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Crimefish โ Tutorial - Coloured Pencils
Published: 2009-04-05 15:24:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 29385; Favourites: 577; Downloads: 176
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Comment for step 1 :If you don't reference from anything (or, uh... refer... to anything) then feel free to skip the first part. And no, none of those little photos are mine, but they're just for example, so don't freak out please.
The (photoshop) colouring is mostly as a time-saver. You could skip it and try to figure that out in the actual drawing process, but I've found this is quicker and easier, and it's good to preview all your options instead of trying to wing it later on.
The colour curves sets I refer to are mostly ones I've saved from livejournal. I recommend browsing livejournal's icon_tutorial community. There is a crapload of colour effects in their archive, too. [link] and people occasionally compile long lists of their favourite effects by other users. [link]
Comment for step 3, or however far I just got xD :
Finished! Finally. But after I had to start using different colours, in a different order, for each of the two images, I just went ahead and did the landscape one first. And the portrait image, on the left... it's not a good example to use for a colour pencil portrait tutorial. So I guess I'll wait until I'm doing another portrait, with hair and stuff, and then use that one. 8D
The fonts I used are Dear teacher, and Arial Narrow.
I can edit this with relative ease, so feel free to point out where it sucks and how hard.
I'm not trying to tell anyone how to do things, I'm just saying how I do it.
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Comments: 131
I totally just clicked it because I saw Dean x'D Thanks for this tutorial 
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I just want to thank you for this tutorial. I was super wary of using coloured pencils since I have never truly used them before and I am rather afraid of colour. I found my way here from StephsDA's piece and read through this a couple times and then it seemed like it might be possible. So, I just wanted to say thank you and show you what I was able to do using bits and pieces of your tutorial: [link]
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Hmn i admit i am not into drawing so realistically or interested in having your style of art, but this has been helpful one thing i struggled with was pencil crayon it makes perfect sense this tutorial does!
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Woah. You're amazing with pencils. Definitely keeping this tutorial in mind.
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your pencil work is amazing. you really do know your way around your medium.
Nice work
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You said that the brown and blue look weird but I kind of love it at that stage! Anyways, this tutorial is extremely helpful and I will definitely be bookmarking it so I can come back to it all the time! Thank you so much for putting it together! It's really interesting to read your secret strategies.
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thanks! that's one of the best tutorials I've seen. lots of good tips and very detailed!
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You blow my mind away with your technique, and now to see a tutorial of it? Consider my brain blown out from my head and out through the window.
You're just so amazing!
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I really love this. I really do.
Recently, I've felt declined with my ability to create with different mediums as an artist. I've always admired your work and your patience and have inspired me to go exploring with my talents. I'd love to comment on all of your pieces, but I'd really just like to say thank you for distributing your capability. I hope one day I'll be able to climb up to your level.
This particular tutorial made it easy for me to understand how to work with colored pencils. Thank you so much! (:
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its almost like you've split a photograph into layers and published it here! you're bloody amazing.
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hiya ^^ I used the tutorial on this [link]
it's really helpful xD, thanks for making it.
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Dude, this is totally what I need for my pencil
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I love using tutorials when I get a chance, and am starting a piece with this one now, just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to educate other artists on how to hone ones skills in the field of color.
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Really, you're using it? 
I find it really hard to use tutorials; I can never get anything to look the way the other artist does. Then again, I was never much good at learning from anyone else. I tend to just work on techniques and stuff by myself, unless I come across something particularly inspiring.
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I am! It's a slow process though, because 1)the nice weather this week has put my work on hold and 2) I have to read anything multiple times to understand the process.
I can never either, however, I just find it so insightful to read about how another artists goes about their work. You can have a thousand people draw the same piece, and they'll draw it in a thousand different ways, and that amazes me!
I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did you come about your techniques? I've honestly never heard of going about a colored pencil piece as you have explained here, but it actually makes much more sense to me then most ways i've been taught professionaly! I give self taught artists a ton of credit, it's one thing to sit, listen and do as told, but something else entirely to look at a picture and tell yourself how to draw it.
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How did I come about it? That's a toughie.
For one thing, I'm forgetful. I have dyscalculia, and find it almost impossible to remember sequences (instructions, directions) without repeating it a million times. I don't listen well when people give me advice, so I forget to try stuff the way other people do it. I have to experiment for myself. And then the next time I do it, I forget how I did it the last time, so I end up trying a different technique by accident. If it doesn't work, I ruin the drawing, which is quite memorable for me. So I never do it that way again. Multiply this by a couple hundred drawings, and I try a lot of methods, and quickly eliminate ones that don't work for me.
And for another thing, I tend to be disagreeable by default, so if someone tells me the limitations of a medium, instead of accepting it and not trying that, I think "That sounds like a wager to me. Maybe no one's figured out how to use it to its true potential". A lot of limits seem to be self-imposed, based on pure assumption... which is a huge pity, if the artists themselves can do so much better than they know. So no matter how good I get at it, or how satisfied I am by a technique (by now I've used my usual ones so many times, I don't forget them so much anymore), I always try new methods, and always try to do better than before.
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Process of elimination, very interesting. That must take some patience and hard work, but let me say it really shows through in your work!
That's awesome you will take things on with a whole new medium in a new way, most people will find one thing they are good at and stick to it, but it's much more fun to do a ton of other things and develop those skills as well. What would you say your current favorite medium is? And are you currently testing out something else? I would be intrigued to see what your mind could create with paint, as some of your colored pencil work reminds me so much of paintings as is.
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Yeah, most people will say there's a right and a wrong way to use a medium, but I think it definitely depends on the effect you're trying to achieve, so it's often better to experiment for yourself, and then whatever effect you get with any given method, you can file it away in your mind and come back to it later.
My favourite medium is coloured pencils. I usually say I love graphite and colour pencils equally, and I guess I do, but coloured pencils are often more fun to work with, in my opinion. I've been using them more than anything else lately. I haven't tried a new medium in a while. The more experienced you become with the media you're used to, you kind of get too comfortable with them, and accustomed to things coming out more or less exactly how you intended... so then it's harder and harder to try new things, knowing you'd have to start again, as a beginner. It's scary. Dumb but true.
The last new medium I tried was ballpoint pen (here [link] ), and I was delighted to find it worked exactly how I wanted it to. I decided the way the cross-hatching works, ballpoint would be more suitable for something like architecture than human figures, so the next time I choose an image like that, I'm gonna use ballpoint... I can't believe how long ago that was. I don't get enough work done.
YES. The way I use prismacolors, it does come out looking a lot like acrylics or something like that... which actually is not so good for my motivation to learn to paint, if I can already get that effect anyway. I think it'd be useful to use both in the same piece, using acrylics for bigger areas and pencils for the finer details. And I mean to learn to use pastels to the same effect, too. I actually can paint a little. I need to be able to, to paint the faces on my dolls, and since in that situation the canvas is so small and so expensive, I kick myself for not getting much practice on paper with the same medium. I keep talking about it, and sooner or later I will do it.
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Hmmm...it seems to come out blurred in v7.
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Looks fine to me. 
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I figured out the cause of the blurriness - it seems that if your spyware blocker blocks quantserve on dA, it slows and even blocks the uploading of images. Sorry to have bothered you.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to make this tutorial. I have been encouraged to draw portraits completely in color, but haven't tried it yet. It is a bit overwhelming...
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Ah, you're welcome. Or, I should be saying thank you. I know this tutorial is really wordy. I think it could be a lot more condensed and simple (and then if I wanna explain things in depth, I should just write a book). There's so much to using colour pencils, and that's just drawing with them. I haven't started learning to paint with them yet (yeah, I heard you can melt them with turpentine and then use them to paint).
I agree, it's definitely overwhelming. It's easy to stay in your comfort zone and tell yourself it's better to improve your skills in the media you already use... but a lot of the skills from graphite transfer to colours, and learning it bit by bit, and colouring only parts of a drawing, is a good way to phase it in before you're ready to jump in and use them on their own.
I admire your courage in tackling a new medium, especially when it looks like you're pretty damn good with graphite, and it can be very frustrating to suddenly remind yourself how it feels to be a beginner when you're used to a higher standard.
Anyway. Thank you. I hope the tutorial helps, or at least offers some insight into how I use the medium.
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That's exactly it. I don't think you should condense your explanations though.
You wrote what you felt at the time. The step by step process is excellent.
The more detail the better for a beginner like me.
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Ah that is pretty amazing
Very nicely done tutorial, although my eyes are now all squinty from so much text xD
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FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU
Damn you. You are so talented. But thanks for the great tutorial.
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wow! this is really good! thanks for the tutorial!
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Welcome! I'm glad it helps! 8D
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hehe, its very well explained too.
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At this moment I'm working on a drawing (Harry Potter and Malfoy) with this tutorial as guideline. I'm not very far in the proces, I'm still adding shade-layers, but I already want to thank you for this wonderful tutorial. I'm not used to draw coloured portraits, because I suck at it and can't seem to get the hang of it, but this tutorial has already helped me to improve a 100 times, because it's well-explained, has good examples and generally is written in a way that's easy to understand and use in own creations, so thank you for helping others develop into new stages
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Oh, god. Thank you so much for your feedback. I really barely use tutorials myself, so I didn't know how much detail is best, or if it just makes things sound overly complicated.
Thank you! I'm so glad it helps.
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afjssfslkj I cannot believe you drew that with colored pencil! 8D that's super-incredible! I am in awe of your skills! The way you use value and color make for vibrant, ultra-real-looking shapes. 8D thank you for making this wonderful tutorial :3
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This looks so complex 
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Thank you! 8D I suppose it is complex, but mostly I'm used to it by now, so I don't have to think too much while drawing. The only things that make me stop and think are when I can't decide on a colour, or I think I made the wrong choice earlier - and it's excruciating to have to sit and think how to fix it, but usually everything turns out okay at the end, and no one can tell I had any problems at all. xD
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Considering you can not erase things much it looks very precision. I was not too bad at colour mixing but great tutorial.
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This is a brilliant tutorial! 
Just a question: Do you always start with a royal blue coloured pencil for the very start of the picture?
I'm slightly confused...
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Thank you! I'm thrilled to get feedback for it, 'cause it's my first real tutorial.
Ah, no, not always, it just happened to be the underlying colour in most of this image. Normally, if there's no particular recurring dark colour, I probably would just start with black, only I'd be more careful not to smudge it. (But that is a good question. I do use blue as a base a LOT, but that's just a personal thing. :3 I would never suggest other people do it.)
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No problem! I love this tutorial! <3
Ahhh... Now I see. That makes a lot of sense now.
Thanks so much for that.
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Ah thats really helpful, especially all the stuff about layers and how much pigment can stick to the paper. I never have the patience that you have though! so im just like meh
x
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Well, I'm glad it's helpful! And particularly the stuff about the pigment sticking to paper... I haven't seen a lot of tutorials, but I don't remember ever hearing anyone else describe that. So I thought it'd be interesting to add. (But half the time, I do ramble and any tutorials I'd make sound more philosophical than technical. XD)
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Thank you so much for sharing your experienced expertise with us! I hope to be able to draw as well as yourself someday.
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Ohmyjeez D8
So much worrrrk, but you make it look so easy!
In the Step 4: Details part, you got from the third panel to the fourth panel with just using a blender?
But wow, yeah, those were some reallllly great tips, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I always wondered how you did the sketch, without leaving any pencil grooves. Those annoy me like hell, lol. And the whole color layer technique thing rly helps.
It's hard for me to find an artist who knows what they're talking about AND is willing to help me, cuz I live in a pretty small community. Ahaha.
So thanks a bunch, I'll keep this in mind when I draw next time 8)
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Uh, not exactly; I only used the blender on the ground and trees - so all the changes on Dean are just another layer of colouring (sky blue on his hair and shoes, very light blue on his jeans, and peach and some tiny details on his face).
Well, I'm glad you found it helpful! XD
Argh, pencil grooves make me rip my hair out. And half the time it's not even a pencil groove, it's just some place where I accidentally dug my fingernail in or something. =_=
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This is awesome! I am really glad I found your gallery, ยดcos I have been wanting to draw with colored pencils, but I just didnยดt know how to work them... and here is your tutorial! 
And your gallery is simply 
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Awh, thank you... I love using colour pencils. It's way more fun than graphite, and more relaxed than paint (since you don't have to worry about timing, 'cause nothing's gonna dry too quick) so the best thing I can do is make people want to try them, and make it look easy enough to do. xD;
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