Landscape art can be surprisingly intimidating! That was my first thought when I was invited back this year as a guest Workshop Instructor for the July Issue of COLORED PENCIL Magazine. I’m pretty confident with my skills as an artist and with the colored pencil medium, so I figured if I felt that way, others probably did too. I love a good challenge and I thought that this would be a great subject matter to simplify into a tutorial. I also knew it would be important to break things down in a way that felt accessible to everyone. A lot of colored pencil art focuses on close up subject matter, which for obvious reasons can be more engaging, but too often all those beautiful vistas are being left out of the visual conversation.
The first challenge was finding a photo that I had taken that wouldn’t be too over whelming and also had a good balance of sky, clouds, texture in the land and focal point for the composition. After what felt like many hours of searching all of the photos I have taken on various day trips and vacations I settled on a photo taken on a 2018 vacation of the Quaco Head Lighthouse in St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada.
One of the ways that I find instantly takes the intimidation factor out of a complex subject is by using mixed media. This tutorial uses PanPastel as an aid but the tutorial can be done without it as well. By using another medium that is compatible with colored pencil as a helper, it can speed up what is often a laborious process and it also does some of the heavy lifting by covering the initial whiteness of the page.
The seven-step tutorial is available now in print or digital form through COLORED PENCIL Magazine’s website. There is a download page that will allow you to access my original reference photo and the line art to use as a guide for your own drawing. The article contains a full list of materials and specific colours that I used as well as detailed descriptions on some of the techniques in both PanPastel and colored pencil.
Purchase your copy by visiting: https://coloredpencilmag.com/product/2107issue/
It’s an absolute honour to have been invited back this year to do a workshop tutorial for the magazine, especially given my long standing history with them. I hope that you find it helpful in your creative journey and are inspired to draw more landscapes!
Check out my October 2020 Issue Workshop on the magazine’s Workshop Series page: https://coloredpencilmag.com/workshopseries/
2 Responses
What a great tutorial subject! Really great rendering of the lighthouse! Growing up in Saint John, St Martin’s is a “hop, skip and a jump” away, so that made it more meaningful. I’ve started using watercolour washes to speed up the process a bit and love the combo. Thank you for sharing the info on the article.
Hi Joy! Thank you so much for the comment. I visited St. John on that same vacation as well, and it was lovely! Such a beautiful part of Canada and a real treat for me my first time out in that part of the country. I’m so glad this resonated for you. 😊 Watercolour is another excellent mixed media pairing for coloured pencil and can yield some wonderful results. It sounds like you have found something that is working for you and making the process more enjoyable.