Burnishing with colored pencils is a conspiracy

[andymania]

I have been trying to burnish many light layers of colored pencil with a white pencil and all it does is kill the intensity of the colors with this hideous hazy fog. I have tried to go back and restore the color by reapplying the previous colors but the layer of white is so thick that that doesnt even do anything. Any color put over white never comes out vivid. Any ideas??? I read every book by every colored pencil artist and tried everything they mentioned but nothing seems to work. And I know everything about paper tooth, keeping pencil points sharp, brushing away crumbs etc. Its so frustrating.....

Solutions welcome.

[RyanRyan]

Treat your pencil drawing like a watercolour and let the white of the paper be your high lights?

Use watered down acrylic for high lights or a heavily sharpened waterbased-oil-pastel, you know the ones I'm talking about?

I know this doesn't help you but, it's all I have without a visual reference.

[Seedling]

Colored pencils are garbage. Try acrylics! :P

[StarrTheInsane]

You could start out with a very lightly applied color area first and come in with the white slightly heavier and then reapply color more heavily as the figure fills out. White and black added to anything will dull the pigment. Consider other colors besides white that could brighten the area.

You may try the paint suggestion, but if you've already totally covered the surface with colored pencil, some kinds of paints won't stick.

[sweetoblivion314]

buy a colorless blender. Prismacolor makes one. Its basically a colored pencil with no pigment, just wax.

[MrBobMarley]

Colored pencils are garbage. Try acrylics! :P


I see you got the smiley with the tongue, but cmon, that's pretty harsh. I like them.

Burnishing is a funny thing. I came about it by accident because I hate the way colored pencils look when you can see the paper through the colors. So I started pressing harder and my blending got better and more seamless. My art teacher in hs pointed out to me what burnishing was.

I use prismacolors only and I've never had any good results using the colorless blender. All it does is remove the colors I laid down. My suggestion is to try blending with the colors you're using, not white.

I don't want to impose on your thread but if you want, I'll post a pic of my work so you can see a little of my process.

[Seedling]

I see you got the smiley with the tongue, but cmon, that's pretty harsh. I like them.

You’re right, I should have been more specific. Colored pencils are inflexible – you can’t change your mind and erase or draw over an area. There are a limited number of textures that can be produced with colored pencil. They give you a tiny, tiny surface to spread color with, which you not only have to grind obsessively onto the surface, but which you have to layer, so it takes an obnoxiously long time to create even a small image. And in order to overcome their inherently pastel look, you have to grind even longer.

Despite this, I would like to see what you’ve done with the medium.

[Shadowwing]

buy a colorless blender. Prismacolor makes one. Its basically a colored pencil with no pigment, just wax.

I second that. There are other ways you can do to bring the colors out and make them brighter. You ought to try mixed media. To get rid of white speckles, I suggest giving the paper underneath a watercolor wash...I have found that it helps bring the color out. Also, try watercolor pencils for where you want the colors to stand out, and black ink for really black areas. Of course, apply the watercolor and ink before you start coloring with color pencils.

Colored pencils are garbage. Try acrylics!

Nope, watercolors are garbage.

[MrBobMarley]

Seedling, I definitely agree that it is a tedious medium no doubt about that. It's very very unforgiving also. I happen to have a lot of patience and I appreciate little details. I only have one image handy that was scanned and unfortunately the rest were taken with a crappy 2mp camera a couple years ago.

This first sketch is the scanned one and was done from photo ref to test out the tooth of the sketchpad paper. I prefer to start on darker paper than this though. The gradations in the flesh are pretty smooth and the control of the pencil is something I miss with the wacom.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb182/Whitestang65/longhair2.jpg


The next one shows a little process. I shoot my own ref pics, except the last pic above.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb182/Whitestang65/Kelly.jpg


Here it is at a later stage. Shitty photo, I know but bear with me. That's a 8.5x11" sheet of paper for a size ref.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb182/Whitestang65/kel23.jpg


Here's another. Her hair looks hazed out but is actually very dark. Shot with a camera, the wax reflects light and makes it look hazed. This one's about 13x18"or so.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb182/Whitestang65/kellyb2.jpg


T

[Shadowwing]

(deleted by user)

[Moai]

Nope, watercolors are garbage.

http://www.paulbonner.net/

Link courtesy of DSillustration.

[Shadowwing]

Ok, I take it back.

Why I said this is for same reasons that Seedling hates coloring pencils...it is a very unforgiving medium and hard to work with. Watercolors are so transparent that you have to keep on putting on a layer, wait for it to dry, add more...takes a lot of patience.

BUT, in the hands of people like Paul Bonner, they can be an awesome medium.

[Moai]

I don't enjoy/am not good at watercolors either.
Which is why Paul Bonner's work is so frikkin' amazing-licious-tastic.
Anyway, keep talking about colored pencils.

[MrBobMarley]

Thanks shadowwing. I always wanted to try out the watercolor pencils. Just not sure about the water part heheh.

Andy, I take it you liked my stuff. You must know I have no formal training or anything, it's all from trying out different methods, and I still haven't met anyone else who uses them like me. The only people that I've seen that are "colored pencil artists" are old ladies that sit at home and draw pictures of their cats that are almost entirely traced anyway.

Also, working from photo ref does help a lot because you can plan out your colors knowing that you can't undo it if you screw up.

Here's you questions from the other thread.


How the hell did you accomplish those subltle tone changes in that colored pencil sketch of the girl?!?!?!?!?!?

- lay your base skin color down pressing pretty hard, then go back lightly with highlights and shadows lightly to get a feel for it. then use your base color again to lightly blend as necessary

Did you start from dark to light

- nope, I start from light to dark, because the darks will almost always cover the lights.

And what colors did you use????

- only a handful. burnt umber, dark brown, sienna, goldenrod, cream, peach, white, various pinks and yellows etc

And what colors did you use for the very subtle shadows like on the cheek, under the eye and nose??

- well the base skin color I chose was peach. highlights are light cream and white with yellow. shadows are sienna, dark brown, burnt umber blended with peach sometimes.

One more thing is this. Never lay white down first in a place you want to have color later. White for me is almost always in the final details not in the beginning stages.

Hope this helps you out man, post something when you try it out.

[HunterKiller_]

http://www.paulbonner.net/

Link courtesy of DSillustration.

Are you saying that those paintings are watercolour??? Bloody hell...
I can't imagine how one would do such a thing with watercolours. :nohope:

[MrBobMarley]

Boy, nothing like talking to a brick wall.........why do people always post these questions for help and then disappear like that? Seems like I wasted my time...

[Seedling]

Well, I appreciate the work you've shared, Mr. Bob, and even if the original poster doesn't come back, I'm sure there are others who have been helped by the information you have shared. :)

[Shadowwing]

Boy, nothing like talking to a brick wall.........why do people always post these questions for help and then disappear like that? Seems like I wasted my time...

Oddly, at another art forum that I frequent, someone posted questions about colored pencils at the same time, and disappeared. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyway, Seedling is right...this might help others as well, so you didn't waste your time.

[argais00]

Boy, nothing like talking to a brick wall.........why do people always post these questions for help and then disappear like that? Seems like I wasted my time...

I was thinking about doing something with colored pencils and your posts really made me want to ;) So don't worry.. at least one person (meee!!!) really appreciates all that you've posted here ;)

[MrBobMarley]

Ok, you guys have restored my faith in humanity:D Glad I could help ya out argais00, I know I've gotten so much outta these boards myself. Movin on........

[argais00]

Just bought myself a 36 color staedler set ;) I'll start working on it tomorrow and I'll post on my SB once I have something to show ;)