | | the background. I recommend that you choose the |
| bodies fit your fingers well and respond to the paper | | | | option that will be most fun for you to do! |
| with a willingness that excites inspiration. These are | | | | SHADING AND HIGHLIGHTING |
| good quality colored pencils--not your normal pencil in | | | | So you've done the doodles and are beginning to |
| any way, shape or form. To grasp one, touch its | | | | learn what your colored pencils can do. If you didn't |
| point to paper is, well, a sensual, artful experience. | | | | experiment with making certain areas solid colors or |
| Do you like to draw? Do you doodle? Have you | | | | play around with shading several colors together, |
| thought of taking art lessons but didn't want to | | | | now is your chance! |
| spend a lot on materials? Colored pencils are the | | | | With any colored pencil (color of your choice) draw a |
| answer! | | | | circle on a new sketchbook page. You can use a |
| A WONDERFUL ART MEDIUM | | | | compass or a small plate or other circular object as a |
| Maybe you've spent some time drawing--nothing | | | | template to make the circle. Now imagine that light is |
| much: caricatures, Disney characters, doodles, etc. | | | | coming down on the page from the upper right hand |
| Perhaps you've even gone so far as investing in a | | | | corner. You will want to start shading the circle with |
| drawing pencil. If you did, you found out that a | | | | a dark color (blue, violet, brown, black) where the |
| drawing pencil is quite different from a regular pencil. | | | | light isn't--that is the left side of the circle. Start |
| Its lead is soft and creates dark blacks, solid medium | | | | slowly, filling in along the left line of the circle. |
| grays and ethereal light grays. | | | | Remember that as you are shading and moving |
| Maybe then you began to think of color, wishing your | | | | towards the source of illumination (upper right hand |
| drawing pencil could be colorful as well. It can be! Out | | | | corner) your shading will become less. Why? Because |
| there on the market today are good quality colored | | | | your shading, in drawing terms, represents shadow |
| pencils that respond well to shading, layering of | | | | and the white of the sketch book page represent |
| several colors, blocking in solid colors and making | | | | the light. |
| sinuous, expressive lines. | | | | Amazement! Can you see it? The circle is becoming |
| The added attraction of colored pencils, beyond their | | | | an illuminated sphere, just by shading. Isn't it |
| soft, heavily pigmented leads and willing response to | | | | remarkable how we can reproduce the illusion of light |
| the paper, is their price. A tin of twelve, good quality | | | | and shadow simple by shading and highlighting a |
| colored pencils and a good quality 9" x 12" sketchpad | | | | simple geometric form? |
| will be well under twenty dollars. And you are on your | | | | EXTRA CREDIT |
| way to producing beautiful, brilliant, rich colored | | | | You've gone this far and now you see how cool |
| drawings that will retain their permanency and color | | | | colored pencils are. You have tapped your imagination |
| integrity for decades. | | | | through doodling and now you have produced the |
| ONE, TWO, THREE | | | | illusions of space and, consequently, time. How cool is |
| Now you have sharpened your colored pencils and | | | | that? Now, go a step further. Where you have |
| you have your sketchpad. What's next? Start with a | | | | produced light by not coloring heavily, bring in a light |
| doodle. On a new sketchbook page, take one | | | | colored pencil color (yellow, orange, or white.) Now |
| color--it doesn't matter which one) and draw swirls, | | | | color in that area you left off in shading. Miracles. You |
| lines, dots, dashes, whatever comes to mind. Cover | | | | will see how the lighter color takes on the role of |
| the whole sketch book page. Just take a minute to | | | | light--taking over where the white of your sketch |
| do it. | | | | book page left off! |
| Now look closely at the doodle you have done. See | | | | YOU ARE A BETTER PERSON |
| what you can find. Trees? Birds? Faces? Whatever | | | | If you've gotten this far, you are a better person. |
| you find, delineate the image by going over the | | | | Why? Because you have tuned into your innate |
| image lines by making them darker. Good! Now | | | | creative powers which nourish your whole body and |
| choose another colored pencil color to fill in the | | | | mind. You've learned a new drawing skill, and most |
| image(s). Now think of the surrounding area of the | | | | importantly, you have beautiful colors to use to |
| doodle as the background or environment for your | | | | visualize whatever image or a dream comes into your |
| images. | | | | mind! Colored pencils are there, waiting in their lovely |
| You must choose certain areas to fill in with various | | | | little tin, nylon carrying case or wooden box. All you |
| colors. For example, if you found, in your doodle, a | | | | need to do is push some of the busywork of the |
| shape that looks like a fish, color the fish in, than | | | | day to one side, sit down, open your sketch book to |
| color the area surrounding the fish with various colors. | | | | the infinity of a clean, white page and dip your |
| Keep in mind that you want to emphasize the image. | | | | fingers into the rainbow of colored pencils. Magic! |
| How can you do this? | | | | Or, perhaps you will want to put your sketch book |
| THE POWER OF THE IMAGE | | | | and colored pencils into your back pack with a bottle |
| To emphasize the doodle image you can do several | | | | of water and a sandwich. Then walk out into the |
| things. You can make the image very dark and then | | | | world in search of just the right scene or place to |
| fill in the surrounding area with light colors. Or you can | | | | record with brilliant color and artful, sensual lines. |