I’m feeling like I can’t get the exactly the same colours with the same intensity as in reality. Any ideas on how to ‘ brighten’ up the colour?? I feel like the colours aren’t as brilliant as in nature. Am I the only one with this problem?
29 April 2018
Carol, I think this is a matter of saturation. To get vibrant, saturated colors, build MANY layers slowly with colored pencil, and when you feel like you are reaching more of a “finished” place in your drawing, really start pressing hard to burnish your drawing–I like burnishing leaves with Earth Green Yellowish, other components with ivory or white. This puts a nice shiny coat on top and blends the layers together to get saturated color. Practice with this on simple forms or visit Botanical Basics Module 1 Lesson 3: 3 Tone Values. Wendy demonstrates the number of layers it can take to reach full saturation. Hope this helps. I think this flower looks vibrant and saturated; but I think you could saturate the leaf a bit more. Great work!
I’m feeling like I can’t get the exactly the same colours with the same intensity as in reality. Any ideas on how to ‘ brighten’ up the colour?? I feel like the colours aren’t as brilliant as in nature. Am I the only one with this problem?
Carol, I think this is a matter of saturation. To get vibrant, saturated colors, build MANY layers slowly with colored pencil, and when you feel like you are reaching more of a “finished” place in your drawing, really start pressing hard to burnish your drawing–I like burnishing leaves with Earth Green Yellowish, other components with ivory or white. This puts a nice shiny coat on top and blends the layers together to get saturated color. Practice with this on simple forms or visit Botanical Basics Module 1 Lesson 3: 3 Tone Values. Wendy demonstrates the number of layers it can take to reach full saturation. Hope this helps. I think this flower looks vibrant and saturated; but I think you could saturate the leaf a bit more. Great work!
Carol, I have a lot of trouble finding good color mixes. It’s trial and error and doing lots of mixes before starting and sticking to them.