Creative Techniques in Colored Pencil, Graphite, and Oil Painting: Step-by-Step Projects for Teens and Adults

281 Pages·2013·54.05 MB·English

by  Veronica Winters

Creative Techniques

in Colored Pencil, Graphite, and Oil Painting

Step-by-Step Projects For Teens & Adults
Download additional demos, videos, books at
www.VeronicasArt.com

Creatures of the Sea, colored pencil, 7 x 13 in.
Copyright © 2013 Veronica Winters
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without
the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer,
who may quote brief passages in connection with a review for a
magazine or newspaper.
Prismacolor, Turpenoid, General’s, Xerox, Strathmore, and
other brands mentioned in this book are registered
trademarks.
Editor: Dr. Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
Photography and artwork: Veronica Winters
Cover design and book layout: Veronica Winters
Published in the United States by UltraMax Publishing, LLC
Contents
About the Artist
Introduction
Drawing for Study
Drawing for inspiration
1 MATERIALS AND MEDIUMS
Drawing mediums and tools
Graphite, Charcoal, Conté
Approaches to shading
Making Textures: Rubbing, Indenting, Masking, Erasing
Colored Pencil
Blending
Water-Soluble Colored Pencil
Pastel
Papers for drawing
Textured papers
Smooth papers
Toned/colored papers
Other equipment you need
Canvases for painting
Acrylic and oil paint
Brushes
Palette knives
Easels
Basic colors for oil painting
The acrylic vs. oil difference
Techniques
2 LIGHT, VALUES, EDGES, SHAPES & SPACE
Working with light
What is value?
Edges
Demonstration: Three Cherries
Direction
10 big mistakes every student makes
Positive & negative space
Finding basic shapes in complex objects
Demonstration: Lava Lamp
Demonstration: Teakettle
Demonstration: Still Life with Grapes & Orange
3 COMPOSITION, COLOR & BACKGROUND
Compositional Tricks
Compositional Formats
How to come up with best picture
Basic Color Theory
Temperature, Intensity & Value
Working with Background Space
Layering the darks in colored pencil/pastel drawing
Layering darks in black-and-white drawing
Layering darks in oil/acrylic painting
Demonstration: Anemone with a Bud
Demonstration: Desert Rose
Demonstration: Purple Lily
4 PERSPECTIVE, PROPORTION & REFLECTIONS
Perspective
Zero-point linear perspective
One-point linear perspective
Two-point linear perspective
Proportion
Demonstration: Lotus Chalice
Demonstration: Ayutthaya Buddha
Reflections in Water
How to draw reflections
Reflections on objects
How to draw reflections
Demonstration: Jade Buddha
Demonstration: Thai Sunrise
5 CATS & OTHER WILDLIFE
Features & techniques
General body shape
How to make textures/ animal hair
Demonstration: Tigress, the kitty
Demonstration: Cat Sasha
Demonstration: Bastet, the Egyptian cat
Demonstration: Tigress, oil painting
Demonstration: The Funky Monkey
Demonstration: The Giraffe
6 IMAGINATION & FUN PROJECTS
Fantasy art painting
Paper Collage
Creating paper or photo collage
Paper collage demonstration
Painting your ideas
Advanced demonstration: Buddha with Naga
Advanced demonstration: Thai Monkey-Demon
Glossary
Color Chart
About the Artist
Russian-American fine artist Veronica Winters holds an M.F.A.
in painting from Pennsylvania State University and a B.F.A.
degree in studio art from Oklahoma State University.
She studied classical painting at the Art Students League
of New York and the Grand Central Academy of Art in
New York. Veronica’s art is found in numerous private
collections and her work has been featured in Leisure
Painter, American Art Collector, Artists & Illustrators,
Colored Pencil Magazine, 2004 & 2013 Women Artists
Datebook, and other image-licensed books and
magazines.
To see Veronica’s paintings, drawings, books, and projects,
visit veronicasart.com.
Special Thanks:
I thank Stelli Munnis and Max Fomitchev for technical support
with the book.
I’m grateful to Ingrid Lyon, editor of Leisure Painter, who let
me use a few of my demonstrations previously printed in the
magazine.
My heart goes out to all my supporters and friends. I couldn’t
have been here today without you!
Facing thirty six, self-portrait, colored pencil, 12 x 15 in.
Introduction
Living as an artist today is so much different from than it was
just a couple of centuries back. Contemporary artists have so
much freedom in choosing what subjects to paint or when and
where to paint them. The Church is not the main customer or
commissioner anymore, and artists can explore infinite
possibilities in their preferred art form. Women are free to
pursue an education in art and are able to achieve a success in
the field that was nearly impossible in the past. At the same
time creative personalities face a number of other challenges
that might not have been so prevalent earlier.
Today artists receive various education skill-wise and often lack
the consistency, time and proven methods to develop
technique. Until late 19-th century artists went through
grueling training methods, studying for many years in school,
copying plaster casts, drawing and painting from life for many
hours each day and working as apprentices to master-artists of
the day to eventually become professional, independent artists.
Methods in learning the craft of painting had been worked out
for centuries in art schools where artists faced thorough
training in classical realism. When these rigid educational rules
were finally broken, creativity was spurred but the learning
process became complicated.
Today, many artists consider themselves accomplished without
the same solid educational background their predecessors had.
Sometimes it is to students’
advantage, however, to study various methods of painting
and drawing from different sources and on new terms.
Having a variety of approaches and platforms to learning
opens up new horizons for everyone. The Internet,
YouTube, art magazines and books often feed our
curiosity. In addition, education is open for all and we are