Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Color Pencil

After drawing with graphite pencils for quite a while, it's time to move on to color pencil.  Shading with graphite and charcoal is very different from shading with color pencil.  With black and white, the shading is solely on the shapes of light and shadow, whereas with color pencil it's more about blending.

The students are going to need some practice with their materials before diving straight into creating a finished piece.  The most important thing to practice will be how to properly blend and lay down color.  With graphite pencil it's best to use a light touch when making contact with the paper, the same is true with color pencils, but even lighter.

The students will be expected to finish a worksheet where they will practice coloring and blending.  This worksheet should be started in class, with teacher input, and finished at home so that they will have plenty of time to practice.

Online Example

The lightness of pressure should be stressed as it is very easy to show the direction of your stroke with color pencils.  In our class, the worksheet was much smaller and less involved because of our time constraints.

In-class Example

The Project

There are many projects that can be done with color pencil.  Monochromatic or polychromatic portraits, abstract drawings, worm vs. cool color studies, etc.  Still life is another great project that would be easy to pull off in a classroom, especially since the students have already finished a still life drawing with graphite.  Working with color on the same project would allow them to practice what they already know, but with a different medium.

This still life however, should have at least one or two clear glass vases.  Since there is nothing to shade on a glass vase, the students will be forced to focus on shapes of color and their varying tints.  Some spheres or even spherical fruit should be incorporated as well.  This will allow them to focus again on light, shadow, and reflected light all over again, but this time with varying tints of color.

Online Example - Sari Gaby

Veronica Winters

Here are some student works that were shown in our class of different projects that can be done with color pencil.




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