Coloured Pencils

sortedpencils
Originally uploaded by fuzzydragons

Rose is participating in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and I thought it might be a good idea for me to do the same. So todays lesson is about lists. Making them, reading them and how they can help your blog.

So I need to make a list. Problem is I had no idea what type of list to make. I don't really think that I know enough about one subject (well unless a list about dog grooming would be interesting [and not sure how interesting that would be. brush dog, bath dog, brush and blow dry. ok so there is more to it then that :p but still not that interesting. surprisingly it was only little yappy dogs that bit me[!%^&*£ Yorkies! always a Yorkie :/]. never a big dog....]) But I thought that I know a bit about coloured pencils and the supports you can use them with so thought that might make a decent list.

Types of pencils I've used (I was going to list all the types of CPs you can get but thought I should just list the ones that I have personally used)

1. Prismacolors: The pencil that a lot of CP artists use. Soft and very easy to blend. I have noticed a sharp decline in the quality though. I could be getting bad pencils, but dozens of pencils with broken leads, off centre leads, and grit set between the lead in many pencils makes me think other wise. Lots of colours to choose from, which is a big plus when trying to get certain colours in a drawing. If you can buy open stock do, sets have more of a chance of having been dropped and damaged in transport. And buying the individual pencils will probably save money because you are only going to be buying the colours you need (I have yet to use the neon orange pencils :p neon orange striped Zebra anyone?) A lot of the books that are written for CPs use Prismas for there tutorials but there are colour charts out there to find out the nearest colour match when using other types of pencils. Outside of Europe these are probably the easiest pencils to find.

2. Derwent Coloursofts: Derwents answer to Prismacolors. I actually prefer these. They are just as soft if not softer for me and I have had no breakage issues with them. Not as many colours as Prismas though so that might be a problem if a person has problems blending colours. The pencils are thicker so will not always fit in pencil sharpeners that can not change the hole size of the sharpener. They tend to cost more then Prismacolors :/ Some people do not like how soft they are and say they act more like chalk but I haven't noticed this yet.

3. Derwent Artist Pencils: I used them once and rarely again after that. They were too hard for me, and I felt like I was drawing with sticks. Couldn't get them to blend for me. I do know people like them and use them often but I only have negative things to say about them. And don't have any right now to try again and see if my opinion has changed.

4. Prismacolor Verithin Pencils: Good for outlining and signing work but not much else. With a really light touch you can get them to blend together. But I find them too hard to use for big pieces of work and they have a habit of scoring the paper. But for outlining they work great and for getting highlights to really show up :)

5. Prismacolor Art Stix: Work really well in covering large areas and getting solid background colours down. Haven't used them for anything else. They can break but they are not that hard to use broken. You can use them like pastels or chalk.

6. Prismacolor blender: clear blender used to blend the pencils you have laid down and to help eliminate the paper showing through the colours. Works best the more pigment you have down. If you don't have enough initial lead down you can get a streaky effect and the paper can show through. Works well to get a really smooth look. Has a tendency to cause wax bloom (but this is a common thing with wax based pencils). A wipe with a soft cloth or toilet paper sometimes helps get rid of the bloom. I really only use this with things I want to look shiny :p Or when I am using Stonehenge paper. You can get the same effects if you use a lighter coloured pencil and often using the lighter pencil will blend the colours together better ex. light blue if most of the base colour is blue.

7. Derwent Graphitint Pencils: These are easy to use and a neat idea. Add a bit of colour to graphite. I haven't actually used these wet. Used them dry and they work fine. Just like normal graphite. So the question would be is it worth having the added colour? Not sure as I can get the same effect if I go over graphite with coloured pencils. I guess you would be loosing a step time wise. Limited colours but the colours they do have are nice earthy shades.

8. Derwent Inktense: Very bright pencils. Work really well in laying down background colours and base colours for what you are drawing. Other pencils go easily over them once dry or before you wet them. If you use them over normal CPs they will fill in any of the empty spaces left from the pencils when the Inktense are wetted down. The colours blend together easily wet or dry. Should use them on paper that will take being wet but you don't have to. I've used them on normal sketchbook paper and they worked perfectly fine. Besides the colours being brighter I haven't really noticed a huge difference between these and watercolour pencils.

9. Crayola Coloured Pencils: First kind that I ever used. Perfectly fine to learn with and easy to blend the colours, but not the best in quality terms. Lots of colours to choose from which is nice. Never had any problems with grit in the lead or breakage. Colours do have a tendency to fade (but this can be said of a lot of the artist quality pencils too). Best thing with these is they are easy to find.

hmm better stop before this list gets too long lol :p I could include pastel pencils, watercolour pencils and Neocolors but that probably should be another list. I think I will make another list soon about supports if people would be interested as I don't want this to be too long.

There are a lot of pencils out there that I want to try I just can't find them in open stock and I don't want to buy them to find out that I don't like how they act. (hmm this is a really long list, if you make it through it have a cookie :D )