I’m not real happy w/ pix that I do in colored pencil. I wonder is it my pencils? What is a "good" brand of colored pencils to use? (I did another drawing today, but I want to finish it before I post it, it’s almost done.) I use a moleskine which has the off-white paper. When I use white colored pencil, it does not show up. But there are white colored pencils in my colored pencil boxes, so it must be either that the paper is inferior or my pencil brand is inferior… I guess… or both. I like using the moleskine because it’s convenient, and that is precisely why I am drawing again. If it weren’t for the moleskine, I might not be drawing at all. So I’m not ready to chuck the moleskine. What I’m doing now is using white gel pen when I really need white. I also bought some other white mediums (pastels, a waxy pencil and a paint pen) to try.
Prismacolor pencils are very good. Architects swear by them.
I’m no expert by I think the white pencil is often used in between strokes of other colors to make a “shimmery” effect, or on top of them to lighten the hue.
Gel pen for white is a great idea though. Whatever works!
Comment by martha — Fri., Feb. 9, '07 @ 11:31 pm
i have a set of prismacolors, but i haven’t used them on a project. when i sampled them, they felt like butter going on the page. felt really nice!
i’ve been using a set of 24 ct set of fat prang colored pencils that the teacher before me left in my room when i took it over. i’ve had good success with them and they are a reasonable price to start into the colored pencil world with to see if you like it or not. they are more waxy than the prismacolor, but i like the feel of the fat pencil and they are MUCH more durable in the way that i carry them around. they really take a beating w/o having leads break; whereas the prismacolors tend to have a much softer lead and the one stray prismacolor that i have in my box with the prang pencils always has a broken lead — even though i never use it!
that tells me that i might really enjoy using the prismacolors at home, but they are not made to carry around and take a beating like the other pencils i have. with prismacolors at 3 times the price of the prang pencils, i think i’ll stick w/ the prang for my everyday stuff and maybe work w/ the prismacolors when i’m at home at can be much more careful w/ my supplies!
as far as blending your colors, that’s just something that you have to work with and practice. when i started i thought the variance in color was just the difference in how dark i colored with the color — heavier brown made darker brown. that’s not the case, though, and i had to practice with what colors to mix/blend to get the shades that i wanted.
keep working at it, practice, and have fun!
Comment by jill — Sun., Feb. 11, '07 @ 2:48 pm