Although drawing in colored pencils can seem difficult, with practice, mastering some basic techniques, you can quickly develop a new skill and fall in love with colored pencils. Many artists find bird portraits easier to do than drawing people, as there’s less pressure to produce a perfect likeness. Yet, you still need to learn how to get as realistic a rendering as possible if you want your drawing to be lifelike.
Special Techniques for Drawing with Colored Pencils
Use a grid. Unless you’re skilled at getting proportions correctly and can draw well, freehand, it’s best to draw using a grid. Gridding is simply covering a grid over a reference picture and then laying an identical one on your paper. To make you own grid take transparent page protector sheets and a ruler. Mark off 1″ squares, making a 1″ grid. Make other grids that are smaller (1/2″) or larger (2″) if you want to either decrease or increase the size of your drawing. Maybe drawing an entire object is overwhelming, but if you draw one square at a time, you’ll be more confident, producing an accurate drawing.
Use a mechanical pencil for your outline. Although some artists use regular graphite pencils, mechanical pencils render a cleaner line with less smudges. Always draw with razor-sharp colored pencils. Keep an electric pencil sharpener close by, as you’ll need to constantly re-sharpen your pencils. If your colored pencils are dull, they will fall into the “valleys” of your paper.
Layer your colors. You don’t need a lot of different colored pencils to produce a brilliant drawing. Just use a few basic colors and learn how to layer them. Begin with your lighter colors, and then gradually build up your drawing, applying darker ones as your continue. Use “color-lifters”. Pencil erasers are good for lightening color, as well as creating negative space. Even better are electric erasers, which are excellent in lifting out tiny white specs, especially when you’re trying to create speckled feathers or the whites of a bird’s eye.
Use Verithin colored pencils when you need more detail. Whereas Prismacolor pencils are excellent for drawing most of the bird, Verthin is better for drawing the details of a bird’s eye. On the other hand, if you’re striving for a softer look, Verithin also produces excellent results if you use them for the entire drawing.
Practical Tips for Realistic Colored Pencil DrawingsUse clear, detailed photographs. If you photo is inferior, you’re less likely to capture the right colors. Experiment with a variety of papers and materials. For example, if you want a smooth look, use hot-pressed illustration board and Bristol drawing paper. However, for a grainier appearance, try cold-pressed illustration board, as well as watercolor paper. Use colorless markers and blending stumps. These tools are used to blend colors without smudging. Make reference boxes of color swatches. Before attempting a drawing, experiment with blending colors by making squares of colors and layering darker shades over each box. This will give you a good idea of how different colors blend to create a new color.
It only takes producing a few realistic bird portraits in colored pencil before you get addicted to not only using colored pencils, but to also drawing birds from photographs. After you’ve experimented with some of these techniques, colored pencils may soon become your favorite art medium.
Originally published on Suite 101.