MATERIALS
• Drafting film 30 x 20 cm.
• Prismacolor and Polychromos coloured pencils.
• Black paper (mounted under the drafting film).
• Tracing paper.
• Electric pencil sharpener.
• Battery operated eraser.
• Blending materials: Make-up pads;cotton buds; blending stump.
• UV protective fixative and workable fixative.
For this piece I decided to use drafting film, because I wanted to achieve really smooth and silky skin textures and tones and also because I thought it would be fun doing shadows and colours on the bubbles on the underside of the drafting film. Because drafting film is transparent, it allowed me to use both sides – so subtle colours were easily achieved by putting them on the back of the film (working in reverse).
When beginning a coloured pencil piece, it is important to think about which layers of colours you want to use … as any new layers will mix with the colours underneath them.
STEP ONE
The reference was my son when he was younger. I always loved the photograph but never liked the background or the fact that you couldn’t see his face (obscured by the bubbles). I enlarged the reference photograph and placed the drafting film over it ready to transfer a line drawing in white pencil. As the final piece was to be displayed over black mounted card, it was easiest to see the line drawing in white.
STEP TWO
You can see where I started to block in skin tones for the face. When working with drafting film, I have the luxury of sliding the black card in and out to double-check facial features on the reference. At this point it was all about mapping out tonal values and the positioning of key elements.
STEP THREE
More of the facial features were defined; establishing where the dark areas were going and determining how dark I was going to go with the shadows. I also slotted a white piece of paper under the film – to demonstrate how much of the colour was pencil, and the impact of the mounted card underneath.
STEP FOUR
At this point I had completed the face and moved on to the arm. I started to work on the back of the film, and pumped up the colours a bit. The photographs show the image before working on the back of the film, and after. You can see the brightness and smoothness ‘plumping up’. There was also some work done defining the bubbles.
STEP FIVE
The next step was to start defining the clothing. Here I used a complimentary colour (a dark brown) to get the dark shadow under the arm. I also followed the contour of the arm to achieve that ’round’ feeling. Again, you can observe the difference on the top of the arm where the back of the film has been filled with colour and white; and the forearm where colour is yet to be layered on the back of the film. I also added a couple of layers to the hair area here – again following the line of the hair falling and concentrating on areas of lights and darks.
STEP SIX
This shows the back of the film. Notice that you don’t have to be as exact (or as smooth) on the back; but you do have to mirror what you have done on the front. For the bubbles, I added a lot of the colour and definition on the back, while saving the highlights and overall smoothing effects for the front.
STEP SEVEN
More bubbles were defined while I generally worked all over the piece, tweaking and refining where necessary; and adding more layers where needed. At this point, I actually erased an eye and replaced it because I felt that the previous one wasn’t working (and it was too dark).
FINAL STEP
With all the bubbles completed, the final step was to spray the piece with workable fixative followed by a UV protective fixative for added protection.
MASTER HINTS AND TIPS
• It is important to use a light touch with a very sharp point. Sometimes you will need to sharpen your pencil every few strokes – especially on paper – to ensure that you fill in all the bumps of the substrate and achieve an even colour distribution. Due to the amount of sharpening required, I definitely recommend an electric pencil sharpener. I believe my electric sharpener was worth the investment, and it doesn’t seem to break leads.
• Drafting film is great for correcting mistakes, as is the electric eraser – bringing them almost back to new. If working on paper,you can sometimes damage the surface – so be careful.
• When using drafting film for areas where you need a bright white or pure colour, make sure you fill in the back of these areas with white. I use this principle for many of my lighter skin tone areas.
• Coloured pencil works are very time consuming and take many layers (sometimes up to 30 layers of pencil, but less when using drafting film). Sometimes, regularly spraying with workable fixative helps with wax bloom; as does rubbing or blending with a soft make-up pad.
• Using a bit of white or black card with a hole in it and positioning it over your reference can help to work out your values and your colours. Alternatively, if using a photograph editing program on your computer, you can use the “eye dropper’ over your colour to get a correct colour swatch. Remember your contours. When laying down colour, vary your strokes to follow the contour or curve of what you are colouring. Think about the roundness of a forearm or a bubble, and follow the contour that the object would have in real life. In this way you will get a much more believable texture than if you simply use the same stroke all over your drawing.
