Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Red Pencil Drawings









I was working in this style of drawing for around a year, not always, but as much as I can. I loved the old world look. And with the erasable colored pencils I was using I could cheat that look with modern easier to work with materials. Ultimately, I ended up abandoning this technique and going back to trusty ol' graphite on white paper for two reasons:

Although I could erase the red pencil, it is not nearly as malleable as a graphite and a kneaded eraser. These days I find I am erasing and redrawing more than I ever have in my never-ending quest to get my work better and better. (Funny, I always thought once you get good you don't have to erase anymore, you just draw stuff awesome the first time).

I also found that the natural beauty of the materials was influencing my judgment as to whether I actually had a good image and a solid drawing. These days I do my sketches in a rather boring style, If they start to look good I know there is something inherent in what I am drawing that is working, not just what I am using to draw.

All that being said, I haven't worked in this style in over a year, and I am starting to feel the itch to do so....

For those who are interested in this technique; I am using Stonehenge fawn paper, Prismacolor Col-Erase tuscon red pencils and General's white charcoal pencils.

9 comments:

  1. It certainly gives a very nice finish - but they are also inherently lovely sketches to start with - regardless of the medium used ;)

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  2. That's a great point about being influenced by the natural beauty of the sketch and whether or not it might have the same feel in the painting. I wonder about that sometimes myself. In my opinion, your paintings have that great "old world" feel as well.

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  3. Love these, SO much. I was just about to ask if you would be at shows this year, I'd love to see your stuff in person. I see you'll be at three of the ones I'm going to! Psyched.

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  4. I love the way that white has been used in the angel image to show the sunlit area of the floor.

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  5. really like the feel of these...very much like the old masters...nicely done!

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