I love working with sanded pastel paper. My favorite is Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper by Art Spectrum. It’s a wonderfully versatile archival surface  that “withstands all manner of artistic experimentation.” One of these, and not the least in order of importance, is the application of heat.

In the examples below you can see how I develop a flower petal with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Wax Crayons.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 1: After finishing the first petal, I’m getting ready to begin the second one.
Step 2: On the cool zone and with sharp Neocolors, I block in all the local colors of the petal. The tooth of the paper easily captures the waxy pigments.

Step 3

Step 3 - detail

Step 3: After moving the paper to the warm zone, I begin melting the waxy pigments with a taper point color shaper. It’s a simple process that can also be accomplished with a flat chisel color shaper (use the side of the tip for melting). This approach is much faster and gives you more control than adding water to Neocolor II. First of all there is no wait for the paper to dry – the melted pigments solidify as soon as the paper is removed from the heat – and the intensity and hue of the color do not diminish. Besides, it is so much fun I just can’t get enough.

Step 4

Step 5

Step 4: The petal is now covered by a thin layer of melted pigments that I like to call “wax foundation.”
Step 5: On the warm zone, with a sharp white Verithin I penetrate the previous layer and create fine ridges that will become the petal’s veins.

Step 6

Step 6 - detail

Step 6: Here I’m developing the colors and the details of the petals. The layering of colored pencils is accomplished with Prismacolor Premier using the side of the pencil point. On the warm zone the waxy pigments melt and blend in with the foundation; on the cool zone they will sit on top for optical mixing. Sharp Verithin pencils are used for details and fine lines.

When using oil-based colored pencils with the Icarus Drawing Board, make sure to combine them with a wax-based medium. As you can see below, a thick layer of wax-based colored pencil is necessary to make the oil-based one as blendable as its wax counterpart.

Oil-based and Wax-based Colored Pencils

The starry sky of “The Butterfly Effect” could not have been accomplished in colored pencil without the Icarus Drawing Board. The choices would have been to painstakingly draw the blue sky around the white of the paper or to paint masking fluid over hundreds of stars. Instead I came up with the following technique:

Step 1: I laid down several different blue Neocolors II on the warm zone.
Step 2: I used a gray paper stump to thin and blend the crayons on the warm zone. This is accomplished by making small circles with the paper stump while cleaning the excess wax with a paper towel.
Step 3: I kept on working until the colors were evenly blended.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4: I grated a blue colored pencil on a sand paper block.
Step 5: I shook the blue speckles over the crayon background.
Step 6: I grated a white colored pencil on coarse sand paper.

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7: I shook the white speckles over the crayon background.   
Step 8: After placing a sheet of tracing paper over the colored pencil speckles, I pressed down with a brayer on the warm zone.
Step 9: The speckles melted into the blue background and created a starry sky effect.

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

For another example of “speckling” see Snake River Pebbles.

On step #1 I layer on the cool zone process red, pink and white colored pencils over light blue artist crayon (see more on “layering” on previous post). I use the side of the pencil, not the point.

After moving the paper to the warm zone I start blending with a paper stump. Here, again, I’m using the side, not the point, and make small circles as I blend. Step #2 shows you the blending in progress.

On step #3 you can see the end result: a very smooth and flawless color gradation. This technique will allow you to blend a large area in a very short time.

#1 - Color Gradation

#2 - Color Gradation

#3 - Color Gradation

A new step-by-step of “Round-n-Round” is ready for viewing on Icarus Art website.

Round-n-Round (1)

Round-n-Round (2)

Round-n-Round (3)

Round-n-Round (4)

Here is a step-by-step of “Rose Petal”. You can view it in its entirety on Icarus Art website.

Rose Petal (1)

Rose Petal (2)

Rose Petal (3)

Check out the new step-by-step of “Snake River Pebbles” on Icarus Art website.

Snake River Pebbles (1)

Snake River Pebbles (2)

Snake River Pebbles (3)

The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California was this year’s host of the 14th Annual Conference of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Icarus Art was one of the exhibitors and I demonstrated my new Icarus Technique to the numerous attendees.

ASBA Conference 2008 (1)

ASBA Conference 2008 (2)

Read my step-by-step article “Melt your CP!” in From My Perspective, an online colored pencil ezine by Ann Kullberg. You can also view the step-by-steps on Icarus Art website.

"Effervescence" Drawing

"Effervescence" In Progress

"Effervescence" Finished

Read about the Icarus Drawing Board on Katherine Tyrrell’s blog Making a Mark.