Already the third week of March! Although still a bit cold, it is so wonderful to see flowers blooming again. Some trees have yet to grow leaves but that happens mainly in April. We just had our garden redone and hired some gardeners to plant a variety of different flowers. How exciting! Now I expect to create more artwork featuring flowers and even more bright vivid colors. Today some black paper drawing with some colored pencils to start with!
Black Paper
I enjoy the occasional black paper art. Whilst the colors pop out even more than on white paper, the whole atmosphere has an aura of mystery. Best mediums for black paper include colored pencils and pastels and as for paints, acrylic and gouache. For this drawing I used a page from my Black Paper sketchbook by ArtGecko and a variety of colored pencils including Holbein’s Artists Colored Pencil which also includes a wide selection of pastel shades, some fluorescent varieties by Faber Castel and Koh i Noor and of course a good quality set of plain colors such as Derwent Colorsoft.
Glowing Effect
And what fun that all was! To be honest, I hadn’t planned what exactly I wanted in my sketch and just went for what was in my head. First thing that came to mind was the sun, and then Little One of course. How could I not include her! Then everything else fell into place. The tulips were added one by one in various shades of orange, red and pink as well as a little yellow. When it was time to do her hair, though, it looked a bit boring with just brown on the black paper and hence I threw some blue and pink. I also switched her eyes to green in place of the usual brown just to enhance the colorfulness of the drawing even more. The background was then roughly scribbled in light pastel blue and green. And now… Little One enjoying her little tulip garden!
I really love how the colors pop out against the black! Most recommend are pastel shades and fluorescent shades. I must add too that sketching with colored pencils is relaxing and quite therapeutic compared to painting. Perhaps the rhythmic and repetitive motion helps to synchronize the hand and eye, helping you focus. Added to that, you get to play around with colors, and in particular working with bright colors is uplifting. No wonder then why I tend to return to sketching in between paintings. I should definitely do it more often and get my colored pencils out from time to time. Besides, drawing happy and kawaii things like Little One certainly helps put a smile on me again!
My Kawaii Quarter 