An excellent article for Hints and Tips, many thanks Bonny Snowdon, you are an inspiration!


Tips for success

I created my first drawing in May 2016 - it seemed a natural progression from colouring books, a hobby I'd really become engrossed in since Christmas 2015. 

Moving from colouring books to creating my own coloured pencil pieces was a real learning curve. I wanted the smooth paper that I'd been used to, but soon discovered that I much preferred a paper that took many layers. I experimented with a few papers and found I really loved Stonehenge, so many of my pieces were created on the white and toned papers until I found Clairefontaine Pastelmat which very quickly become my go to paper. 

My goal was to create realistic animal drawings which meant I had to learn how to draw fur. I used YouTube a lot to try and find the techniques I needed. There are loads of videos, some more useful than others and I very quickly found my own style that I've been honing ever since. 

I do think practice is the key, but having a passion and a want to succeed and improve are also key factors. The more you draw the better you'll get as long as you are continually reflecting on your work. 

Without being detrimental to development, reflecting on and critiquing your own work, I feel, is incredibly important but not to the point where you're giving yourself a hard time. If you want to improve you've got to know where your strengths are and what you need to work on. Asking for critique from other artists is a great way to improve, but it's important to understand the value of critique and using it to your advantage rather than becoming upset and feeling your work isn't good enough. I've found this to be one of the major factors in my improvement - being open minded and self critical means I can work on the areas i find challenging. 

Each piece I draw I learn something new, whether it's a quicker way to draw short fur or that's it's important to really know the subjects anatomy - photos aren't always accurate!

Advice I'd give to those new to coloured pencils: be patient, it can be a long process, use feather light pressure and don't be scared to use colour - I draw a lot of horses and dogs - bright oranges in brown fur and blues, purples and pinks in black fur might sound odd but it really helps bring the pieces to life. Find your paper - just because another artist raves about the paper they use, it doesn't mean you'll love it. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince 😉

I'm sure I am not the only one waiting for Christmas to finally get my hands on some Derwent Procolour! I decided now was a good time to seek advice from someone who has had a lot of experience using Procolour. Judith Selcuk has very kindly shared her experience.

Judith first explains that it takes a couple of days getting used to using Procolour. Sounds like it is time to get out the sketchbook or scraps of our favourite papers and start playing! Judith also says it is important to keep the pencils super sharp and use lots of light layers. Procolour layer better than burnish as they are quite hard. Judith uses lots of light layers like glazes. Good news for those like me who love layering colour over colour!

As a pencil Procolour come closest to Polychromos, both being quite hard. Judith tells me that they are extremely pigmented, so like the intensity of pigmentation of Prismacolor but with the consistency of Polychromos. Procolour come with a colour chart that is very well matched to the pencils. A very useful tool to tape to your desk as you learn the new colours.

Procolour are suitable for a variety of surfaces. They work particularly well on drafting film, hot pressed paper, smooth and vellum,uart 800, Pastelmat and regular laid Ingress paper.

I am sure that has whetted everyone's appetitie! Bring on Christmas!

Head over to www.ukcps.co.uk to see our first ever online exhibition. This is a taster of the winners and highly commended. As well as these superb paintings there are lots and lots of other equally wonderful paintings to view!

UKCPS 1st Online Exhibition 2017- Entry Form

Closing date for entries 5th November 2017

UKCPS 1st Online Exhibition 2017- Entry Form

UKCPS 1st Online Exhibition 2017- Entry Form

UKCPS 1st Online Exhibition 2017- Entry Form

Submission is open to all members of the UK Coloured Pencil Society. The work must be original (concept, design and execution by the artist), at least 50% coloured pencil, demonstrate compositional and drawing skills, and ability to use coloured pencil. Entries must not have been shown in a previous UKCPS annual exhibition, nor been an award winner at our Regional or Keswick exhibitions.

 

All pictures entered, subject to complying with the rules, will be displayed on an Online Exhibition from 30th November 2017.

 

If you are not a member of the society and would like to take part you need to first join the society via our membership page.

 

To Enter

 

1. Ensure you have read and understood the rules.

2. You will need the following information ready when you complete the entry form:

 

• Image file(s) in jpg format, max size 5MB.
• File name of image to include your surname and title of picture
• Title of picture
• Unframed size - height x width in cm

 

Note there is a fee of £6 per picture submitted, maximum of 3 pictures per artist. Payment instructions are given on the entry form. Fees are to be used for the prize money.

The Pencil Box is a section in Ann Kullberg's COLOR magazine dedicated in featuring artists and artworks from our Facebook partner groups. Selected artworks will be featured in the Art Showcase video or in COLOR magazine.  — Call for entry will be posted every month in participating FB groups — Only members of our partner groups are allowed to join — Open to advanced, advanced-intermediate, and expert skill levels  Please read the guidelines for more details https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1y7UQ3-ZLBpdnZPOE1xMHZCTUE/view  Links to the blog and videos https://annkullberg.com/blogs/ann-muses/the-pencil-box-featured-artists-august-2017 https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385354694894597/ https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385362608227139/

The Pencil Box is a section in Ann Kullberg's COLOR magazine dedicated in featuring artists and artworks from our Facebook partner groups. Selected artworks will be featured in the Art Showcase video or in COLOR magazine.  — Call for entry will be posted every month in participating FB groups — Only members of our partner groups are allowed to join — Open to advanced, advanced-intermediate, and expert skill levels  Please read the guidelines for more details https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1y7UQ3-ZLBpdnZPOE1xMHZCTUE/view  Links to the blog and videos https://annkullberg.com/blogs/ann-muses/the-pencil-box-featured-artists-august-2017 https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385354694894597/ https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385362608227139/

International Open Exhibition 2018

An extra blog this week to bring everyone up to date!
The UKCPS International Open 2018 will take place at a new venue:
The Arts House
14 Rother Street
Stratford upon Avon
CV376LU

The hand in day and Private View will be on 1st May. The exhibition will be open from 2nd May to 11th May. The pick up for pictures will also be 11th May.

We are looking for stewards for the exhibition, all members are welcome, it is a great opportunity to meet other colour pencil artists and see the demonstrations taking place.

We are also looking for demonstrators. This is the perfect opportunity to meet the public and profile your own work along with the society.

The beauty of the new venue is that there is also space for workshops. With only eleven days available, please book your workshop in early!

Mulling over the advice that Malcolm gave us in the last blog entry, I have been wondering what advice I would give to newcomers to colour pencil. I think the advice I would give would be to invest in a sketch book. Your sketchbook becomes your best friend as an artist. You hang out together and play with new media and different ideas, try markmaking and colour mixing, experiment with approaches to different textures . Like your best friend, it also helps you solve problems you come across.

 As Malcolm pointed out, it needs to have good quality paper. My most recent one was a Daler Rowney and the paper was 150g/m. It is a very smooth paper, lovely for graphite and ok with Polychromos pencils, but easily clogged when layering with wax based pencils. I got around the problem by using off- cuts of other papers and sticking them in my sketch book. This time around I have upgraded to a Strathmore journal, more expensive but better paper. As you will already know, colour pencils take time and patience, as a result, you don't need a large sketchbook as you will be probably trying things out on a small scale. An A5 book is probably plenty big enough and easy to carry around with you when you want to go out drawing. Your sketchbook is the perfect place to put into practice the advice and ideas you find along the way. It's private and nowhere near as intimidating as that new sheet of expensive paper waiting for your next drawing!

Remember too, that those colour pencil artist you admire did not achieve those results over night. There was a lot of learning, playing and mistake making going on, and a lot of that happened, and no doubt still happens, in the privacy of their sketchbook.

 

An example from my own sketchbook showing experiments with colour mixing, graphite and colour pencil drawing from life.

 

The UKCPS Blog is taking a slight change in direction and for the next few months we will be sharing hints and tips for using colour pencils provided by long standing users of the medium. It may be that some advice gets repeated, but that will just show how important it is. The aim is to provide support for newcomers to the medium, but I am sure we can all learn something new and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what people have to say.

 

The first person to share their expertise is Malcolm Cudmore. Malcolm's first advice is to buy fewer pencils but better paper. I think we are all junkies when it comes to colour pencils, forever finding room for just another set! Well, we all need to know which pencils suit us best, but buying a few loose stock to test would probably save us a fortune, which we can then invest in quality paper, which is Malcolm's next  advice. The paper we use can make all the difference  to colour pencil, and different pencils and techniques require different papers, so there is no easy answer to which paper to use. Follow your favourite colour pencil artists. Most colour pencil sites on social media require artists to list both pencils and paper used, so this can give you an idea of which papers to try. It is trial and error though to find the best one for you. Although good paper isn't cheap, it is a good investment.

Malcolm also advises that light value is more important than colour. Try half closing your eyes to identify tonal contrasts. Remember also to keep shadows consistent over patterned areas.

Another piece of advice is to work in muliple, light layers. The further from the point you hold your pencil, the lighter the layers will be. For me, mixing layer on layer of colours to achieve the colour I want is one of the joys of colour pencil.

When working from a photograph, don't stress over replicating the surface of the photo, concentrate on the appearance of the subject depicted in it. At the end of the day, people will see your drawing, not the photograph.

Finally, Malcolm advises drawing from life whenever possible.  Useful advice for a medium that often leads to artists being reliant on reference photos. Regular drawing from life improves your ability to see and understand the world around you. For those new to drawing, don't worry, it needn't be an ordeal. Start small, a twist of paper,a  half tied ribbon, a few grapes. Start with line drawings of the same object from different angles. Fill a page with studies so each drawing is less precious. Don't worry about creating great art but try to understand the object in front of you. As your confidence grows you can become more ambitious with your subject matter.

Winner of the Derwent Art Prize

Derwent Art Prize 2016

The UK Coloured Pencil Society was proud to again award a prize for Excellence at the 3^rd Derwent Art Prize held at the Mall Gallery, London. This year our worthy winner, selected by Morryce Maddams, was ‘Poor Old Kitty has had her Day’ by Angharad Pelling.

Angharad received a cheque for £250 plus a free year’s membership and we look forward to welcoming her to the society.

http://www.derwent-artprize.com/

Book Review: 12 Coloured Pencils Techniques By Cindy Wider

Title: 12 Coloured Pencils Techniques
Author: Cindy Wider
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2016
ISBN:  9781533635853 
Pages: 142pp
Price: £24.08
Where to buy: Amazon 

Who for:  beginners, artists, art tutors, art students, reference

There are books, there are good books, and there are excellent books. Cindy Wider's book is excellent.

Whether you are a beginner just picked up a bundle of coloured pencils and want to create art work, or you are a seasoned artist thinking of exploring coloured pencils this book is a must have.

Wider covers all the essentials to creating art with coloured pencils. She guides the reader right from the first steps of what equipment is needed right through to understanding colour mixing and controlling colour tones.

The book is set out as a Seven Week course in coloured pencils. For example, The first week explores the key techniques: Sharp and dull pencil points, gradations, blending and so on. The following sections delve deeper in the methods of using coloured pencils.

The book explores the most important techniques a coloured pencils artist must know

The book stands out in many ways, I don't want to spoil the enjoyment for you! But in particular I do like Wider's tips and advice on organising yourself, getting materials around you, and very importantly keeping motivated and focussed.

The book is very well illustrated which is extremely important in a how-to book.
The techniques are explained in detail and supported with excellent illustrations and are relevant to the beginning artist.

Wider covers the essentials for making your coloured pencils journey not only a pleasure but a success too.

Coloured pencils techniques are well illustrated and explained

I highly recommend Cindy Wider's book; Wider genuinely shares her knowledge and expertise with her readers, the tutorials are well planned and geared for beginning coloured pencils users.

Cindy Wider at work

You might be interested in other books by Cindy Wider on using pencils:

12 Charcoal Techniques: A complete five week course

6 Pencils Techniques: A complete two week course

both can be obtained from Amazon.

Book Review: Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils - Trudy Friend

Book Title: Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils
Author: Trudy Friend
Publisher: The Search Press www.searchpress.com
ISBN: 978-1-84448-942-8
Published: 2014, Reprinted 2015
Pages: 144, Colour illustrations
RRP: £15.99

Who For: Intermediate amateur and professional artists wishing to try coloured pencils.

In Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils, Trudy Friend demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of coloured pencils. The book guides the reader from starting out with pencils and materials to tackling complicated compositional pieces.

In the first section, Friend introduces her choice of pencils: the Derwent range. She guides the newcomer through the various types and describes their characteristics and possible methods of application. Coloured pencils are not what they used to be many years ago, these days they are a medium for professional work of the highest quality. This is very evident in Friend's many demonstrations which the book is packed with.

The other sections take the reader through a logical and well organised topics. This makes it possible to dip into the sections rather than reading the book cover to cover. Having said this, for the newcomer to coloured pencils, I would advise a good look through the book so that the various techniques are covered. 

There are two key aspects of the book which I really like. First is Friend's approach to using the full range of pencils, water and non-water soluble, in a multimedia technique. Thus making full use of the potential of the medium and achieving impressive results. Beginning artists may find the approach particularly helpful, especially if watercolour is a medium they are familiar with.

Using coloured pencils in a multi-media approach

The second, is the way Friend uses objects to give the flower paintings and drawings substance and context. For example, she uses objects such as a water pump, a pair of old boots, and even a bicycle! The compositions are effective and the various elements support each other. This is particularly useful for artists who may find painting flowers in a 'botanical' style not easy or not what they want. These compositions can also be found in most gardens

Including objects to give context to paintings

Coloured pencils are the medium of the future. More and more professional artists are finding its versatility, and lucky for us manufacturers of art materials are responding to the demand. New and exciting products are being introduced regularly..

The book will serve the reader well as both an instructional and inspirational resource.

Mo Awkati

Advice from the Derwent Art Prize

If you intend to submit work for the Derwent Art Prize, or indeed for any other competition, make sure you read this article by the Derwent Art Prize for their competition.

Link to Derwent Art Prize

A new Prismacolor Stockist

Prismacolor are a brand of pencils used by many coloured pencils artists. A new online stockist based in the UK is now offering these pencils. Click on the link below to visit their website

Rainbow Fine Art Pencils


(Note: Although the UKCPS is happy to share new information and artists' materials suppliers, is not responsible for or liable for any issues arising from any dealings suppliers)

Derwent Art Prize

Derwent announce Derwent Art Prize

January 16 Derwent, internationally renowned pencil manufacturers, are proud to announce

that the third instalment of the Derwent Art Prize is now open for entries.

The Derwent Art Prize was conceived in 2012 and aims to reward excellence by showcasing the

very best artworks created in pencil by British and International artists.

From the submitted artworks, eighty will be selected for display at the Mall Galleries, London

from 19th – 24th September 2016. Alongside the chosen artworks being hung in a public

display, prizes totalling nearly £12,500 will be awarded in a private awards ceremony on the

opening night of the exhibition.

Since the Derwent Art Prize began four years ago, the competition has attracted more than

4000 entries from over 67 countries worldwide. Derwent are excited to see both domestic and

international entries for the prize.

Astri Saunders, Marketing Manager at Derwent, said “We are proud to launch the Derwent Art

Prize for the third year. Our aim of the exhibition is to showcase artworks created in pencil and

increase the profile and importance of drawing as a fine art medium”.

This year’s entries will be judged by a distinguished panel of selectors: Meryl Ainslie, Director

and Founder of Rabley Drawing Centre; Eileen Cooper RA, Painter and Printmaker, and

Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools, and Michael Glover, art critic at The Independent and

London correspondent for ARTNews, New York. 

Previous First Prize (£6,000) winners of the award include Brian Fay and Chrys Allen who have

subsequently had successful solo and group exhibitions since winning the prize. Prizes are also

awarded for second (£3,500) and third (£1,000) position, two People’s Choice Awards (£700

each) and a Young Artist Award (£500) for the best artwork from an artist under the age of 25.

The deadline for entries is 1st June 2016 and artists can submit up to six of their works. For

further details and full terms and conditions on entry requirements, please visit www.derwent-

artprize.co.uk.

Please contact 01372462190 or email derwent@parkerharris.co.uk if you require any more

information.

Patchings Festival 2016

Patchings Festival 9th to 12th June 2016 

    
We are currently planning the UKCPS contribution to the next Patchings Festival
and the hiring of a marquee which would enable us to have room for
demonstrations and workshops. Your help is needed in any way that you can,
whether this be as demonstrators, workshop organisers or simply assisting by
talking, guiding or selling for the total period or just one day. Please register your ideas and interest with me direct or any of the other executive members.
We would love to know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see on our stand this year; games, competitions etc. In particular, we would like some prints, cards, Step-by-Steps / How to / Colouring books / DVD's to sell on a
commission basis at the venue. These would help to raise funds towards the hire of the marquee.

We are looking for a variation of subjects, in dry or w/c pencils,
designs suitable for children, teenagers and adults would be great as well as
something to enthuse the men. Please forward your ideas to me direct, adding your name, contact details and website/blog address if applicable.

Please remember that any reference material you use, must be your own or with
permission.

For more information contact me on:
01467 585793 or 07731 840329
Alternatively Email me at linandpete@hotmail.co.uk.
Peter Nelson

Why we need so many brands of pencils?

Have you had new pencils for Christmas? Maybe you treated yourself for a new brand of pencils because others spoke of their quality or colours. In any case, you may wonder why we have so many types and brands of pencils.

Pencils, all varieties of pencils, have characteristics peculiar to them. It all depends on the 'recipe' of the manufacturer and the purpose it aims to achieve in the type of pencil produced.

I have a wide range of pencils in my 'collection', but I don't see the seem that a collection, but rather a range of tools in my workshop. There is no one spanner which will fit all nuts and bolts. Same goes for pencils. I get to know my pencils well, by 'playing' with them and pushing them to their limits to see what they are capable of achieving.

So what is the deal then with the different pencils? I try to discover the characteristics and identify the possibilities of the different pencil brands. Of course, the personal preference comes into it, but don't be put off from exploring the brands you are not familiar with.

I have listed below so characteristics to help you discover the potential in your collection of pencils:

- Pigment permanence
- Wax or Oil based
- Soft and crumbly
- Soft and creamy
- Hard and crumbly
- Hard and scratchy
- Waxy and creamy
- Do they sharpen well without breaking
- Do they hold their point well
- Do they lose their point quickly
- How do they behave on different paper surfaces
- Are they water soluble
- Do they retain their colour after applying water
- Does the pigment dissolve well


I'm sure more can be added to the above list, but you can see from the above there are different but very useful characteristics. For example, if the pigment does not fully dissolve is not necessarily a bad thing; think of texture, sand on a beach etc.

Happy New Year! :)

Mo

What makes a good coloured pencils project?

When my students start working with coloured pencils they often ask, "what is a good subject to draw/paint?".

My answer is whatever you want BUT! For a beginning coloured pencils artist it can be overwhelming, so I have listed below some pointers which I hope will be useful to anyone thinking of using our wonderful and versatile medium:

- Join the UKCPS, the benefits are too numerous to list here!

- Choose subjects which you are familiar with

- Start simple and build up to more complex subjects,patterns, and shading etc.

- Keep the work down to manageable size to begin with, e.g A5 instead of A4

- Experiment with different papers and surfaces until you find the right one for
  you

- There is no one brand or type of pencils which will do everything you want!
  Again, experiment until you find the brand/type which you are happy with their
  results

- Invest in a good pencil sharpener

- Book yourself with one of the UKCPS artists who also teach

- Look at existing works done with coloured pencils, what do you find attracts
  you to them, how was the subject handled, what is the focus of the work

- Practice shading with your chosen pencils, this will help you also to get to
  know your pencils

- Practice laying down light/thin layers
 

 I am sure there are many other hints and tips, but the most important tip of all
 is to practice and practice, there are no short cuts!

Does it really matter?

I was discussing with my students the other day classical drawing techniques and we were looking at drawings by Rubens, Raphael and others. Not surprisingly, we found they have all used different techniques to compose and layout their drawings and paintings. 

This led me to think about what we have today in terms of drawing aids and tools. take for example the Grid Technique. It has been used by Rubens, as evidenced in his drawings.

Scale Finder using the grid technique

But it doesn't stop there, Gray Value finder and the Proportional Dividers blow are just some of the tools

Proportional Dividers

All of the above tools help us with our drawing and painting. But these tools are not new, we are talking hundreds of years.

The romantic notion that true artists just sit there in a kind of trance and deliver outstanding drawing and paintings is just not true. Ask an artist! This perception by the general public makes many new comers and seasoned artists think that they are "cheating" if they use any kind of tool to help them with their artwork.

Creating art is not about the tools, but about what the artist is trying to communicate, their joy with the colours or form of a subject, texture etc.  If the tools exist which could help the artist in the process of their artwork, there should be no reason why they cannot be employed.

Don't be put off by what people might think about how you created you artwork. If you enjoyed creating it then the creation process has achieved its aim.

Enjoy your art however you do it because it doesn't matter how you create it!