traditional art advice

[YueLqn]

Hello~ The below is just an explanation, I'll put a shortened version under that if you don't want to read it all haha

I chose art for my elective this year, (always wanted to) but I had to take band last year and the year before because of my mother.
So, I'm more experienced in digital art, normal doodling with paper and pencil/pen is fine for me too, but oh god coloring in traditional forever haunts me.
Anyway, its already been like, a month or so in to the school year and we've done around 3 finished projects now. The teacher requires us to use color in both, no white space unless its colored in with white. And I, being a color noob, really think I failed with colors on both ah.
On the first one, I used colored pencils and sharpie for line art because I don't think they have inking pens (the school I don't think they put enough of the budget there.. even the colored pencils are old >.>) And I really.. messed up on the colors pfft. I tried to shade, using colors, darker hues, but I kept on forgetting there's no undo button anywhere so it was just a weird mash of color.
The second one was better, I guess, but someone put a white pastel in the color pencil bin and istg I was curious ah. It ended up being a mix of colored pencil and shaded white pastel for a blur effect. The colors were mainly greys too.
And the third, one I just finished, was mainly colored pencil and little bits of colored pastels because I found that it created a cool texture, and blended colors well. I also didn't have to search the color pencil bin for a usable one because I don't have a sharpener and they're all broken/dull hh
What I want is advice on coloring, shading, texturing, how to use colored pencil and or pastels/markers that is efficient and works well (can't be too time consuming, I'm a slow drawer in general..)
Anyway, don't tell me to ask my teacher cause she's also the band teacher, the school didn't hire a professional smh. (I mean I had a sub for 6th period for like an entire month because of short staff)

short version: took art this year and its all traditional art, I can't color for life and I need advice on how to color using colored pencil, pastels, markers, sharpie etc. I've tried using pastels on colored pencils for a blur effect kind of thing. (like, is that bad for the pastels??) I'd like to know more experienced traditional artist's opinions on this. (I'm a digital artist, please the course was digital art and design,, thought it'd be something digital.)

 

[LinXueLian]

Can't say I'm that experienced considering I only did fine arts for one year as foundation..... but the one thing I can say is use good paper! It makes a difference in your coloring and the quality of your pigments are pretty important too. If you're looking for textured work, watercolor paper is suitable for bleeding and the like, imo - but they're horrible for your pens and markers, especially felt tips (I wore all the tips off in one go, so be careful). You can build textures using oils and acrylics, but always remember to clean up properly and don't pour your water down the sink! It's poisonous and clogs the sinks up.

You can mix the media like pastels and colored pencils, so don't worry about whether it's "good" or "bad" for the media itself. If you need to get colors off your media, you can use solvents or rags. I tend to just leave it on and then shave it off whenever with a knife. My box is a mess.... I use hot glue for texture too, so... yeah. If you really need the colors to stick, you can use gesso as a primer. Have never used them with colored pencils though...

I don't use a lot of black and white pigments because it can get.... muddy, for the lack of a better word, but if you want a lot of contrast with black, consider using Chinese brush ink. So it depends on you! With coloring, contrast and color balance is king. Colored pencils aren't necessarily used in just one way, which is apply and then add water.... if you're a wild one like myself, you'll dissolve the pencils with water to get the pigment you want.

My advice overall is to spend a bit and have your own kit. My school had its own materials, but when it's your own kit, you'll have a bond with it and it will "speak" to you as you color. Also, don't lend them too often to people who ask unless it's someone you can trust. One of my classmates got grease all over because she was using it while eating fried chicken! I was super mad! One didn't return a few of my things... because she lent them to someone else who never returned it!!!!!! Deplorable!!!!! Who eats fried chicken in class?? why didn't she give me any???

 

[Wlel]

I use pen gel color.

 

[tiaf]

What I want is advice on coloring, shading, texturing, how to use colored pencil and or pastels/markers that is efficient and works well (can't be too time consuming, I'm a slow drawer in general..)
Anyway, don't tell me to ask my teacher cause she's also the band teacher, the school didn't hire a professional smh. (I mean I had a sub for 6th period for like an entire month because of short staff)

short version: took art this year and its all traditional art, I can't color for life and I need advice on how to color using colored pencil, pastels, markers, sharpie etc. I've tried using pastels on colored pencils for a blur effect kind of thing. (like, is that bad for the pastels??) I'd like to know more experienced traditional artist's opinions on this. (I'm a digital artist, please the course was digital art and design,, thought it'd be something digital.)

LAYERING:
Thin layers of colors will save you when using colored pencils, watercolor, and markers (copics). Going from light to dark, so that you can color over messed up parts.

I never really used pastels, but I used the dust of woodless colored pencils for coloring. I recommend using them as the last layer. Coloring over the parts where the color dust was applied is hard. Well, good/quality paper will probably still be able to take on more color. But study paper that will fall apart with a bit erasing? The surface is also a factor in what medium you can use.

The important thing at layering is to NOT put too much pressure on the paper
1) that way you can still use an eraser to get rid of mistakes
2) paper that got "imprinted" cannot take another layer of color, in the worst case the erased pencil lines will remain visible even if you color over it

Still everything in the outline

already went over the lines orz

darker colors to distract from the mistakes, it's sometimes more important to make the best of what you have instead of following the strict borders you set at the beginning

It also helps EXTREMELY at finding colors for color dumb people like me, who never really learned the basics of color theory.

ERASER:
That thing is your important friend on your journey of traditional art. It's better to have a variety of erasers, depending on your needs.

I recommend a hard white eraser (the kind that feels dry and rubs off dusty eraser waste) for more resilient/thick paper. They helped me correcting the watercolor that went out of the border.

A plastic eraser for fine smooth paper. Instead of rubbing, you tab the eraser over the parts you need to erase. The color/pencil will stick to the plastic and you can swipe/rub it off afterward. I like the dust catch by Tombow.

MATERIAL:
The thing with trad art is that the quality/property of the material is important for some techniques. So limited paper/pencils/etc. will limit the way you can color. The cheapest brands in a shop for art supplies are often already 10x better than the stuff your school will provide you. (Still expensive tho)

This applies to basically all art supplies, except alcohol markers. The cheap copies from ShinhanArt, Prisma color, and Copic are only inferior in the quality of the tips. They make it hard to control the tint and tend to bleed. The same color name also is in most cases several nuances off. (Ok, sometimes the alcohol percentage is higher and the tint bleeds a lot compared to the expensive seeded stuff)

As for Sharpies, Idk, I used them once, but they don't have a nice tip to color or outline. I stick to my sakura liners.

COLOR:
I used expensive af colored pencils of van Gogh but they were pretty lackluster. You will get a better deal with any Faber Castell/Stabilo (idk what brands are in your country) color pencils. The quantity of pigmentation is important. The more color pigments are contained, the more saturated the colors will be. This also applies to watercolor, gouache, acrylic, oil, pastels etc.

Watercolored pencils are really nice in that aspect! You can use them as colored pencils, but they are much brighter in color. And with a bit of water, you can smudge them. There even exist watercolor sticks, but the price per stick...ouch.

TECHNIQUE TIPS:
I colored with colored pencils, watercolor/aquarelle, markers, and gouache.

Light to Dark coloring (LtD): The progress example above is exactly that. You can work pretty sloppily at the beginning because the base color can be easily covered by the next layer. It goes from sloppy to precise. There is next to no bleeding/smudging of colors (except you apply the next layer before the first layer dried). The borders are clear except you worked sloppily.

Dark to light coloring (DtL): Here you color the shadow parts first, then go over with lighter colors. Why would you do that? Easy, mediums like alcohol markers and watercolor blend better with the darker color, BUT unlike applying LtD the blending will be more controlled and the shape of the shade is more defined and will not bleed arbitrarily.

I recommend DtL for colored pencils. You simply can't add shade over already colored parts as easily as other mediums.

Opaque mediums like Acrylic and Oil Color don't really make a difference in which way you color. (But I don't use them so don't take this as iron rule.) That's preference IMO. Some people I know like to paint their entire canvas black before they start.

The rule with no white only makes sense if you use mediums that give texture and thickness to the canvas (acrylic/oil), but that problem is easily solved. Paint the canvas in white or black before you start, which makes it also easier to apply color since the surface is now smooth. (Though the canvas texture is also nice, ughh.)

AND NOW THE ULTIMATE CHEAT
You try your vision on a test paper in minimized size. All the big ones do that. It does wonders. Can also work as a warm-up before you tackle the real one.

wow, this turned into an essay, even though I know shit about classic painting techniques and art history, welp.

 

[EternalSunset0]

LAYERING:
Thin layers of colors will save you when using colored pencils, watercolor, and markers (copics). Going from light to dark, so that you can color over messed up parts.

I never really used pastels, but I used the dust of woodless colored pencils for coloring. I recommend using them as the last layer. Coloring over the parts where the color dust was applied is hard. Well, good/quality paper will probably still be able to take on more color. But study paper that will fall apart with a bit erasing? The surface is also a factor in what medium you can use.

The important thing at layering is to NOT put too much pressure on the paper
1) that way you can still use an eraser to get rid of mistakes
2) paper that got "imprinted" cannot take another layer of color, in the worst case the erased pencil lines will remain visible even if you color over it

Still everything in the outline

already went over the lines orz

darker colors to distract from the mistakes, it's sometimes more important to make the best of what you have instead of following the strict borders you set at the beginning

It also helps EXTREMELY at finding colors for color dumb people like me, who never really learned the basics of color theory.

ERASER:
That thing is your important friend on your journey of traditional art. It's better to have a variety of erasers, depending on your needs.

I recommend a hard white eraser (the kind that feels dry and rubs off dusty eraser waste) for more resilient/thick paper. They helped me correcting the watercolor that went out of the border.

A plastic eraser for fine smooth paper. Instead of rubbing, you tab the eraser over the parts you need to erase. The color/pencil will stick to the plastic and you can swipe/rub it off afterward. I like the dust catch by Tombow.

MATERIAL:
The thing with trad art is that the quality/property of the material is important for some techniques. So limited paper/pencils/etc. will limit the way you can color. The cheapest brands in a shop for art supplies are often already 10x better than the stuff your school will provide you. (Still expensive tho)

This applies to basically all art supplies, except alcohol markers. The cheap copies from ShinhanArt, Prisma color, and Copic are only inferior in the quality of the tips. They make it hard to control the tint and tend to bleed. The same color name also is in most cases several nuances off. (Ok, sometimes the alcohol percentage is higher and the tint bleeds a lot compared to the expensive seeded stuff)

As for Sharpies, Idk, I used them once, but they don't have a nice tip to color or outline. I stick to my sakura liners.

COLOR:
I used expensive af colored pencils of van Gogh but they were pretty lackluster. You will get a better deal with any Faber Castell/Stabilo (idk what brands are in your country) color pencils. The quantity of pigmentation is important. The more color pigments are contained, the more saturated the colors will be. This also applies to watercolor, gouache, acrylic, oil, pastels etc.

Watercolored pencils are really nice in that aspect! You can use them as colored pencils, but they are much brighter in color. And with a bit of water, you can smudge them. There even exist watercolor sticks, but the price per stick...ouch.

TECHNIQUE TIPS:
I colored with colored pencils, watercolor/aquarelle, markers, and gouache.

Light to Dark coloring (LtD): The progress example above is exactly that. You can work pretty sloppily at the beginning because the base color can be easily covered by the next layer. It goes from sloppy to precise. There is next to no bleeding/smudging of colors (except you apply the next layer before the first layer dried). The borders are clear except you worked sloppily.

Dark to light coloring (DtL): Here you color the shadow parts first, then go over with lighter colors. Why would you do that? Easy, mediums like alcohol markers and watercolor blend better with the darker color, BUT unlike applying LtD the blending will be more controlled and the shape of the shade is more defined and will not bleed arbitrarily.

I recommend DtL for colored pencils. You simply can't add shade over already colored parts as easily as other mediums.

Opaque mediums like Acrylic and Oil Color don't really make a difference in which way you color. (But I don't use them so don't take this as iron rule.) That's preference IMO. Some people I know like to paint their entire canvas black before they start.

The rule with no white only makes sense if you use mediums that give texture and thickness to the canvas (acrylic/oil), but that problem is easily solved. Paint the canvas in white or black before you start, which makes it also easier to apply color since the surface is now smooth. (Though the canvas texture is also nice, ughh.)

AND NOW THE ULTIMATE CHEAT
You try your vision on a test paper in minimized size. All the big ones do that. It does wonders. Can also work as a warm-up before you tackle the real one.

wow, this turned into an essay, even though I know shit about classic painting techniques and art history, welp.

Don't worry, this is very helpful

Although it does feel overwhelming. I'll get to it. Thanks for all the help (even though I'm not OP)

 

[YueLqn]

LAYERING:
Thin layers of colors will save you when using colored pencils, watercolor, and markers (copics). Going from light to dark, so that you can color over messed up parts.

I never really used pastels, but I used the dust of woodless colored pencils for coloring. I recommend using them as the last layer. Coloring over the parts where the color dust was applied is hard. Well, good/quality paper will probably still be able to take on more color. But study paper that will fall apart with a bit erasing? The surface is also a factor in what medium you can use.

The important thing at layering is to NOT put too much pressure on the paper
1) that way you can still use an eraser to get rid of mistakes
2) paper that got "imprinted" cannot take another layer of color, in the worst case the erased pencil lines will remain visible even if you color over it

Still everything in the outline

already went over the lines orz

darker colors to distract from the mistakes, it's sometimes more important to make the best of what you have instead of following the strict borders you set at the beginning

It also helps EXTREMELY at finding colors for color dumb people like me, who never really learned the basics of color theory.

ERASER:
That thing is your important friend on your journey of traditional art. It's better to have a variety of erasers, depending on your needs.

I recommend a hard white eraser (the kind that feels dry and rubs off dusty eraser waste) for more resilient/thick paper. They helped me correcting the watercolor that went out of the border.

A plastic eraser for fine smooth paper. Instead of rubbing, you tab the eraser over the parts you need to erase. The color/pencil will stick to the plastic and you can swipe/rub it off afterward. I like the dust catch by Tombow.

MATERIAL:
The thing with trad art is that the quality/property of the material is important for some techniques. So limited paper/pencils/etc. will limit the way you can color. The cheapest brands in a shop for art supplies are often already 10x better than the stuff your school will provide you. (Still expensive tho)

This applies to basically all art supplies, except alcohol markers. The cheap copies from ShinhanArt, Prisma color, and Copic are only inferior in the quality of the tips. They make it hard to control the tint and tend to bleed. The same color name also is in most cases several nuances off. (Ok, sometimes the alcohol percentage is higher and the tint bleeds a lot compared to the expensive seeded stuff)

As for Sharpies, Idk, I used them once, but they don't have a nice tip to color or outline. I stick to my sakura liners.

COLOR:
I used expensive af colored pencils of van Gogh but they were pretty lackluster. You will get a better deal with any Faber Castell/Stabilo (idk what brands are in your country) color pencils. The quantity of pigmentation is important. The more color pigments are contained, the more saturated the colors will be. This also applies to watercolor, gouache, acrylic, oil, pastels etc.

Watercolored pencils are really nice in that aspect! You can use them as colored pencils, but they are much brighter in color. And with a bit of water, you can smudge them. There even exist watercolor sticks, but the price per stick...ouch.

TECHNIQUE TIPS:
I colored with colored pencils, watercolor/aquarelle, markers, and gouache.

Light to Dark coloring (LtD): The progress example above is exactly that. You can work pretty sloppily at the beginning because the base color can be easily covered by the next layer. It goes from sloppy to precise. There is next to no bleeding/smudging of colors (except you apply the next layer before the first layer dried). The borders are clear except you worked sloppily.

Dark to light coloring (DtL): Here you color the shadow parts first, then go over with lighter colors. Why would you do that? Easy, mediums like alcohol markers and watercolor blend better with the darker color, BUT unlike applying LtD the blending will be more controlled and the shape of the shade is more defined and will not bleed arbitrarily.

I recommend DtL for colored pencils. You simply can't add shade over already colored parts as easily as other mediums.

Opaque mediums like Acrylic and Oil Color don't really make a difference in which way you color. (But I don't use them so don't take this as iron rule.) That's preference IMO. Some people I know like to paint their entire canvas black before they start.

The rule with no white only makes sense if you use mediums that give texture and thickness to the canvas (acrylic/oil), but that problem is easily solved. Paint the canvas in white or black before you start, which makes it also easier to apply color since the surface is now smooth. (Though the canvas texture is also nice, ughh.)

AND NOW THE ULTIMATE CHEAT
You try your vision on a test paper in minimized size. All the big ones do that. It does wonders. Can also work as a warm-up before you tackle the real one.

wow, this turned into an essay, even though I know shit about classic painting techniques and art history, welp.

Very useful to me, so thank you for taking your time to explain all of this to me!

 

[tiaf]

Don't worry, this is very helpful

Although it does feel overwhelming. I'll get to it. Thanks for all the help (even though I'm not OP)

Very useful to me, so thank you for taking your time to explain all of this to me!

I forgot to tackle brushes

Anyway glad it helped you two! Just hit me up if there are questions (although I'm not omnipotent) and this art supply collecting fish will try help out~

 

[YueLqn]

Can't say I'm that experienced considering I only did fine arts for one year as foundation..... but the one thing I can say is use good paper! It makes a difference in your coloring and the quality of your pigments are pretty important too. If you're looking for textured work, watercolor paper is suitable for bleeding and the like, imo - but they're horrible for your pens and markers, especially felt tips (I wore all the tips off in one go, so be careful). You can build textures using oils and acrylics, but always remember to clean up properly and don't pour your water down the sink! It's poisonous and clogs the sinks up.

You can mix the media like pastels and colored pencils, so don't worry about whether it's "good" or "bad" for the media itself. If you need to get colors off your media, you can use solvents or rags. I tend to just leave it on and then shave it off whenever with a knife. My box is a mess.... I use hot glue for texture too, so... yeah. If you really need the colors to stick, you can use gesso as a primer. Have never used them with colored pencils though...

I don't use a lot of black and white pigments because it can get.... muddy, for the lack of a better word, but if you want a lot of contrast with black, consider using Chinese brush ink. So it depends on you! With coloring, contrast and color balance is king. Colored pencils aren't necessarily used in just one way, which is apply and then add water.... if you're a wild one like myself, you'll dissolve the pencils with water to get the pigment you want.

My advice overall is to spend a bit and have your own kit. My school had its own materials, but when it's your own kit, you'll have a bond with it and it will "speak" to you as you color. Also, don't lend them too often to people who ask unless it's someone you can trust. One of my classmates got grease all over because she was using it while eating fried chicken! I was super mad! One didn't return a few of my things... because she lent them to someone else who never returned it!!!!!! Deplorable!!!!! Who eats fried chicken in class?? why didn't she give me any???

Thank you for the advice! I might not be able to follow most of these (dont have good paper, and parents probably wont let me get any art supplies like watercolors, ink pens and such) but I'll keep it in mind!

 

[LinXueLian]

Thank you for the advice! I might not be able to follow most of these (dont have good paper, and parents probably wont let me get any art supplies like watercolors, ink pens and such) but I'll keep it in mind!

I see! I totes know what you mean about parents not wanting us to get supplies! They're so expensive, and parents be like, "Snort, it's art, what can it do??? Why should we spend money on it!? " I feel your pain!!! I was forced to save money and not eat anything nice (I only ate sweet potatoes and eggs for lunch instead of buying lunch) to get my own kit hahhaha!!! But it's not terrible because I managed to become slim!!

Buuuuuuuuut yeah!! Colored pencils are fun too! Try coloring one color over another color and see how it goes? If they're watercolor pencils, you can try adding water and see what happens. Magic happens with water, it's a magical medium!!