I was working in my Greybook by Hahnemühle (Canadian shoppers try Jackson’s). I love this paper and find it endlessly fun to capture objects using my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils. When I want to create something hyper-realistic, this is my place to come. I love working out every shadow and highlight. It makes my mind work hard to capture just the right color and to trick the viewer’s eye into thinking what they’re seeing is three dimensional. The greybook’s paper is perfect for pencil crayons, whether they’re watercolor or not. There’s just enough texture to grab the lead and help the artist lay down even, consistent pigment. I love this color of paper too, I’m always surprised at just how bright and glowing the art looks over this color. I only with Hahnemühle would also make a greybook that took watercolors too. I’d go nuts on that paper, it would be the best of both worlds, toned paper AND watercolor!
I’ll admit, pencil crayon art takes time. Only when I’m creating art do I have patience. If I could only have this amount of patience when waiting for water to boil or paint to dry, lol. Geez, I’ve been known to yell at a TV show to hurry the hell up and get to the good parts already, lol. These pieces always look rough for the longest time and then finally, TADA, you have something cool. It’s waiting for that to happen as you put pencil crayon to paper over and over that takes the time. Watercolors can be so much more immediate.
For instance, these forks above took me about sixteen hours to complete. I started with outlining the major positions of things then started on the largest fork. If I had done a similarly complicated watercolor painting, I would think I could get something that felt complete in less than half the time, maybe even only a quarter of the time. I usually spend 2-4 hours on a painting or drawing so yes, pencil crayons are a slow art, lol.
It’s all about layer upon layer and building up color slowly, one pencil crayon at a time. To achieve hyper-realistic art one has to drill down to see ALL of the colors in an object and it’s shadows. And Patience, lots of patience. If you go dark too soon, with too much pressure on the pencil crayon, you burnish the paper too soon and then color won’t go down well over that spot.
This whole week I’ve been playing with my “Juicy” Trio from Da Vinci watercolors. I still pinch myself that I have a limited palette with my name on it. Da Vinci Paints has sent me several more of my Trio so I can give them away to my lovely readers so keep your eyes peeled, there WILL be another Da Vinci Giveaway soon! If you’d like to check out the three limited palettes created by me, Charlie from Doodlewash and Tonya from Scratchmade Journal then go here. You can read all about their journey choosing three colors for their limited palettes on their blogs.
Please know that purchasing my “Juicy” Trio from Da Vinci Paints helps support this blog and me as an artist. A new friend emailed me the other day to ask if any of the links on my posts were affiliate links because she wanted to make sure to support my adventure in paint. Thanks so much for asking Jenny, it was so kind of you. Yes, many links in my blog posts are affiliate links, I am proudly an affiliate of both Amazon and Jackson’s Art Supply. I find Jackson’s have such great prices and very low or free shipping on many items so even though they’re in the UK, I shop them often. A small portion of the sale price of anything you purchase after clicking one of my links may go to keep me in hazelnut coffee. It doesn’t cost you anything more and I sure thank you for your support!
I only suggest art supplies that I actually have used and love. My integrity is paramount to me. I only want my readers to have the best experience when making art so anything I suggest here has worked beautifully for me or I’ll disclose my rationale as to why it may or many not work for you.
Thanks for reading me and I love to talk to other art lovers and artists. Feel free to drop me a line or comment, I’ll always get back to you if you have a question.
Sharon Nolfi
Your forks look amazing! Perfect reflections and shadows. Did you use watercolor pencils, colored pencils, or both. I’m not familiar with the term “pencil crayons.” Are they colored pencils or something else?
jawsca
Hi Sharon,
Yep, pencil crayons are colored pencils and I use the Faber Castell watercolor Albrecht Dürer’s for all my colored pencil art. I do know that if I only had the non watercolor colored pencils (as long as they’re professional quality) I could get the exact same look. That’s why I talk about them interchangably. Anyone who has one or the other is good to go. Faber Castell, Caran dArche and prismacolor are professional brands. (at least I think prismacolor is professional, lol, I’ve never used them but heard good things). Obviously the watercolor pencils can be liquified but mostly I just use them as I would a colored pencil. Hope that helps. Thanks for asking my friend, I’ll try to clarify next time as it was such a great question!
Best,
Jenn
Ginger Peppers
As Sharon Nolfi asked, what are pencil crayons? Love your reviews on the paper that you like to use. “The Forks” came out amazing! My trying to learn how to capture glass and silver/chrome like you did. Do you use a blender?
jawsca
Hi Ginger,
Thanks for asking, I didn’t know my use of “pencil crayons” was weird. It must be a Canadian thing, lol. Yes, colored pencils=pencil crayons and if you don’t have watercolor pencils then colored pencils would work just as well. The better the quality, the better the laying down of color. Normally I don’t use a blender but I did in one previous colored pencil drawing, the bucket of mushrooms (http://justaddwatersilly.com/2018/03/08/mushrooms-nostalgie-hahnemuhle/). I worked that one and almost gave up until I just decided to try one last thing to make that bucket come alive. It needed blending to bring out the brightness. But normally, I just don’t need the blender, it is quite handy and useful though so having a prismacolor blender pencil or two is a good idea! Hope that helps!
Jenny
oh my goodness, 16 hours! that is a labor of love Jenn!! i can imagine what the “TADA” moment must be like, i share what others have said, the forks/jar on the grey paper are so realistic. i’ve experienced the ‘burnish effect’ with colored pencils, but didn’t know it had a name-lol i need to practice patience when using pencils, i tend to press hard to cover areas faster….that’s why i’ve had problems trying to blend colors! once the color is burnished, trying to blend colors is over. (i have brought out an eraser to lighten up the color!) why didn’t i just go softer in the first place? hahaa i’m also curious about the use of a blender-i’ve seen a marker type blender that looks interesting. i know some artists use a white pencil for blending.
i’m so glad you shared about the affiliate links 🙂 when i want to purchase art supplies, it helps so much to have recommendations from artists i follow-like you. supporting artists that give of their time and talents so generously, (for free!!) be it a blog, newsletter, etc is important. have a great day 😉
carolboss
Your talent for capturing the details is amazing!
Marva
These are awesome Jen! I used to try to be photo realistic (long before the term hyper realistic) But it took me 30 hours just to draw up a painting and then another 30-40 to paint it. I’ll have to post some of my older work on my blog sometime.