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Color Pencil Techniques?

First, I do know that different companies create different kinds of color pencils. Some are wax-based (soft), where others are also wax-based but harder. Then there are the clay based pencils, as well as the water color "leaded" pencils.

I use what I can afford, and have been wondering about a specific technique I've seen done. It totally baffles me.

Knowing that different pencils react differently because of what they are made of, it got me wondering if that was one of the factors. Hmmn...

So what's this technique I speak of?

White highlights (or another light color) over either marker OR water color. In fact I've seen the lighter color done over darker colored paper (so I've recently spent to cash on some nice BLACK strathmore paper to experiment with. hmmmmn Inverse drawing. XD ).

But my attempts at the pencil on water color seemed to fail. Has anyone done this and succeeded? What did you do?

(And since this is a thread on CP techniques, please share any other insight you feel is revel ant. )

(Sample added. The Technique was used in the BG then abandoned when it didn't work.)

I have to be honest by saying this first: I don't like using colored pencils for final artwork, so I'm going to be a little biased. The paper shows through (which is why I'm guessing you want to use watercolor first), and if you go too heavy with the colored pencils you can't layer different colors on top of each other easily because it starts to smear and the nice texture is gone. Same thing happened to me when I started using different colors of pastels in the same painting; I overworked it so there was no paper left for the pastel to bind too, and when it has no choice but to transfer to a material that's as soft as it is, it starts to smear instead of transferring neatly to the surface.

I remember attending a seminar by an illustrator that did book covers and he used colored pencils as the final layer on his paintings, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly how he did it. I do remember that he printed the image out and started working from there. I'm not sure if he used any other medium like acrylic or water color (I have a hard time seeing what else colored pencils can bind to except paper). It might have been as simple as doing it digitally, printing it out, and adding the final touches with colored pencils. He used colored pencils because he liked the soft aesthetic, and each piece became an original that he could sell for oodles of money, as opposed to just a printout of a purely digital piece.

I think the key is to only use the colored pencils to add texture and to punch up the values. Don't try to completely cover the underpainting or the paper with it. It doesn't take much to get to the point where an area has been over worked and becomes difficult to work with.

The only time I'm okay with using colored pencils is when I have colored Canson paper, and a white colored pencil and a black one. Those too colors never overlap; I draw the shadows in black and the lighter values in white, using the paper as my 50% starting value.

I'm not too sure exactly what you had trouble with in your painting and what didn't work (the background is one color so I can't see what went wrong), and I haven't used all of the different colored pencils out there; my experience was only with the standard Prismacolor pencils. The only good work I've seen with colored pencils is when they used only one color (which could just as easily have been done with graphite or charcoal), or multiple colors on top of colored paper and being careful not to overwork the paper.

If you want to use watercolor then I think watercolor pencils really are the way to go. I found this tutorial which might help: http://www.elfwood.com/farp/theart/gulinskicolpen/gulinskicolpen.html

Can you post some examples of the effect that you are trying to achieve?

*nods* Lots of good points.
I <3 FARP. :)
~~

To help illustrate what I mean: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r195/YargoPlatz/yargo_badge_03.jpg
There are multiple highlights that are done in CP, as far as I can tell. I've SEEN others do it as well. This I believe is marker.

I think a part of the idea is to tint the paper with a layer of color, so that the paper itself is "dyed". Then to go back over it with a lighter color. The CP should, by this thinking, be picked up by the texture of the paper itself and show over the base color.

IE: If it works on colored paper, it should work on "dyed" paper that has been colored with marker or watercolor.

I used watercolor as a base, to give the white paper a middle-value. The sky in the background is 95% watercolor, blue. Nothing else. The spotting actually comes from lifting some of the color up and off of it, letting it dry a bit, then adding a bit more color (with more water rather then more color).

The patches of "burnished whitish kinda color" that signify the cloud highlights is in fact the 5% that is CP. Look to the right (viewer's right) of the butterfly. It 's more visible on the very dark of the blue. If you look to the left in the lighter areas, you can just make it out.

I had tried to do a light layer-on-layer with soft, light, pencil strokes. But that didn't do anything. I had to press more, and thus ended up with the more burnished look instead.

With watercolor AND CP one needs to work light to dark, that much I understand. ;)

As for adding other media. Because of their level of opaque-ness, other media is used for adding smaller details without causing CP "bloom" from over working the CP. It sticks to the CP.

First off, apologies for not reading all of the postage already in here. My comment is based solely on the platypus badge example. I believe the artist could have been using a white charcoal or white pastel pencil. Those will show pure white over just about any other medium, and I have used the white charcoal with great success over marker.

EDIT: Oh just as a warning, the charcoal and the pastel doesn't "stick" as well over the wax base of coloured pencils.

Yeah, the badge is as pretty good example of what I was thinking would work. The fields of color are really smooth for being marker (solvent-based marker maybe?). And I think Sudan Red might be right about it being pastel, or at least that might be something to try. If you have to press too hard for the colored pencils to transfer to the paper then I'm wondering if you need to use a tougher paper or illustration board (not sure what paper you used). It's possible that after the watercolor dries the fibers in the paper tighten up and make the paper smoother.

*ponders*

It was Strathmore Bristol "smooth". That in itself gives a nice even look to some other CP work I've done. But maybe the watercolor does tighten the fibers more. THAT would explain a lot. Hrmmn wish I had my microscope from gradeschool. gr.

Sudan: Maybe then they used the clay based CP.. uhmmn I can't remember the brand name. But there was one mentioned in a CP book I had been browsing through. I bet they layer better then wax, but that is an experiment waiting to happen. *ponders*

Also marker doesn't "stick" well to wax unless it is an alcohol based marker. Then it seems to melt the wax base CP, from the experiments I've done.

hmmn.. Time for more research. ^.^

Alos, I may just have to try Pastels over watercolor next time around. I <3 my chalk pastels!

Drakenhart said:Also marker doesn't "stick" well to wax unless it is an alcohol based marker. Then it seems to melt the wax base CP, from the experiments I've done.

That's odd! I've used coloured pencils (quite a variety of them) over many different kinds of marker and they've all "stuck" brilliantly. Either I am doing it wrong or I have some preeeeetty determined CPs! XD

Go for the pastels though! I am sure they'll approximate the look you are aiming for. :)

I'm sorry. XD I wasn't clear. Silly me!

What most folks do is layer the marker on first, and that is what I was talking about earlier. I jumped tangents there without giving a road sign. ;) hehe.

I meant to layer a marker over a CP layer. It gives a neat dappled rough texture look. But when one uses an alcohol based marker over it the CP (depending on what kind it is) may "melt" and blend. This is where some of the colorless blenders that are marker-like work well. ;)

I sorry. I am confusing sometimes. ^.^ Brain works faster then my fingers. ;)