technique

How to Use Pastel Pencils on Toned Paper: The Velvety Finish Wax Pencils Can’t Match

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Colored pencil colorists hit a ceiling with fur and skin: wax cores fight the tooth and blends turn to plastic. You layer and layer and the surface gets slick, the colors get muddy, and the white highlights you saved just disappear into the wax. Pastel pencils solve this with powdery pigment that a finger or … Read more

Gemstones and Crystals: The Light-First Method

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How to Color Gemstones and Crystals with Colored Pencils: The Light-First Method

Every colorist eventually hits the page that humbles them: a gemstone study that looks like muddy gravel instead of a jewel. The problem is almost never the pencils. Gems are one of the few subjects where the paper does half the work, because the entire look of a gemstone — that glassy depth, the facets … Read more