After you have several layers of pencil on the background you could use gamsol to dissolve the wax in the crayon. It is not effective until you have a few layers though. Then you can continue working in pencil. I would recommend Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencils though. Used dry they are magnificent but when you add water you get a high quality watercolor effect. Best of both worlds and no chemicals needed.
Chris Hong Art I second the Albrecht Durer, but a really good inexpensive starter set are the ones from Arteza. They are surprisingly good for the price and water down quite well. Really good for practice.
I would absolutely love to see a video where you return to your abandoned watercolor pieces to fix them with the pencil crayons; you may be able to appreciate them a lot more!
After watching your color pencil studies, I actually went and tried using color pencils again after so many years. Tho not by themselves but like here. Using them over watercolors. It’s been so much fun so I just want to thank you for that. Watching your videos is really inspiring and you describing your process has been very helpful as well. I’m glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed the process in creating this artwork!!
It's amazing seeing what you can do with each medium you use. Honestly if you didn't talk about it I never would have thought you struggle on your pieces, they always turn out so beautifully.
I'm a little late to the party here, but congrats on 100k subscribers, Chris!! I'm absolutely in love with this piece. ♥♥ I really love hearing the progression of your thoughts during this process.
Yay for watercolor with colored pencils! This is one of my personal favorite mixed media approaches. Really gives a wide range of loose/flowing and tight/controlled work.
Pencils ARE a very slow medium, especially for large areas, and if you're not using pro grade pencils where there's more pigment, it takes even longer. You can erase with a Faber Castell eraser (there's a pencil type of eraser that has a brush on the end. Works great!). All that said, this piece is AMAZING!!!!!!
I love how your sketchbooks look just like mine. In the best way, they're not "Art Books", they're genuinely a place where you work out your thought processes and experiment. It's incredibly honest. Your rendering techniques are so inspirational as well.
I listened to the rest of your video. So when I use colored pencils, scotch tape is my best friend. I use it to erase color from places I don’t want it. Gently lay it on top of what you want to erase and then holding one end of the tape, use your pencil to draw over the area you want to erase. Do this as many times as it takes. Also, blue tack, the stuff you can hang pictures with, works to pick up colored pencil you want to erase. Odorless mineral spirits will dissolve the color as well. Try a few tests on something other than your work. I use a lot of tape when I draw with colored pencil. Best wishes!!!
@@ChrisHongArt It would make an interesting video. They have transparency as well which sounds like a plus for what you were looking for? Never heard the term pencil crayons associated with color pencils, is that a colloquial term?
I agree with TJ Dupree, you may find that AD watercolor crayons, and/or Caran d’Ache watercolor pencils will give you results that are closer to what you envision for your piece. Both are magnificent, semi-transparent watercolors that would blend and complement the underlying watercolor. Plus, these are not wax-based crayons, so they lay down without leaving behind a wax-resist. I would not use Gamsol, since this solvent will move/remove your underlying watercolor layer.
HOLY CRAP I had the same epiphany!! I use coloured pencils as my main medium, but using copic markers as a base has been a GAME CHANGER. This looks so good, and I'm super glad you found a technique you really like! ♡
Beautiful! At first the gouache looked like a nice pop of color. When you added the tear drop it made the gouache give the feeling of more tears. Very cool to see that transformation 😻
Chris Hong Art Because you’ve spent time developing a genius-level talent in a specific area instead of searching for endless tips and tricks to get better like most of us have. :)
i take a long time figuring out how I will approach a piece. I make a lot of sketches before hand and things like that. But I never put much thought into technique while I paint. I'm so glad I found your channel. Ever since I did, creating art has been a whole new experience for me. Which parts should I render to grab attention? How can I have fun while painting? How should the colors react to this sort of light? What can I learn from this? All questions I never asked myself. Thank you so much!
Man, now I really wanna buy some good colored pencils lol they really did make it pop when you started using them. Not that your art isnt flawless regularly lol but you seemed to like how easier and smoother it went. I wanna give it a try. This one is gorgeous
I Love seeing all your sketches, studies and colour comps, they are truely amazing. These need to be compiled into an art of book, where they can shine! + The rainbow rain is such a genius!
I had a similar experience with coloured pencils. It takes way too long for my liking to use them on their own, but with some watercolour or copic underneath it’s just such a lovely way to finish a piece! I also have a sketchbook that really doesn’t like watercolour. After more than two layers the paper just starts to dissolve. I usually start with graphite pencil in that one and then try to bring in a little colour with the watercolour. And whenever I can’t manage to render what I’m drawing in those two three layers before the paper goes bad it’s always colour pencils to the rescue!
This is by far my favourite workflow I love how much more life coloured pencils can bring to a watercolor piece. Happy you tried it out. Also watercolor coloured pencils can be great as they are much easier to lift up if you go to hard with them.
You have an interesting color sense which adds to the mood that I think you are expressing in the drawing. I think you might enjoy using a water soluble graphite with your other watercolors. I use Daniel Smith because the Schmincke is good, but too finely ground for the effect I want. You will find that using this paint creates a really good granulation. I have worked over watercolors with colored pencils and, like a previous poster, I ended up switching to water soluble pencils. Albrecht Durer is a good brand, but there are plenty of other good brands as well. When you work with them and wet them, is when the brand differences come out. A pencil like a Supracolor will end up being easier to remove. Also, many of them are less transparent. If you use pencils like Derwent Inktense, the color becomes really intense once you wet and activate your drawing, but at that point, you can no longer remove it because it becomes an ink like substance.
Hi, Chris! Maybe you could use water soluble colored pencils? It allows you to go back and forth between watercolors and pencils. My favorite ones are the Caran D'Ache.
If you use gamsol you can get rid of the color pencil texture. It also becomes more vibrant and liquidy. Almost like watercolor fluidity but oil paint vibrancy
I also just started using this process! I sort of just stumbled into it this summer (and also made a video about it 😂) I love the control and precision. And the watercolor covers the page in a flatter color quicker. It’s so convenient.
I use watercolour as a base coat ,I do as much as I can ,then com in with my pencils as I can feel the shape more with them to me it’s easier to colour,or finish with them as it feels so much like using your fingers..Pencils need layering ,they can be thinned out if you don’t like what you have put down with a good rubber,then you can leave,change colour etc ,but it’s all about building layer on layer ..A small piece in pencil alone about 8x5 can take 12 or longer but it’s so rewarding when it’s finished and you see the finished shapes looking so beautifully,the eyes like real etc..Don’t give up on the idea ,just don’t be nervous of them..This piece of work you have done looks fabulous I really love it and the pencils really did lift and define the image beautifully ..Love this one 😀
OMG Chris this is so beautiful! I love this piece and I'm as always so thankful you take the time to share your thoughts and process with us, I'm learning so much!
i had checked your store today and saw this painting, kinda got me excited to see its progress! and its here already. i absolutely love the coloring here
You inspire me a lot! Especially your thought process, your composition and your style. It gives me a new view about watercolors and I love it! I can't wait to apply to my work what I've learnt from you. 💕💕💕
I don't know how you do it. Like DANG! You have an amazing mastery of color. At the beginning of the pieces I'm always so worried about all the hues and values you're mixing, and then you suddenly pull them together. Great job on this one! Loved the experiment :D
I have been using watercolour and coloured pencils in combination for some time and I love it :: will never look back ... it adds so much more to the art and is so satisfying and zen while doing it ... your work looks lovely this way ,,, you go girl... it takes a lot of patience and practise .. stepping away a lot helps
When working with watercolours I'm always tempted to use the way to thick because they're so intense a saturated. It's really cool how patiently you build the painting up. ☺
Watching this video I felt like a proud mother seeing you grow out of your comfort zone and trying new techniques! So happy for you. The piece turned out AMAZING! 💓
Really enjoyed watching you create this illustration, and hope you explore more with mixed media in the future. I would love to see you take one of your old abandoned pieces and try finishing it with colored pencils (and gouache). Something about the abstract background in this gives me strong James Jean vibes, and some Joy Ang vibes as well😁
Great piece! Beautiful! Would be great for a child's room especially. I love the colors. I am going to try similar paintings for my new great granddaughters but change the character. Maybe one a lamb and the other a fawn. I really enjoyed your video.
Coloured pencils (not crayons) are a great medium to work with, depending which brand you buy, you can pretty much add layer over layer, as much as you like. Faber Castell Polychromos are great for layering, Prismacolour not so great. Try to avoid making heavy strokes as that will be hard to remove, lots of light layers, it make take longer to achieve what you want but at least you won't have pencil marks you can't get rid of.
I love using pencil crayons and ink on top of my watercolour paintings because they always feel like the traditional equivalent of adjustment layers. The only reason holding me back from using them all the time is how time consuming it is to use them. :( But, they forever will be my favourite medium because pencil crayons were what got me into making art in the first place. ^^
It helped me a lot in saving some time when I pre-selected my colours for the piece so maybe that might help you as well! :D It really is like using adjustment layers isn't it, and wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually use them in traditional paintings 😂
It's so great to see you play around with your process! And I can totally relate to the kinds of frustrations you were having, haha~ I've been realizing over the past year that the process I'm most comfortable with is actually similar to this one. Back in high school, I would do most of my groundwork with transparent washes, and then layer more opaque mediums like colored pencil and gouache on top (I would switch back and forth between pencil and paint). I find it much more forgiving, and sometimes the process would result in unexpected experiments and solutions. When I was in high school, I didn't realize that I was using was gouache, which is why it was such a revelation, hahaha. Anyways, I've been finding myself going back to that process when working on more relaxing personal pieces. It's sort of comforting to know that I can paint over and rework parts that I didn't like initially, with the mindset that the piece will reveal itself as I continue to layer. (Yes, the initial washes are UGLY and makes me eager to push for the layering stage!) And then pencils add that extra bit of control when I really want it. I used to do full colored-pencil works as well, but it takes so long to layer and cover the paper to get what I want, which is why I now prefer to use pencils in conjunction with paint. In any case, keep on having fun on your art journey! It's always a pleasure to hear what you've been up to.
you're a really big inspiration to me! recently ive found it hard to motivate myself to do anything. I have chronic fatigue so I don't go out much after school and I'm not in school full time anyway. with the help of you, my amazing art teacher and other wonderful artists ive managed to get myself motivated to do more art!
I really recommend Chris Payne’s work, he’s an amazing colored pencil artist and knowing how he approaches colored pencil pieces could help you with layering issues. He did a demo at my college and showed us his process and it was honestly very insightful and helped my artistic process.
I just started adding colored pencils to my watercolor paintings as well! And I feel just like you! A new world has opened (because it makes certain problems easy to resolve) I am glad I got my skills up to a certain degree with the watercolor before I started adding some color pencil back in. Your art is great though, thank you for sharing it and yourself!
Yeah I denied myself for the longest time since I thought if I couldn't make it look good solely in watercolour then I wasn't "good enough" 😅 or I didn't understand the medium enough (which is true, but doesn't mean we have to let that hinder us!). Thanks for watching! :)
I really like your style of drawing and wanted to say that I love your choice of colors for this piece and those choices really lend to the feel of the overall painting. I wanted to point out that if you use oil based pencil crayons you can use mona lisa paint thinner/ mineral spirit stuff to layer more colors using the pencil crayons.
Wow so pretty ! Wish I had the patience to make something like your mixed media ! I use colored pencil over my watercolors a lot, but I’ve never tried to put gouache over the colored pencils 🤔 Really love your illustrations !😍
if you want colored pencils that are more opaque I recommend using the premiere prismacolors instead of the scholar ones! I like the scholar ones because they have that transparency, but if you want it more opaque the premiere ones are the way to go. Make sure you have a good pencil sharpener with those ( i use the uni kh20 hand crank one, it really helps since the premeire ones break a lot!). if you are planning on trying on using gamsol or paint thinner to blend i recommend looking at kristy patridge's or lachrifineart's videos on it because its a bit tricky! You need a lot of pencil pigment and very little gamsol/paintthinner for the technique to work so it takes a while to adjust! This piece turned out beautiful, congratulations!!
Watching your work is such a joy, you are really inspiring. I was wondering if you let the watercolor dry between doing the background and the character? for example, are you painting the hair color on damp paper after doing the background layer? I'm learning more about watercolors and would like my characters to look less separated :)
After you have several layers of pencil on the background you could use gamsol to dissolve the wax in the crayon. It is not effective until you have a few layers though. Then you can continue working in pencil. I would recommend Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencils though. Used dry they are magnificent but when you add water you get a high quality watercolor effect. Best of both worlds and no chemicals needed.
TJ Duprey, is there something different you could use instead of gamsol, I don’t have any and I like to experiment with that technique.
I will definitely do some research before picking up my first set of artist grade coloured pencils, thanks for the recommendation! ☺️
TJ Duprey yeah, seems like she would really enjoy watercolor pencils. Can be specific in marks and values.
Chris Hong Art I second the Albrecht Durer, but a really good inexpensive starter set are the ones from Arteza. They are surprisingly good for the price and water down quite well. Really good for practice.
@@wonderwonder30 Rubbing alcohol dissolves the wax too. I've never tried gamsol so I don't know how these two compares.
Wow, your rendering skills are incredible. Always love your colour choices too! So gorgeous.
Thank you so much!☺️
Hiii Jelll
Hi jel arts?
I would absolutely love to see a video where you return to your abandoned watercolor pieces to fix them with the pencil crayons; you may be able to appreciate them a lot more!
!!! That sounds like such an interesting video!!! I'd adore to see it!!!
I'm honestly thinking about doing a whole YT series on it 😂😂😂 well, revisiting old artwork in general that is!
@@ChrisHongArt Yessss!!! Please DO xxxx
After watching your color pencil studies, I actually went and tried using color pencils again after so many years. Tho not by themselves but like here. Using them over watercolors. It’s been so much fun so I just want to thank you for that. Watching your videos is really inspiring and you describing your process has been very helpful as well. I’m glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed the process in creating this artwork!!
Nou Veau use watercolour pencils
I'm happy to hear you enjoy this process as well thanks for watching! ☺️
It's amazing seeing what you can do with each medium you use. Honestly if you didn't talk about it I never would have thought you struggle on your pieces, they always turn out so beautifully.
I'm a little late to the party here, but congrats on 100k subscribers, Chris!! I'm absolutely in love with this piece. ♥♥ I really love hearing the progression of your thoughts during this process.
Yay for watercolor with colored pencils! This is one of my personal favorite mixed media approaches. Really gives a wide range of loose/flowing and tight/controlled work.
Your art never fails to amaze me.
Pencils ARE a very slow medium, especially for large areas, and if you're not using pro grade pencils where there's more pigment, it takes even longer. You can erase with a Faber Castell eraser (there's a pencil type of eraser that has a brush on the end. Works great!). All that said, this piece is AMAZING!!!!!!
Beautiful color! I like that you use bright and cheerful color for a sad story, very healthy and balance:)
I love how your sketchbooks look just like mine. In the best way, they're not "Art Books", they're genuinely a place where you work out your thought processes and experiment. It's incredibly honest. Your rendering techniques are so inspirational as well.
I listened to the rest of your video. So when I use colored pencils, scotch tape is my best friend. I use it to erase color from places I don’t want it. Gently lay it on top of what you want to erase and then holding one end of the tape, use your pencil to draw over the area you want to erase. Do this as many times as it takes. Also, blue tack, the stuff you can hang pictures with, works to pick up colored pencil you want to erase. Odorless mineral spirits will dissolve the color as well. Try a few tests on something other than your work. I use a lot of tape when I draw with colored pencil. Best wishes!!!
I will definitely try that out, thanks Dawn! :D
have you considered using watercolour pencils? that way you can go back and forth between mediums
U was thinking this too! Since with no water they look just like regular ones, but gives more forgiveness if u wish to water them down or even remove
That’s actually what I thought she meant in the title! 😂 But I do like most of what she created for the background using the pencils.
No I haven't yet! This is really my first foray into using coloured pencils of any kind so I haven't thought that far ahead yet 😁
@@ChrisHongArt It would make an interesting video. They have transparency as well which sounds like a plus for what you were looking for? Never heard the term pencil crayons associated with color pencils, is that a colloquial term?
Larry, pencil crayon is the proper historical term for colored pencils as used in art schools in Europe and America.
I agree with TJ Dupree, you may find that AD watercolor crayons, and/or Caran d’Ache watercolor pencils will give you results that are closer to what you envision for your piece. Both are magnificent, semi-transparent watercolors that would blend and complement the underlying watercolor. Plus, these are not wax-based crayons, so they lay down without leaving behind a wax-resist. I would not use Gamsol, since this solvent will move/remove your underlying watercolor layer.
I'd love to see a video of you going back over some abandoned pieces with pencil crayon!❤
Beautiful piece! I especially love the bright but muted colors. ❤
RUclips algorithm brought me here and I'm glad it did, I absolutely love art channels with how peaceful they are❤️
HOLY CRAP I had the same epiphany!! I use coloured pencils as my main medium, but using copic markers as a base has been a GAME CHANGER. This looks so good, and I'm super glad you found a technique you really like! ♡
Wish one day I can try copic markers too, the one thing I really haven't tried before! Thanks for watching!😚
Beautiful! At first the gouache looked like a nice pop of color. When you added the tear drop it made the gouache give the feeling of more tears. Very cool to see that transformation 😻
Thanks Danielle!☺️
If you paint a very thin watered down white acrylic layer, you can keep layering the colored pencils forever
That's what I keep hearing.. how does everyone know all these little art hacks and I don't! XD
Chris Hong Art Because you’ve spent time developing a genius-level talent in a specific area instead of searching for endless tips and tricks to get better like most of us have. :)
i take a long time figuring out how I will approach a piece. I make a lot of sketches before hand and things like that. But I never put much thought into technique while I paint. I'm so glad I found your channel. Ever since I did, creating art has been a whole new experience for me. Which parts should I render to grab attention? How can I have fun while painting? How should the colors react to this sort of light? What can I learn from this? All questions I never asked myself. Thank you so much!
I know you are traditional artist but would love to see you trying drawing programs and see how it will turn out.
Man, now I really wanna buy some good colored pencils lol they really did make it pop when you started using them. Not that your art isnt flawless regularly lol but you seemed to like how easier and smoother it went. I wanna give it a try. This one is gorgeous
Thanks Estell, hope you have fun with it too! ^^
That’s my world.
I really enjoy pencils and markers at the end of my watercolour.
If Only I could draw like you.
Thank you for showing us all the steps you took!
This is so delightful and I adore your color choices here.
I loooved your experiment, the way that the painting conveys sadness and yet is so colorful, it’s magical 😍
This is insane! I wanna make a children's book and this style of watercolor is where I wanna go but I'm not at that skill level yet
Good luck!! When you are ever able to make it, I wanna read it!!!💜💜💜
I wanna make a comic too but I don't know where I would even start..😅
You can also add spray fixative if you get a waxy build-up. And you'll be able to add more colors
I Love seeing all your sketches, studies and colour comps, they are truely amazing. These need to be compiled into an art of book, where they can shine!
+ The rainbow rain is such a genius!
Oh my! I absolutely adore him!!! So colorful and emotional!
I had a similar experience with coloured pencils. It takes way too long for my liking to use them on their own, but with some watercolour or copic underneath it’s just such a lovely way to finish a piece! I also have a sketchbook that really doesn’t like watercolour. After more than two layers the paper just starts to dissolve. I usually start with graphite pencil in that one and then try to bring in a little colour with the watercolour. And whenever I can’t manage to render what I’m drawing in those two three layers before the paper goes bad it’s always colour pencils to the rescue!
So fantastic art!
The detail touches make me crazy!!💜👍
This is by far my favourite workflow I love how much more life coloured pencils can bring to a watercolor piece. Happy you tried it out. Also watercolor coloured pencils can be great as they are much easier to lift up if you go to hard with them.
I agree with the tear drop! It needed it.
This is Awesome. Great work!! I love art like you. See you again.
You have an interesting color sense which adds to the mood that I think you are expressing in the drawing. I think you might enjoy using a water soluble graphite with your other watercolors. I use Daniel Smith because the Schmincke is good, but too finely ground for the effect I want. You will find that using this paint creates a really good granulation. I have worked over watercolors with colored pencils and, like a previous poster, I ended up switching to water soluble pencils. Albrecht Durer is a good brand, but there are plenty of other good brands as well. When you work with them and wet them, is when the brand differences come out. A pencil like a Supracolor will end up being easier to remove. Also, many of them are less transparent. If you use pencils like Derwent Inktense, the color becomes really intense once you wet and activate your drawing, but at that point, you can no longer remove it because it becomes an ink like substance.
Maybe try an oil based colored pencil for more layering options. Looks amazing either way
I love 💕 the sock affect😊!!!!!!
I'll always come back to this amazing piece! It's just so foggy and ethereal... really love it
I love this painting so much
Your art is so breathtaking! I absolutely love it!
You gave a wonderful review of these watercolor pencils and then created a work of art. Thanks for sharing your skills 🕊️
Hi, Chris!
Maybe you could use water soluble colored pencils? It allows you to go back and forth between watercolors and pencils. My favorite ones are the Caran D'Ache.
If you use gamsol you can get rid of the color pencil texture. It also becomes more vibrant and liquidy. Almost like watercolor fluidity but oil paint vibrancy
My weekend has been horrible, when I saw that you uploaded it made me happier instantly! Thank you so much for your beautiful work ♥️
Aw I'm happy to hear it helped even a little! thanks for watching!☺️🧡
Chris, this is by far my favorite out of the pieces I’ve seen. It looks fresh. Good job.
Thank you, you have clarified everything for me. ❤
I also just started using this process! I sort of just stumbled into it this summer (and also made a video about it 😂) I love the control and precision. And the watercolor covers the page in a flatter color quicker. It’s so convenient.
I use watercolour as a base coat ,I do as much as I can ,then com in with my pencils as I can feel the shape more with them to me it’s easier to colour,or finish with them as it feels so much like using your fingers..Pencils need layering ,they can be thinned out if you don’t like what you have put down with a good rubber,then you can leave,change colour etc ,but it’s all about building layer on layer ..A small piece in pencil alone about 8x5 can take 12 or longer but it’s so rewarding when it’s finished and you see the finished shapes looking so beautifully,the eyes like real etc..Don’t give up on the idea ,just don’t be nervous of them..This piece of work you have done looks fabulous I really love it and the pencils really did lift and define the image beautifully ..Love this one 😀
Thanks so much Christine! ☺️
I come to your channel for layering advice with any medium. You're so good. Thanks!
I was waiting for the tear drop and it's so perfectly placed! Love this piece so much!! 💖
also the piece came out so well i love it!
You may wish to try pastel pencils or something like Caran DAche or Faber Castell pencils. These options may give you more satisfying opacity.
I really enjoy your illustrative style!
OMG Chris this is so beautiful! I love this piece and I'm as always so thankful you take the time to share your thoughts and process with us, I'm learning so much!
i had checked your store today and saw this painting, kinda got me excited to see its progress! and its here already. i absolutely love the coloring here
A lurker I see 😏
Nailed it! So pretty and great movement ❤️ Tip: sharp pencils!
This artwork is so gorgeous.💕
I really love how you managed the contrast in this piece! Wonderful work, lovely to watch your process.
The end result looks sooooo amazing, I dont think the pencils ruined it I think it made it even better, its just a different kind of texture
You inspire me a lot! Especially your thought process, your composition and your style. It gives me a new view about watercolors and I love it!
I can't wait to apply to my work what I've learnt from you. 💕💕💕
I don't know how you do it. Like DANG! You have an amazing mastery of color. At the beginning of the pieces I'm always so worried about all the hues and values you're mixing, and then you suddenly pull them together. Great job on this one! Loved the experiment :D
I have been using watercolour and coloured pencils in combination for some time and I love it :: will never look back ... it adds so much more to the art and is so satisfying and zen while doing it ... your work looks lovely this way ,,, you go girl... it takes a lot of patience and practise .. stepping away a lot helps
When working with watercolours I'm always tempted to use the way to thick because they're so intense a saturated. It's really cool how patiently you build the painting up. ☺
Watching this video I felt like a proud mother seeing you grow out of your comfort zone and trying new techniques! So happy for you. The piece turned out AMAZING! 💓
aww hehe that's sweet hehe :D thanks so much!!🧡
Really enjoyed watching you create this illustration, and hope you explore more with mixed media in the future. I would love to see you take one of your old abandoned pieces and try finishing it with colored pencils (and gouache). Something about the abstract background in this gives me strong James Jean vibes, and some Joy Ang vibes as well😁
Great piece! Beautiful! Would be great for a child's room especially. I love the colors. I am going to try similar paintings for my new great granddaughters but change the character. Maybe one a lamb and the other a fawn.
I really enjoyed your video.
amazing~! Like the colours you used~!
Love those colors and how you mixed and balanced very well those three mediums ! Great work :D
Coloured pencils (not crayons) are a great medium to work with, depending which brand you buy, you can pretty much add layer over layer, as much as you like. Faber Castell Polychromos are great for layering, Prismacolour not so great. Try to avoid making heavy strokes as that will be hard to remove, lots of light layers, it make take longer to achieve what you want but at least you won't have pencil marks you can't get rid of.
I love using pencil crayons and ink on top of my watercolour paintings because they always feel like the traditional equivalent of adjustment layers.
The only reason holding me back from using them all the time is how time consuming it is to use them. :(
But, they forever will be my favourite medium because pencil crayons were what got me into making art in the first place. ^^
It helped me a lot in saving some time when I pre-selected my colours for the piece so maybe that might help you as well! :D It really is like using adjustment layers isn't it, and wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually use them in traditional paintings 😂
It's so great to see you play around with your process! And I can totally relate to the kinds of frustrations you were having, haha~ I've been realizing over the past year that the process I'm most comfortable with is actually similar to this one. Back in high school, I would do most of my groundwork with transparent washes, and then layer more opaque mediums like colored pencil and gouache on top (I would switch back and forth between pencil and paint). I find it much more forgiving, and sometimes the process would result in unexpected experiments and solutions. When I was in high school, I didn't realize that I was using was gouache, which is why it was such a revelation, hahaha. Anyways, I've been finding myself going back to that process when working on more relaxing personal pieces. It's sort of comforting to know that I can paint over and rework parts that I didn't like initially, with the mindset that the piece will reveal itself as I continue to layer. (Yes, the initial washes are UGLY and makes me eager to push for the layering stage!) And then pencils add that extra bit of control when I really want it. I used to do full colored-pencil works as well, but it takes so long to layer and cover the paper to get what I want, which is why I now prefer to use pencils in conjunction with paint. In any case, keep on having fun on your art journey! It's always a pleasure to hear what you've been up to.
omg I have so many of the same issues! Thank you for speaking on this 😄
you're a really big inspiration to me! recently ive found it hard to motivate myself to do anything. I have chronic fatigue so I don't go out much after school and I'm not in school full time anyway. with the help of you, my amazing art teacher and other wonderful artists ive managed to get myself motivated to do more art!
Wow youre so talented and the finished piece is so colorful and pleasing to the eye great work
I really get so much from your description of the process. Gives me aim on ideas to put into practice (years of)
Woaw... wonderful !
I really recommend Chris Payne’s work, he’s an amazing colored pencil artist and knowing how he approaches colored pencil pieces could help you with layering issues. He did a demo at my college and showed us his process and it was honestly very insightful and helped my artistic process.
Such a lovely and interesting outcome!I really love it!🤩
Soooo Beautiful !!!!!!
so cute, I loved the colors and texture in general, I'm in love
Your art is wonderful
It's too cute!
You’ve totally inspired me to do physical art with watercolor and color pencils 💚💚 I love your art so much
So cute! I like it.
Beautiful.
I love all of the colours you used!
Forgot to say layering softly with pencil is important ..building layers up slowly and it can be lifted up somewhat with kneaded eraser
I just started adding colored pencils to my watercolor paintings as well! And I feel just like you! A new world has opened (because it makes certain problems easy to resolve) I am glad I got my skills up to a certain degree with the watercolor before I started adding some color pencil back in. Your art is great though, thank you for sharing it and yourself!
Yeah I denied myself for the longest time since I thought if I couldn't make it look good solely in watercolour then I wasn't "good enough" 😅 or I didn't understand the medium enough (which is true, but doesn't mean we have to let that hinder us!). Thanks for watching! :)
I really like your style of drawing and wanted to say that I love your choice of colors for this piece and those choices really lend to the feel of the overall painting. I wanted to point out that if you use oil based pencil crayons you can use mona lisa paint thinner/ mineral spirit stuff to layer more colors using the pencil crayons.
amazing!!!! thanks for sharing this lots of love xx
Wow so pretty ! Wish I had the patience to make something like your mixed media ! I use colored pencil over my watercolors a lot, but I’ve never tried to put gouache over the colored pencils 🤔
Really love your illustrations !😍
if you want colored pencils that are more opaque I recommend using the premiere prismacolors instead of the scholar ones! I like the scholar ones because they have that transparency, but if you want it more opaque the premiere ones are the way to go. Make sure you have a good pencil sharpener with those ( i use the uni kh20 hand crank one, it really helps since the premeire ones break a lot!). if you are planning on trying on using gamsol or paint thinner to blend i recommend looking at kristy patridge's or lachrifineart's videos on it because its a bit tricky! You need a lot of pencil pigment and very little gamsol/paintthinner for the technique to work so it takes a while to adjust! This piece turned out beautiful, congratulations!!
Thanks Brenda, I'm slowly saving up to get the artist quality ones! :D
Tellement cool bravo
thats a really lovely drawing, now i am inspired to try this myself!
Love the image 😍
This piece is amazing I love it so much
Watching your work is such a joy, you are really inspiring. I was wondering if you let the watercolor dry between doing the background and the character? for example, are you painting the hair color on damp paper after doing the background layer?
I'm learning more about watercolors and would like my characters to look less separated :)
It took me a long time to try them together because I am such a “purist!” But once I did, I wondered why I hadn’t done it before!! Love mixing them!