ScrawlrTips

Derwent Arist Colouring Pencils 

Featured In  #089 ScrawlrBox

We realise you may have never seen or used products like this before so we have put together a few hints, tips and techniques to test out and get the best from these supplies.

Derwent’s Artist range of colouring pencils offer a colouring solution perfect for beginners and professional artists alike. These pencils have a broad, round barrel with a traditional wide core. As the lead is nice and thick, it makes them great for broader strokes, adding lashings of colour and for creating expressive drawings. They have a hard, break resistant core and a waxy texture which makes them ideal for layering and shading. This also allows for easy blending so you can create a vast range of different tints and new colours with ease. 

Watch the Tips & Tricks Video Here

Things To Try...

- A light hand is key. Try not to press to hard or scrub your pencils on the paper whilst working – this will prevent any unwanted damage to the paper.

- Mark making! Specifically, Scumbling. A fun tip which is just as much fun to say, Scumbling is where you apply marks to the page in small scribbles, gradually building to cover all of the paper in these little marks. This way you build texture and intensity to your shading all at once.

- Create texture. Use some sandpaper to sand off some of the lead into a pot. You can then use the pigment powder to brush or smudge onto your work for a softer colour and smooth base. It’s ideal for backgrounds filling in larger gaps to work back over the top of.

- These pencils are a wax based pencil, which means they are a bit softer and easier to blend.

- Blending. There are lots of ways to blend your pencils, here are a couple of the easiest ways to get you started:- Layering the pencils: Build your pencils on top of each other using a light hand and small circle movements. You can work back over the top of this until you are happy.- The blending pen: Apply your pencil layers and use the pen from light to dark for a smooth blend. Use the pen sparingly as too much solvent on the page can disrupt the pigment of your pencils. It’s best to use this last as it’s difficult to work over the top of the blending pen with your pencils.

- The nib of the blending pen can be easily wiped clean on a spare sheet of paper.

- Get crafty! There are two fun ways to use a craft knife with your pencil work:Underneath- Add in the areas you know you want to keep white for highlights and detailsby indenting your knife into the page before you start any pencil work. The pencil pigment won’t go into the dents so the lines you have created should stay nice and bright.On top- Scratch back into your work once you are finished. Gently scrape off the pencil layers to add in finer details.

- Working with coloured pencils can be a timely process, especially if you are aiming for a realism. You might find it can take a while for your work to look how you envision. Patience is a must and you have to trust the process. Take your time and have fun creating!

Artist Advice 

Xuetong Wang

Colored pencils can be both light and heavy, I love bright and thick colors so I always draw heavy. I don’t fix any lines because sometimes the mistake can add real charm and don’t try to make those lines as straight and perfect as possible, that’s what machine do. We are humans and we make cute curly and wavering lines. Draw like a child and don’t think about any techniques.
 

Behind The Artwork  

This piece is from one of my daily drawing project. I drew all different kinds of food everyday using colored pencils. The organic feeling of colored pencils and hand drawings bring the fresh feelings of food tothe paper.