mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 08/30/2007 1:14 PM |
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Ok, here goes.  My first request for critiques from real artists. This was actually a study for an oil painting I want to do. But I'd like to do more color pencil too and want some opinions and direction. Currently the background is computer generated. I wanted to experiment with some colors before I spent all the time to put it in. Any suggestions for what to do with the background? Also I don't have the CP laid in with layers upon layers as I see done much of the time. I'm assuming that helps make things appear more real, but would this be alright to leave as is? I'm afraid of over working it and ruining it.
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vikingwife
Posts:840
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| 08/30/2007 1:23 PM |
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HI mstweeto...
I would definitely darken it. Those apples are terrific! Some deeper red tones would really make them pop. They have too much white...making them almost look waxy. The perspective on the dish is slightly off.....it dips on the left but curves upward on the right. You have some nice shadowing started on the background right. I would make that even darker. Hope that helps! Look forward to seeing the painting that this study is based on 
Jess |
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mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 08/30/2007 4:34 PM |
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Thanks for the comments. Yes, I can see the distortion too. I never could draw a straight line. I'm hoping the waxy look is because of the scanned image. I'm going to pull the drawing out again and look at it again. I see exactly what you are talking about, but I don't remember noticing it before. I did this about two years ago.
My tendancy for shadow is to use a gray or blue color. Here I used blue for the apple shadows on the apples. Is there a better alternative?
So when you say darken it, do I just keep putting the same colors on again and again to fill in the white spaces or do you mean darker tone?
One of my mistakes was to use paper with little to no texture. This stuff was about as textured as copier paper. I may not be able to put down much color, will I? |
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gene
Posts:1232
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| 08/31/2007 11:11 AM |
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| By all means, continue on with this drawing. Make it into a real painting! I am not a colored pencil artist, and I know it takes tons of patience, but I've seen so many beautiful full-fledged done in colored. You have a great start. There are many great books on colored pencil. Your local library may have one to use as a reference. Good luck!..............Gene |
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mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 08/31/2007 1:03 PM |
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Thanks for the encouragement Gene. With two young children it may be a while before I have time to get back at it, but your encouragement gives me renewed excitement.
I did go back and look at it again. It does look kind of waxy. So hold off on the white and add in some more color?
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LMP01
Posts:130
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| 09/07/2007 9:12 PM |
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| Very nice drawing. Nice composition. May I make a suggestion if you don't mind. Maybe if you add a little color from the apple and the wooden table to the sides of the bowl as a reflection , the bowl will look a little more silver. |
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Lennie |
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mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 09/10/2007 9:33 AM |
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| I guess "silver" was probably a misnomer. It is actually pewter. Mirror like reflections are a bit advanced for me. I would think there would probably be a bit of color reflections even on the pewter, though, so I'll try thank. Thanks. |
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one who sees
Posts:508
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| 10/15/2007 7:54 PM |
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leave this as is.....saved to learn from, and begin another or begin again....definetly work more layers, normally we tend to cover the paper with a thick waxy coating, accumulated layers will fill the tooth of the paper up, even the roughest if you continue to work....BUT paper? is one of the most important issues with cp....use a poor grade of paper? and the cp work will destroy it...you cant work cps on it as well as you can a better grade...you also need to find what texture you like to work on....smooth vs, slightly textured, vs more textured...
the drawing seems pretty acurate but i believe the left side of the bowl is a bit shorter than the length of the right reaching towards the right...
your apples are delicious apples...not at all easy to draw!...~wink~ ya did really well!...
and definetly play with bg color to see how contrasts can aid your color work a bit more....if you had a deep layered green or other deep rich dark combo...you would make the still life pop from the bg... |
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~I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it~
Vincent Van Gogh
www.bettyannlemist.com |
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mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 10/16/2007 9:17 AM |
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Thanks OWS! Last weekend I went out and bought new cps and paper. One of the papers is watercolor paper, with a lot of tooth. I'm not really sure I liked that. I couldn't get the divots filled in, so it still looks like crayon. I tried a bit of white brandishing and didn't really like how that looked either. The other paper is a drawing paper, with a bit less tooth. I'll try that and see if I like it any better.
I used my computer and printed this picture onto some drawing paper. I laid down some more color over the top of the ink and it looks a lot better. (Guess this is now classified as mixed media ;-) ). It proved to be a useful exercise. If I get some time, I'll post a picture of that too. |
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pastelmimigt
Posts:359
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| 10/18/2007 5:54 PM |
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Hi,
You're drawing and capture of the colors and values is great. Watercolor paper can be wonderful for colored pencil. If you want a more painterly look then use turpenoid with a watercolor brush as this will melt the wax and spread the color. Add lots more color before doing this. Experiment and have fun.
Michele |
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mstweeto
Posts:6
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| 10/19/2007 8:37 AM |
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Thanks, Michele. I tried the drawing paper yesterday and I liked the watercolor paper better. I may try your turpenoid technique.
So are there colored pencils that are softer than others? I'm using Derwent Studio CP. Would using softer pencils help me lay down more color? |
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pastelmimigt
Posts:359
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| 10/19/2007 9:40 AM |
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The only wax colored pencils I've used are Prismacolor. I'm not sure if there are softer ones. I do know that the extra sharp Prismacolor pencils (I think they're called Verithin (sp?) are very hard and I don't like them except to make an impression in the paper (like signing my name before filling in an area with color). You can also incorporate other pencils and mediums besides wax pencils like pastel, watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, pen and ink, whatever you'd like to try.
Michele |
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