Many years ago I remember visiting a wonderful shop on Brisbane Southbank in Australia. It specialised in book illustration and contained many illustrated books, mainly for children, and a lovely gallery display featuring original illustrations from the books in the shop.
Up until that point I had never really thought that much about childrens book illustration, but this exhibition intrigued me and I found myself getting really up close to the artworks to try and discover how they had been created and what materials had been used.
Wonderfully soft, warm and vibrant…
As I gazed at the surface of the paper I discovered that these wonderfully soft warm and vibrant images were created with colour pencil. I was amazed. I had never seen colour pencil used in this way before. The artworks looked magical and very painterly.
As a child my experience with colour pencil was not a particularly impressive one. The hues always seemed wishy washy and dull probably due to them being of the cheap variety, containing more binder than pigment. So, I never gave coloured pencil much thought after that.
Missing out because of childhood perceptions…
But right before me in this wonderful Brisbane illustration gallery were some very lovely and luminescent artworks created using the medium I had previously discounted as ‘only being for kids’. How many times do we miss out on something great in life because it didn’t measure up for us when we were children or is only perceived as being for kids?
These wonderful illustrations turned my childhood perceptions on their head. Colour pencil could indeed be used in a very painterly way to give a really lovely and pleasing effect, which seems especially suited to children’s book illustrative work. Of course it has a wider application than that but colour pencil has a magical aesthetic all of its own which is great for conjuring up magical storybook worlds.
I’ve recently been reminded of this special time in the Brisbane Illustration gallery because of the lovely developments that have recently come to fruition in the DrawPj.com Complete Art Course.
Delectable and Luscious…
Check out the the delectable and luscious looking image of a strawberry included at the top of this post. This is a project from the super new Unit 5: Colour Pencil and Colour Mixing Unit co-created by Course Founder Cindy Wider and DrawPj Instructor Tannis Trydal.
As you can see its got a wonderful painterly quality. Also check out this artwork created by Tannis. Beautiful soft work, especially capturing the magical qualities of the toddler.
Convincing effects…
Colour Pencil is a fantastic medium because not only can you produce artworks with wonderful softly rendered quality, but also because the pencils are so portable with much less mess than paint! While we absolutely love the feel of liquid paint on the brush, it does require a whole lot of preparation to get started and tidy up afterwards. With colour pencils you can just open the box and go! (of course don’t forget your pencil sharpener)
I wonder if (like me) you might have tried colour pencils in the past and given up because ‘its too hard to mix the colours’ or ‘the colours are not solid enough’ or you just weren’t able to achieve the effect you are looking for because it seems too tricky. Well, there are some special insider secrets to getting a great result with Colour pencils and we reveal them in the newly revamped Unit 5, enabling you to create a drawing such as the juicy mouthwatering strawberry to such convincing effect.
Armed with the knowledge revealed in Unit 5: Colour Pencil and Colour Mixing will open you up to a whole new world of freedom and expression, not to mention ‘go anywhere art portability’!
Preconceptions put aside…
Now we can all put aside those childhood preconceptions about colour pencil and start creating artworks that will enchant the viewer in just the same way as those wonderful artworks that I discovered on the walls of a Brisbane gallery.
Make a special trip…
Maybe next time you are in your local bookshop take a visit to the children’s book section to see if you too can spot where colour pencil has been used to create these wonderful illustrations. Maybe it will inspire you to create some of your own, or even take it further and move towards a rewarding career in book illustration. ‘The possibilities’, as they say ‘are endless’.
Enrolling in Unit 5: Colour Pencil and Colour Mixing
New and Recently Enrolled Instructor Supported Students
All new and recently enrolled ‘Complete Drawing Course’ students have access to the new Unit 5: Colour Pencil as a regular part of the full six unit course. Its already included.
Students who enrolled before the release of Unit 5: Colour Pencil and Colour Mixing
You can choose to study either Unit 5 Paint or Unit 5 Colour Pencil. If you wish to study both you can purchase an additional subscription (as it’s effectively an extra unit of study). Email your instructor if you would like to do that.
Questions?
If you have any questions at all about the new Unit 5: Colour Pencil and Colour Mixing (or any other subject) just drop us a line. We’ll be happy to help you get started with this magical and versatile medium.
