STEP ONE
On my 640g HP watercolour paper I have lightly airbrushed some Yellow light, Cobalt blue and Viridian. Once this had dried completely I sketched up my design. I had completed several sketches prior to choosing this one to be sure I had the composition I was after! I almost always sketch up with an H pencil as I find it very light in colour an easily erased or worked over if I need to change anything.
STEP TWO
I have gone over my original drawing with an HB pencil now making sure I have included all of the key elements to make up my design. I am not going to include a lot of background detail as I want the children in their prized possession” to be the centre of interest!
STEP THREE
I now begin the shading process, firstly using a 3B graphite pencil. I have placed the roof of the house in view so the viewer knows that the children haven’t strayed too far from home! Also this adds extra depth to the composition, as does the placement of background trees and shrubs.
STEP FOUR
I am working my way around the drawing with my 3B pencil, placing shadows and strengthening the contrast between light and dark areas. I want to achieve a certain “olden days” look to this series of drawings and so I want the colours to be less intense than usual.
STEP FIVE
The drawing is really starting to come to life; with the addition of the little dog on the left of the picture there is quite a lot of activity happening! Now that I have all of the shading in the areas I wanted to cover I set about up grading to a 6B (darker) pencil, re working the shaded areas to deepen the shade.
STEP SIX
Now for the colour! I just love using Derwent Graphitint pencils! They are perfect for this style of work. The colours are soft for shading and blending, plus they are the perfect partners for my smooth paper, the combination of the two make an artists job a real joy! I start off with the driver, for his t-shirt I have chosen Shadow, the overalls were Cocoa, and Chesnutt for the shoes.
I have chosen Cocoa and Cool brown for his hair.
The skin colour on the children is a Derwent watercolour pencil number 37.
STEP SEVEN
Moving on to the Billy Cart now with a mix of cool brown and a watercolour pencil Clay. At this stage I add some of the Clay colour to the tree branches in the foreground where the light is hitting them!
I have also used another watercolour pencil (Spectrum blue) for the little girl’s blue dress, as I wanted a bit more intensity in the colour and to make it stand out from her brother’s t-shirt.
I have used Chesnutt and Cool brown for her hair. Little brother’s t-shirt was coloured with Port and Cool brown for his overalls. His hair is a mix of Chesnutt, (lighter touch) and Clay, his shoes are Cool brown. I start adding some soft Ivy to the grass and leaves on the trees.
FINAL STEP
Two of the children have brown eyes (Cocoa for these) and for the little brother Spectrum blue. I’ve used Chesnutt and Clay for the chimney of the house. I am happy with the “look” of my drawing and now using an 8B graphite pencil I go around the whole picture defining edges and deepening shading! I have enough detail now and the best thing for me to do is to sign it. I find that once I do this I am less tempted to “fiddle” and so avoid the risk of overworking the picture. “Happy Painting”!
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• A paper stump really helps when blending the graphite pencils. For nice soft shading apply the graphite in circular motions and then blend using your paper stump using the same circular motions. If you find that you need to deepen the shading then go over the areas again in the same way. Paper stumps come in s range of sizes it is simply a matter of getting a selection and use what works best for the size area.
• Graphitint pencils can also be blended this way.
