Monday, April 25, 2016

Garden Gate 01

I'm going to start the colored pencil tutorial with one of the first pages from my "Enchanted Garden Coloring Book", the Garden Gate. Here's what it looks like without any coloring.


Before I start coloring, or even drawing for that matter, I do a lot of research on what things actually look like. That means firing up the computer, tablet or smart phone and searching for images.  In this case I started my search with "rock walls".

I started with that for two reasons. First and foremost, I always start any painting or coloring with the elements that are farthest back. I think I learned that when I was just starting out as an artist. I was working in watercolor then (actually one of the hardest mediums to master). I find that it works best for me. The second reason is that I thought the rock wall would set the tone for the whole piece. 

Once you've done a little research on what rock walls actually look like, you have to then decide if YOUR wall is going to be a realistically colored wall or something a bit more enchanted.  I chose to start out with it a bit more realistic.  The choice is up to you.

I started with a Pale Gray Pencil (Prismacolor #PC1061 - Cool Gray 30%) And lightly covered all the stone.     Have your pencil strokes go in all the same direction. It makes for a nicer look. For this first layer of color, keep your strokes light. We'll be building up color (getting darker) as we go.
Once I was done with that I thought the rocks needed to be a bit more defined. I used a Dark Umber (PC947) to color in the crevices between the rocks.  Honestly, it was just so that I could see the rocks a bit better. For no other reason but personal preference.  I think it helped the rocks to pop! 
Notes:

  • You do not have to use Prismacolor Pencils. Any nice size set will be just fine.  I'm including the Prismacolor #'s just because that's what I'm using. I'm also including the names so that you can match the color if you want to. 
  • You do not have to use the same color scheme as I'm showing here. In your color scheme find the tone that best matches the ones shown here. 
You can post any comments or questions below. I'll get to them as quickly as I can!
Thanks for visiting!


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