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My first drawing:

Yay! good for you! Next add some color!!

Oh no!! I don't do color!! LOL

That is your first in a number of years!! It is beautiful and I agree you need to add color next! Perhaps a shopping trip for proper colors is in order?

Oh I know color is scary. Often after I sketch out a piece for watercolor I dread adding the paint! It's kind of a joke that that's when the painting starts to go downhill!!

Yes, that is just how I feel. However, I did buy some pastels to start playing with color. In the past I usually just stuck with pencil or charcoal :)

If you use a medium paper (like gray, or it could be a complementary color), try to lay in first your darks....I use almost no black, I mix dark brown and blue, or dark orange and dark green.....it makes the shadows more interesting.

Then lay in the lights...I don't use white, use something that you could still add highlights to.

This sketch was very fast. It was actually my daughter. There was a light (electric) on the left side, and a window down by the floor on the right side.

The light reflected in from the snow was cool. The light from the lamp was bright and warm. THe shadow area was right down the middle.

Of course you don't want a black or gray shadow down the middle of a face, so I usually use a warm burnt sienna type color for face shadows and then a dark umber or such for corners of eyes.

This is a pretty good example of "laying in " colors and I didn't work it any more so you can see the process.

You can see I started to put in the next layer of lights, the light purple, some lights on the face.

From here I would lay light flesh tones and maybe some cool pinks, and let them blend into the lower layers. You would in the end see some blues through the skin. If you look at Mary Cassatt you will see how she did that. This one, also from the same session, shows the skin more worked out.

THe face is flat in the lower part though so I'd add more warms to build it out and round it. (these were all pretty fast poses)

Actually the front "bulb" of the chin needs to be a warm round pink too. You can always do more! Don't put on too much color all at once, build it. Take time to study each addition. Use lots of different colors that will mix together to create the final color (rather than color the lily all pink, or all orange, for instance.)

Here's the first sketch of Ernie's Gabby. You can see I established the darks, the lights, and the background, and would then work the color of the dog. The dog, like my daughter's hair above, would be blocks of reds and darks and golds, with a final layer to round or smooth it.

Anyway, that's how I work.

Definitely get a pastel paper in a medium shade or color. It helps a lot! Rather than drawing the whole image in black on white, the lights will be laid in with light or natural color (like a light pink for the light parts of the lily) and you won't have a black line to get rid of, which flattens the thing.

And don't panic!! There are no pastel police or I'd be long gone!!!

Oh thanks for the 'lesson'!!

I will try to find some pastel paper other than white. I guess I never thought about that, but it makes sense now :)

You might have to check an art supply store.

I need more paper and I order it online but you have to get large quantities.

I still have a couple pads from ten years ago. If they still made them, they'd cost over $100 apiece. They only come in small sizes now.

But there are not as expensive ones, like Strathmore I think still makes colored papers. I use both sides too...I always joke that my artwork is reversible!

So far I am just getting my stuff at Michaels (there is one close to where I work so I can just run over there at lunch time). Just getting some cheap stuff to play around with. I think I saw a pack of colored pastel paper?

What brand of pastels do you use? And do you use soft pastels (like chalk) or oil pastels?

I use soft pastels...I started with Grumbacher, which are not too expensive. Then I got Rembrandt. Then Unison and Sennelier.

I still use all of them, the Senneliers are very soft which is good for accents once there's already a lot of color on it.

Also, the paper has to have some "tooth" to hold the pigment, some texture or whatever. You don't have to start really expensive, but better quality materials will give you better results, so if you start getting frustrated with the amount of color you can get or whatever, try some softer pastels. THe Unisons are around $5 apiece! I think I have 70 or maybe 80. And then a nice case to protect them.

But you don't need it all at once, start with what works and move up as you need to.

I used to work with oil pastels & friend does....they're fun too but different. you could try a few of each separately to see which you like better.

How is this for color? LOL :)

I was just coming here to ask you when we get to see color! I don't think this is exactly right. LOL Keep working at it. :)

Sheri

I was able to find a set of Rembrandt 1/2 sticks (30 colors) and some pastel paper.

Here is my first (real) attempt at color. The subject matter is not too exciting (ornamental peppers before they have ripened), but I wanted to stick with something simple.

Very nice! When are you doing my birdies? lol

Ooh Rembrandts are good! I use mine on everything! That's great, you've got it already!!!!

"My first drawing:/"

Well, my first one in a long time!! Thanks for looking!