How To Seal A Pencil Drawing

By Carrie Lewis in Fine art Tutorials> Drawing Tips

At that place are many means to combine colored pencil with other media and attain a wide range of results. Today, I'1000 going to demonstrate using graphite as the foundation for your drawing and glazing or layering colored pencil over to create full color artwork.

Here are a few important things to remember when using colored pencil over graphite:

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1. Graphite is very like shooting fish in a barrel to smear, so use caution in handling it while applying information technology and afterward it's on the paper. Information technology's best to utilize a coat or two of workable fixative or retouch varnish to seal the graphite before using colored pencil.

2. Colored pencil picks up graphite very easily, creating muddy, gray color. In the illustration below, I drew the horizontal lines with graphite, then applied colored pencil without kickoff using a fixative of any kind. Note how much the graphite grayed, or "muddied" each of the colors.

3. Colored pencil is transparent, so don't become too nighttime with the underpainting. As you can see below, the color glazes had very lilliputian effect on the tiptop, dark line of graphite.

four. Effort a variety of strokes at the graphite phase. Observe how the open stroke in this next epitome affects the look of the glazed color.

Let'southward take a look at how a existent drawing comes together when using graphite underneath. For this instance, I'll be drawing a simple green brawl.

Footstep 1: The graphite under cartoon

The start step in the process is creating the graphite underpainting (or, in this case, the under drawing or foundation).

I began with a basic line cartoon. Details were developed layer by layer, working from light values to dark. I used Prismacolor Turquoise Drawing pencils in a choice of hardness ranging from 9H (very hard lead) to HB (medium hardness). The harder the lead, the more difficult to go nighttime values and the easier to erase. The harder leads are besides less decumbent to smearing.

Pace ii: Preparing for colored pencil glazes

Graphite is non what I consider a "permanent" media. Graphite images can last for years if properly managed, but graphite on its own is vulnerable to smearing. It will also exist picked up by the offset colored pencil you apply on information technology and the issue will be muddy color. Unless y'all desire muddy colour, the graphite foundation must exist protected before you lot do any colour piece of work.

The easiest affair to exercise is spray the drawing with workable fixative or retouch varnish. Retouch varnish is the virtually secure, only workable fixative volition also piece of work. Brand sure whatsoever yous use is workable.

Before spraying your drawing, exam the spray on a piece of scrap paper. You want to make sure the nozzle is clear or you will get 'spots' of fixative on the paper that may either impairment the drawing or make it hard to work over.

Y'all also want to see how the spray reacts to the paper. Does information technology discolor the paper? Does information technology harm the drawing? A good spray shouldn't but different papers react differently.

Also make certain the spray y'all're using provides a good surface for colored pencil work. To do this, spray the test paper, let information technology dry at least 30 minutes, then endeavour a colored pencil over information technology.

For work of this blazon, I recommend a good quality retouch varnish. Experiment and apply the fixative or varnish that works all-time for you. I usually spray drawings at least twice no affair what spray I'm using.

Step three: Glazing with colored pencil

The first color glazes found the base color. Choose a color as shut as possible to the base color and at the lightest value possible.

You also want to apply the first couple of layers gently, using the lightest possible pressure, and so as to avoid muddying color. Fifty-fifty with a protective blanket of workable fixative, the graphite is still workable; information technology tin can nonetheless be manipulated. The first layers of color aid seal the graphite underpainting beneath the layer of wax. The showtime ii to four layers of colors should be applied carefully and lightly.

In the illustration shown hither, I layered Prismacolor Canary Yellowish over all of the brawl and the cast shadow, the followed upwards with a layer of Non Photo Blue, using low-cal pressure and the point of well sharpened pencils for both colors.

I added i or ii more layers each of Canary Yellow and Non Photograph Blueish, alternating between the colors and increasing pressure slightly with each layer.

Next, I added a band of Indigo Blue along the middle exterior curve of the ball to darken the shadow and requite the ball more volume and shape. Another layer of Canary Yellow and Non Photo Blue followed to blend the shadow into the heart tones and shine transitions in color and value.

I and so burnished the ball with Canary Yellow to fill in the newspaper holes and make the colors more than intense.

The last pace was a layer of Prismacolor Apple tree Green practical with heavy pressure over all of the ball except the highlight. I colored out to the lower border of the ball, then burnished the lower left bend with Canary Yellow to create an border of reflected light. I used the same colors in the bandage shadow, but also added Indigo Blue, fading the shadow toward the outside edges.

And as promised, here is the final green brawl.

This was a elementary demonstration, and a simple subject, so it's a skillful ane to begin with. If you're looking for an easy and fun way to experiment with graphite and colored pencil, go ahead and give this a try for yourself.

Just continue in mind the tendency of colored pencil to option upwards graphite "mud" (or maybe find ways to make use of information technology) and have fun! At that place's actually no limit to the subjects and styles of work possible with this combination of media.

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