I love experimenting with new materials and techniques and applying them just like I have done with my demo. This custom made wooden support is basically a “wooden thick edged frame”. I have seen these available from overseas suppliers and I am lucky enough to have a father who is fantastic at all things wood, so he made some up for me.
WORKING WITH WOOD
One of the advantages of working with these wooden frames is that you can finalise your artwork with UV and varnish to seal the artwork and there is no need for framing. It’s a really fun different way to work, but make sure you have an open mind as working on a hard surface like wood is different to paper.
I took the reference image in my garden. As you can see, the photo is from a distance but something about the way this bud was sitting spoke to me to want to draw it. I cropped the photo and printed it in black and white. I always work from both a colour and a black and white photo to get the correct values when doing my artwork, as sometimes your eyes deceive you.
MATERIALS
• Prismacolor Col Erase Pencil Colourfix primer
• Liqutex Gesso
• Pencils – Prismacolor, Faber Castell Polychromos and Derwent Coloursoft Cheap brush with the bristles cut off for blending Piece of felt or cotton makeup pads
• Letraset aqua marker
• Workable fixative
• UV protective varnish
• A4 sized custom made wooden frame
STEP ONE
Prepare your surface. My surface is firstly primed with Colourfix primer which allows the pencil to really grip onto the surface – it’s a bit like working on Colourfix pastel paper. I then decided that I wanted to have the surface white so I painted a layer of gesso and another layer of the Colourfix primer to make sure there was a good base.
STEP TWO
Next I chose my pencils. To not become overwhelmed I always chose only three values for the main sections of the drawing. So this would be a light, a dark and a medium value of any one colour. If I know there is a dark shadow I will also choose a complementary colour to start with as the first layer. Using a Primsacolor Col-Erase pencil (this is a Prisma pencil that is easily erased); I map out my initial drawing.
STEP THREE
Blocking in areas of colour. Always starting with the background first, here I apply areas of colour as the foundation for mapping out the elements of the picture. This step applies a base for the colour mixing that will happen as the other pencil layers go on top so it’s important at this stage to roughly check your values, as going too dark here will mean it’s difficult to remove the pencil, particularly on this surface.
STEP FOUR
Here is where I really start to add more layers onto my foundation and get the colour down where necessary. I have a piece of paper under my hand to protect my work being smudged with my hand.
STEP FIVE
By this stage I have quite a few layers of pencil over most of my work, and my pencil starts to slip and my layers are not going on as easily. Now I know it’s time to start a bit of blending to work together the colours I have mixed on the surface (just like you would with a paint palette), which will allow me to get some more layers on there. I do this by using a brush in a circular motion. This gets the pencil pigment right down into the hills and valleys of the surface.
STEP SIX
This is where I start to blend some of the layers together using an aqua marker. This worked really well for small areas of colour, but didn’t really work on the background area. (There is a video on my website showing this). Here you can see areas where I have started to blend on the petals and the other areas which are not blended yet. You can also see where I have used green as my “underpainting” of the darker shadow areas of the petals; these will be quite dark as the other layers of pencil mix together.
STEP SEVEN
Now I have a good foundation of layers down and most of the areas with their initial blending, I start to enhance colours, shadows and areas of detail that have been lost with the blending, and define them more specifically. 7a. You can see by this closeup there is really quite a lot of texture on the artwork but the colour vibrancy is still there.
STEP EIGHT
Adding in more definition and blending. At this stage it’s really just a matter of blending with a cotton makeup pad, brush and whatever else and adding more layers until I am comfortable with the result. I always check back to my black and white photo. Here I also added a couple of layers of workable fixative in between layers, making sure it dried completely before moving to the next layer.
FINAL STEP
The final artwork is completed. Now it’s ready to spray with a few coats of UV varnish for added protection, then a few hooks on the back and it’s ready to hang.
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• When starting, always chose 3 values of colour so as to not get overwhelmed with choices and too many pencils. Practice on a piece of paper if you are unsure which colours to use.
• Holding your SHARP pencil in an upright position allows you to also get into the hills and valleys textures of the wood if you are looking for
a rich colour saturation.
• Blending on wood is difficult; a big brush is great as is pushes the pigment around. It’s a great technique for layer areas such as backgrounds not just on wood, but on all supports.
• Using a circular technique with your strokes (lots and lots of little circles) goes a long way for details and lots of colour.
• Pressure. Constantly check your pressure. A firm hand particularly towards the end of the piece allows you to get that good layer or pencil down. Trying varying your pressure, taking note of how are you are pressing.
• A few coats of workable fixative in between layers of pencils often helps with getting more pencil on the board.
