Demonstration

Still Life

I used a blue sheet of paper from a Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper pad for this still life. I used blue paper, because the dominant colour in the photograph is yellow-beige (warm) and I wanted to pick the opposite colour (cool). So when I began using warm colours on blue paper, it created contrast in colour temperature.

As you can see, I used very few coloured pencils to create this colourful drawing. Sometimes less is more in drawing, and drawing on toned paper added so much character to this simple still life.

Step 1 Outline „

Last month, we worked on the creation of a perfect outline for the project.

Here we’re going to transfer it to the toned paper of your choice. Pick the smoothest side of your coloured paper and transfer the outlines using transfer paper. You can always erase unnecessary lines with a kneaded eraser later. I usually place something heavy onto my sketch so as not to move it by accident during the transferral.

Step 2 Highlights

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1 After you transfer the image, strengthen some of the lines with a coloured pencil to define their form then erase the lines you don’t need. I used Prismacolor white to mark the strongest lights in the still life.

2 Use light to medium pencil pressure, knowing that you can reinforce the lights later. Pay attention to pencil direction: use horizontal strokes in the background and circular ones on the cutlery.

Step 3 Shadows

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Focus on the correct placement of shadows next. Shade with Cézanne 019 (dark brown) the top part of the knife and the darkest parts of the ribbon. Vary your pencil pressure to create a slight gradation in the ribbon. Use a very sharp point to define the edges because, when we shade, we lose the sharpness of the edge.