Abigail,

I'm not entirely sure how long, as I didn't keep track. But I think I spend roughly 30 hours on colored pencil works.

What brand of colored pencils did you use, if you don't mind my asking? I'm trying to find a pencil that's both vibrant and blendable but I can't find one that's both qualities which is why my colored drawings come out either grainy or dull.

I've been using Faber Castell Polychromos. They're an oil based pencil so have slightly harder leads, but I find them easy to blend regardless. And they still feel creamy, not scratchy. I invested in them as an alternative to the Prismacolors I used to use. The Prismas were breaking nonstop and quality control seemed to become questionable. So I caved and paid for the Fabers. 100% worth it in my opinion. I absolutely love them. Beautiful color selection, easy to blend, sharpen easy and hold a fine point for quite a while, and I have yet to have one break (so zero waste so far).

So although they're a bit pricey, I've been very happy with them.

Are they vibrant? They're not grainy? What kind of paper are you using? I use Prang and Kalour. Parang blends very good and is smooth but colors are dull. Kalours pencils are vibrant but don't blend well and are grainy. I've been wanting Prismacolor for a long time but didn't want to spend the money. My problem is when I try drawing cartoon characters I try hard to make them as vibrant as if they were done digitally. I can't achieve that so I get rather frustrated. I can draw real people without that problem because I don't do realistic drawings in color. I'm not good at flowers or scenery so I stick to real people, cartoon characters and maybe animals. You can check out my old thread, TomatoNuts Artwork here in the Sandbox forum if you like but I warn you my stuff is pathetic. I stopped drawing for a long time then tried working on a project. It was coming dull and grainy like usual so I didn't finish it.

I don't find them grainy at all. I find they still have a creaminess to them. Not as soft as Prisma, but still soft in my opinion. And they do have a lovely vibrant color selection. They layer nicely as well.
I usually use watercolor paper for my colored pencil drawings. Reason for that is because I usually combine them with watercolor, brush pens, etc. I find the light texture allows plenty of layers as well. Hollyhocks and Honeybees was still done on watercolor paper. I usually use Canson cold-press watercolor paper. HH and H was done on Fluid cold-press watercolor paper. When I do sketchbook work, then it's Strathmore papers. All my favorite sketchbooks are Strathmore.

Prismas aren't worth it anymore in my personal opinion. I used to love them until some changes in the company. Then quality control seemed to go down. The colors are lovely, and they feel very creamy to use. But they're almost impossible to sharpen without breaking and wasting half the pencils. Which also makes it difficult to get finer details. They're almost TOO soft to sharpen right.
I actually have a few sets from them. My oldest set seems to be better quality than the newer two. It's unfortunate... they used to be a leader in the industry...

Another company that might be worth investigating is Derwent. They make lovely pencils. I use their tinted graphite, charcoal, Drawing line of colored pencils, Lightfast colored pencils, ink pencils, ink blocks, pens, etc. and love all of them. They make a wide range of colored pencils in different lead hardnesses and sizes depending on your preference: Lightfast, Colorsoft, Artist's, Drawing, Chromaflow, Procolor, Studio...

I looove the Drawing line. I haven't found a creamier pencil than those ones. Only downside is they only come as a nature palette. But if you like nature drawing, animals, etc. then they're perfect. They have a thicker barrel and lead too. Supposedly the newer Chromaflows are supposed to be a softer lead too, but I haven't tried them so can't confirm that. A rep told me they were intended to have a softer feel. Their price point is decent too. I'd actually like to try them some time.
I tried a few Procolors once, but found them a little too hard and scratchy for my liking. I imagine they'd work for fine detail though.

If it helps, Prisma, Faber and Derwent all sell pencils open stock. So you could grab a few of each and test them out first. Compare them and see what you like.

Ever try alcohol markers? If you like cartoon work, I've seen people do some great work with those that really pop off the page.

for all the info, TK.

Wow, thanks for the wonderful info! I need to research that when I get the time! I've been so busy I haven't much time to draw anyway. Especially during the day. Alcohol markers?? No, never heard of them! Tell me more! What are brush pens like? I have a pad of Strathmore paper but my stuff seemed grainier on it. I have a smaller, Masters Touch pad that I really like.




See this professionally done drawing someone did of Buzz Lightyear and it's not digitally done! That's how I want my cartoons to look! Obviously they used a ton of stuff. Do you recognize any of what they're using?

My kid does everything digitally now with a program called Procreate

Gina1960 said: My kid does everything digitally now with a program called Procreate

I want to draw digitally but I can't use a program that requires an internet connection.

I don't want to draw all my things digitally. It's fun, but I feel art actually comes from when you use your hands on just a blank piece of paper and you can make it come alive without help from a digital pen or tracing.

Anne - When you say grainy, I assume you mean the tooth of the paper? If there's a tooth to it, it'll ultimately hold more layers. More layers will help get that vibrancy you're looking for. Eventually the tooth will fill up and it'll feel smoother as you get into later layers. Just those first few layers can be discouraging.

Alcohol markers are just alcohol-based markers. Because they're not water-based, they're more blendable, don't leave streaks, and are less prone to damaging the paper. I've only used water-based markers for underpaintings, but I've seen people do some nice works with just the alcohol markers alone.
I was actually going to order some to try, but I bought a big set of pastel pencils yesterday, so markers have to wait.

As for that image, it's hard to tell what the colored barrel pencils are. They very well could be Polychromos, as they're a popular professional option. But without seeing more of the pencil I can't say for sure. Could just as easily be another brand. Wouldn't be Derwents as those have larger barrels and are usually colored across the ranges. But the brown barreled ones are likely either Derwent Lightfast or Caran D'ache Luminance. Those are the most popular wood-barrel pencils I can think of. Probably more likely the Luminance as the Lightfasts are newer, but could be either one. I've heard great things about Luminance, but they're easily the most expensive pencils you'll find. So I haven't used them. Lightfasts are admittedly expensive too, so I only have a 36 set of them. I'd love more of them, but I can't justify the cost right now. Part of why they're so expensive is their lightfast ratings. They're very resistant to fading under light exposure, something professional artists want when selling work. Ensures longevity.

No, by grainy I mean the pencils (mostly the Kalour ones) because I've tried them on different paper. They're grainy about like crayons almost.

I was looking at alcohol markers; what brand is best??? Some say they don't bleed a lot. I don't want them going through the page I'm working on; will I have to buy a special pad to work with these markers? Can I use my Prang pencils with them to add in more colors or details?

I know Copic is kind of the gold standard for alcohol markers. I've read that Ohuhu is a good quality alternative. Not sure about other brands.

I've used Tombow waterbased markers and really like them. I imagine their alcohol markers are probably quite nice as well.

As for papers, you might have to do some research. I'm not sure what the best would be. I know there's actual marker papers out there, but I'm sure some thicker papers would work.

I use colored pencils with waterbased markers, so I'm sure they'd work with alcohol markers too. Worth experimenting.

So, the top pic is a drawing I worked on a little this evening. The preliminary sketch had been done months ago and I never finished it.

The second pic shows the graininess of those crummy Kalour pencils. That's supposed to be a galaxy sky; hence the X-wing ship. Its part of a cartoon project I'm considering abandoning.

The third pic is of another artsy venture of mine: Breyer horse customizing. It's a recently finished dapple grey mule stallion done in layers of pastels. The eyes and hooves are hand painted in acrylics. Hoof details added with pastels. Bottoms of hooves glossed in clear fingernail polish for protection, and eyes glossed for a realistic touch. I signed his belly. He'll be listed on eBay sometime soon I hope!

Love the bee, Love the mule!

All of them are really nice, Anne! The bee is my favorite though

Also, make sure to add a picture when you're completely done. I'd like to see it in its completed form

Thanks! I hope I don't end up not finishing the bee; it won't be the first drawing I started then abandoned. It takes a certain mood for me to be in to feel inspired to draw. This year has proven to be very stressful which is why I haven't completed a drawing since last fall.

I also have an unfinished Breyer I need to work on. I stopped on it and did two others instead, including the mule. I can push myself on the Breyers models because I can make a nice profit on those; whereas when draw its almost like a waste of time. Especially considering I threw a good portion of them away and only kept the ones I really put my heart and imagination into.

I love the bee! Keep it up, I'm sure it'll look great when finished.

I feel yah. Been going through a lot of major stressors too, since September. It killed a lot of my motivation for artwork. (Hence my own pile of unfinished artworks.) Now it takes a lot of effort to get myself to work on them. My psychologist had me set some goals, and "be more consistent with artwork, and find more enjoyment from it" was one of them. So I kind of forced myself to finish those last two. Maybe... 10 or 15 years ago I used to draw and paint daily. I wish I could do that again. But no way I'm finding the motivation to keep at it like that any time soon.

I started this one yesterday. Another pastel. My reference is a photo I took of some Cymbidiums at the SF Orchid Society Exposition.

Fell into the trap of painting peach flowers again.

That already looks fantastic!! You certainly have an amazing talent for flowers!