Karen, good job. You are definitely on the right track, and have the right idea. Darkening the right side has given this lemon some good 3D form. It looks like the surface of your paper has maybe started to deteriorate. I’ve been there, and it can be frustrating, but I think that what you might want to do now is take what you’ve learned and draw another lemon. After your initial pencil drawing, try getting a light layer of your shadow color onto your paper 1st with a really sharp colored pencil, barely letting the tip touch the paper. Take your time, and try to get some nice even toning. Then lightly layer in with your yellows and then go back and forth between the yellows and the darker shadow colors. I’m saying this because the lighter colored pencils have more of the binder (wax/oil, etc) then the darker pencils, which can act as a resist when you try to layer on top of them. So it can help to start dark and go to light and/or very lightly do your layering. For the shadow color, along with the earth green, I might add a little brown to warm that color up just a little. This is much improved, and I really hope you try again, because I think it will be fantastic!
27 January 2022
Great advice, Pam. I agree. Once the paper gets to this point, it’s time to set the drawing aside and begin another. 🙂
Karen, good job. You are definitely on the right track, and have the right idea. Darkening the right side has given this lemon some good 3D form. It looks like the surface of your paper has maybe started to deteriorate. I’ve been there, and it can be frustrating, but I think that what you might want to do now is take what you’ve learned and draw another lemon. After your initial pencil drawing, try getting a light layer of your shadow color onto your paper 1st with a really sharp colored pencil, barely letting the tip touch the paper. Take your time, and try to get some nice even toning. Then lightly layer in with your yellows and then go back and forth between the yellows and the darker shadow colors. I’m saying this because the lighter colored pencils have more of the binder (wax/oil, etc) then the darker pencils, which can act as a resist when you try to layer on top of them. So it can help to start dark and go to light and/or very lightly do your layering. For the shadow color, along with the earth green, I might add a little brown to warm that color up just a little. This is much improved, and I really hope you try again, because I think it will be fantastic!
Great advice, Pam. I agree. Once the paper gets to this point, it’s time to set the drawing aside and begin another. 🙂
I will try a new drawing. I think I am finally getting better at this.
Definitely!
Sometimes I use a little purple in my shadow side on lemons too. Try it if you dare!