Thursday, June 3, 2010

Sketch a Painting

Have you ever tried using watercolor pencils? If you are a pencil artist like me who likes to sketch, then this is the painting method for you. The watercolor pencil is actually just a water soluble colored pencil. This means that you can draw fine details and blend them with water.

The watercolor pencils that I use come from Faber Castell, and they come in many different shades. There are many different watercolor pencil techniques, but my favorite method is sketching out my painting with a regular pencil, coloring it in with the different colored watercolor pencils, and then applying water with a brush. You can also dip the tip of your pencil in water, and then draw onto dry paper, but this method uses up the pencil lead very easily. Another way to use your watercolor pencils is to slightly wet your paper and draw with a dry pencil. This creates unique bleeding effect.

What I love about using these versatile pencils is that you will have the watercolor paint look, but all you really did was draw. The reason I usually sketch is because painting can be difficult, as you have to have a bunch of different colors to get the right values. When the paint dries you can't blend the colors, but when it's wet you can't add more paint. Watercolor pencils are similar to this. It is easier to do all of your shading if you add all of the color before applying a little water. From my experience you can't really put new layers with watercolor pencil, as the color is thin and will be a little see through.

Try using different mediums in addition to your watercolor paint, such as pens or a different type of paint such as acrylic, which is my other main painting medium. Just have fun using your watercolor pencils, and make your own masterpiece!







This is watercolor pencil painting of a rosebud.

4 comments:

Marlene said...

I'll have to try these one day!

The Blue Pencil said...

I love how the pencils make a painting look! It's very artistic.

Janeal said...

I looked through your blog you have some really nice work also. I do several different type of paintings but I love scenery the best, but I do abstracts for fun, and some that I don't actually know what to call them but they are fun to do too. Anyway stops for stopping by look forward to seeing more of your work.

Eileen said...

Thanks for dropping in Janeal! I looked over all of your posts, and I love the paintings! I also enjoyed your story about Christmas and your cows. Keep posting!