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Sharon Knettell · 09-21-2004, 05:46 PM

Amy,

It is of course hard to comment on a picture that is out of focus. However I did colored pencil for years as an illustrator and had skintones down pat.

You have to squint at your reference as in any other medium to simplify the basic shapes. I think one of the problems inherent in colored pencil is that you are continually using a small point instead of a variety of brushes as in oils or the broader widths of pastels. This unfortunately makes one concentrate on individual details instead of seeing whole forms.

I used tuscan red and terracotta ( Prismacolor) as an underdrawing for the skintones. I then fixed them with workable fixative and airbrushed over the drawing with Winsor Newton watercolors, first a spray of yellow ochre, then a spray of cadmium red, the some quinacridone rose in the cheeks. You can highlight and stengthen the drawing after it is airbrushed. I would first spray a paper sample first to get the color saturation I want, then match the area I was spraying to it. Airbrushing sound difficult, but flat spraying like that is a piece of cake. You just get a good double action airbrush, like a Paasche or a Badger and some kind of pressurized air source, a compressor or tanks. You simply cut a frisket leaving the area exposed you want to spray and whale away. I have taught beginners how to do this and they picked up this simple airbrush technique in a week.
The resultant color can be very rich as you can continue to build layer upon layer of color.

The other color areas are best done in a complementary color. For example, a red shirt, as in your picture I would underdraw in a dark forest green, then spray in red.

In the section on palettes you will see my suggestions for a basic set of colors for pastel. Daniel Greene has a wonderful pastel video out. His book "Pastel" is also a worthwhile book to get. Unfortunately it is out of print, but you might be able to find it on Alibris. His pastel brand suggestions are somewhat out of date as newer and better lines of pastels have come out more recently. I am speaking of Unisons and Great Americans, among others.

09-21-2004, 05:46 PM	#4
Sharon Knettell Approved Member Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 1,730	Amy, It is of course hard to comment on a picture that is out of focus. However I did colored pencil for years as an illustrator and had skintones down pat. You have to squint at your reference as in any other medium to simplify the basic shapes. I think one of the problems inherent in colored pencil is that you are continually using a small point instead of a variety of brushes as in oils or the broader widths of pastels. This unfortunately makes one concentrate on individual details instead of seeing whole forms. I used tuscan red and terracotta ( Prismacolor) as an underdrawing for the skintones. I then fixed them with workable fixative and airbrushed over the drawing with Winsor Newton watercolors, first a spray of yellow ochre, then a spray of cadmium red, the some quinacridone rose in the cheeks. You can highlight and stengthen the drawing after it is airbrushed. I would first spray a paper sample first to get the color saturation I want, then match the area I was spraying to it. Airbrushing sound difficult, but flat spraying like that is a piece of cake. You just get a good double action airbrush, like a Paasche or a Badger and some kind of pressurized air source, a compressor or tanks. You simply cut a frisket leaving the area exposed you want to spray and whale away. I have taught beginners how to do this and they picked up this simple airbrush technique in a week. The resultant color can be very rich as you can continue to build layer upon layer of color. The other color areas are best done in a complementary color. For example, a red shirt, as in your picture I would underdraw in a dark forest green, then spray in red. In the section on palettes you will see my suggestions for a basic set of colors for pastel. Daniel Greene has a wonderful pastel video out. His book "Pastel" is also a worthwhile book to get. Unfortunately it is out of print, but you might be able to find it on Alibris. His pastel brand suggestions are somewhat out of date as newer and better lines of pastels have come out more recently. I am speaking of Unisons and Great Americans, among others.