My final project for Colored Pencil class was a nasturtium. For prep work, I did a line drawing and started a graphite study to work out vein placement and shadows. After my initial set up and photographs, the flower and leaves changed position, so I knew I would have to start the colored pencil illustration right away. The original flower started to die back after 3 days, but several others developed.
I could have spent a full week on the graphite drawing alone, but I condensed it into a one-two day drawing. It's not as detailed as I would have liked, but it was a functional reference and good practice.
After 6 weeks of class, I thought I would be set in my approach to the colored pencil process. The flower involved a lot of layers and blending, but the leaves were darkening too quickly. As I moved further away from the flower and needed more atmospheric perspective and cleaner lines, I used verithin pencils. The verethins provided a nice light but solid coverage and allowed for a delicate blue-shift. I was also able to hold on to the veins better. I'm glad I switched to a different pencil, because the green polychromos was not lifting cleanly. From there, I sharpened my polychromos pencils with a makeup pencil sharpener.
The sharpener I used is aluminum and made in Germany, but doesn't have a brand listed. It was the only pencil sharpener I had that would make an ultra fine point without crumbling or breakage. It was even better than my KUM and M+R sharpeners!
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