Colouring Pencils - help!!!

[Ouya Mellsa]

I need to add colour to my garden design plans for uni.

But....I've tried it on a rough plan and it looks very childish.

I'm useless with Arty stuff.

How can I produce a good/professional effect with basic colouring pencils?!?

Any tips?

I'd be so grateful!

[julesapple]

Don't colour - shade. Hold your pencil so it's almost on it's side, using the length of the lead, and shade lightly. But, just like when we were kids, keep in the outlines. When you've shaded everything, go around the outlines with a darker line either of the same colour or black pen.

It's all about the pressure you apply to the pencil.

[Jeanied]

For a basic tryout, put a line on your paper and start with red. Colour a band of red, then lighten up and do a scant line of red and overcolour blend in yellow. This should give you orange. Then blend into yellow. Then start to blend in blue to give green then pure blue. After this you can use a band of blue faded into purple with a red colour, followed by pure red on its own. There you have the rainbow made from the main colours. Try colouring one way with one colour, sparingly, and colour the other way with another - cross hatching! Then you get the blend. If that doesn't work for you use watercolour pencils. Practice on a piece of spare paper, Colour in lightly one way- use your fingernail as a buffer. Then colour in the other way similarly. Then get a fine hair paintbrush and water and blend the way you want. It gives lovely effects!

[lottie dolly]

good advise jules,you see ouya,the lighter your preasure on the pencil the lighter and delicate a colour,the harder you press the darker,for instance,take a rose,it's dark in the centre,and lighter as it get to the edges,so with one pencil you should be able to acheive the shades within your chosen colour,also,the delicater the flower the lighter the shade,a lot can be acheived with a soft pencil as it can be slightly smudged with a finger to get a good efect,practice on spare paper first,to get the feel of what YOU wish to end up with,get creative you will do just fine,then post some pic's pretty please,

[taff]

get a knife or preferably a scalpel type blade and shave down the lead/coloured part until it's flat along the length. Dont try to shade with a point.
If you have got a point, shade a piece of scrap paper until you've worn the point away and yo have a long flat surface to shade with....

[Two_Sheds]

How can I produce a good/professional effect with basic colouring pencils?!?

You'd have to use decent pencils, ones with a high pigment content (Derwent are avail. on high street & are better than own-brands. You can get some really nice stuff for little money on eBay) These are good ~ you can always resell them when you've finished your course


Technique: fill in the colour with circular movements of the pencil, not side to side. And you'll need to build up the layers of colour for intensity ~ one layer only won't give you the professional look you want

[marchogaeth]

^^^^^ What these guys have said, especially about buying good pencils plus, if you are trying to shadeup to a straight line, put a ruler down and work to that physical barrier.

If you really can't crack shading could you use a ruler and coloured lines, which could be solid or dashed or dashes and dots mixed? Carefully spaced (evenly) these can be really effective and sometimes easier on the eye than blocks of colour. Look on your computer's fill effects for some ideas if you're not sure what I mean.

[Ouya Mellsa]

Thank you everyone!

I bought some pencils from hobbycraft...they are quite basic :-(

The tutor showed us her designs....and said 'this took me 1 hour'. It's taken me 7 hours just to trace my final design!

I really dislike garden design!

I'll show you once it's done tomorrow.

[Two_Sheds]

I bought some pencils from hobbycraft...they are quite basic

Well then, you can blame the poor quality pencils instead of your drawing

[taff]

has it got to be done with pencils? can you do it with photoshop or something like that?

[Ouya Mellsa]

No, it has to be hand drawn :-(

Life's never easy, eh?