Layering With ONLY 12 Colored Pencils | Polychromos Tutorial
Summary
TLDRIn this art tutorial, the focus is on color pencil layering techniques, particularly for those with a limited color set. The artist demonstrates how to create a rose bud drawing using only 12 pencils, emphasizing the importance of starting with light base layers and gradually building up to darker shades. Key tips include holding the pencil mid-way to avoid heavy pressure, using circular motions for smoothness, and keeping the pencil sharp for precision. The tutorial also touches on color theory, adjusting colors by layering complementary hues, and concludes with burnishing to blend and smooth the final artwork.
Takeaways
- 🎨 Layering with color pencils is about gradually building up color with light layers to create new shades.
- 🖍️ Start with light base layers using the closest color to each section of the drawing, keeping the pressure light to allow for multiple layers.
- 🌿 When working with a limited color set, use color theory to mix colors by layering, such as red and blue to create purple.
- 🔍 Begin with lighter colors and progress to darker ones, mapping out key shapes and gradually adding depth.
- ✏️ Hold the pencil mid-way down for lightness and control, and use circular motions for smooth layering.
- 📈 Sharpen the pencil to ensure a consistent application and precise control, especially for detailed areas.
- 🍃 For areas like leaves and stems, use the base layer to block in shapes and plan for color adjustments later.
- 🖌️ Use darker shades to define shadows and depth, but maintain light pressure to keep the layering process flexible.
- 🔄 Revisit areas with lighter colors to adjust and enhance vibrancy, using reference photos to guide color additions.
- 💡 Burnishing, or pressing firmly after layering, helps to smooth and blend colors, finishing the drawing with a polished look.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is about layering color pencils, specifically focusing on techniques for layering when you have a limited set of colors.
What does the term 'layering' mean in the context of color pencils?
-In the context of color pencils, 'layering' refers to the technique of gradually building up color by applying a series of very light layers of pencil on top of each other, which blend to create new colors.
How does the artist suggest starting the layering process?
-The artist suggests starting the layering process by applying base layers, beginning with lighter colors and working towards darker colors, using a light touch to map out the key shapes and areas of the drawing.
Why is it important to keep the initial layers light when layering color pencils?
-Keeping the initial layers light is important because it allows for the application of multiple layers without the risk of over-saturation, enabling the artist to build up color gradually and make adjustments more easily.
What is the purpose of using a sharp pencil when creating base layers?
-Using a sharp pencil for base layers helps in achieving a more consistent application of color and allows for better control, resulting in smoother and more precise lines.
How does the artist approach the layering of the rose bud in the drawing?
-The artist approaches the layering of the rose bud by starting with a red base layer for the pink areas, then gradually adding other colors like magenta for shadows, and adjusting the colors by adding blues, greens, and browns to achieve the desired effect.
What role does color theory play in the layering process when working with a limited color set?
-Color theory plays a crucial role when working with a limited color set, as it helps the artist to mix and layer colors to create new shades and tones that may not be available in the set, by understanding how different colors blend and interact.
What technique does the artist use to smooth out and finish the layered colors?
-The artist uses a technique called 'burnishing' to smooth out and finish the layered colors. This involves pressing firmly with the pencil after all layering is done to create a smooth and polished appearance.
How does the artist adjust the colors to achieve the final look of the rose bud?
-The artist adjusts the colors by comparing the drawing to the reference photo and identifying which colors are missing or need to be intensified. They then layer additional colors, such as blues, reds, and browns, to enhance the vibrancy and contrast.
What additional resource does the artist mention for learning more about burnishing?
-The artist mentions a video on burnishing as an additional resource for learning more about the technique and when to use it, which is available for viewers interested in further understanding this aspect of color pencil layering.
Outlines
🎨 Color Pencil Layering Basics
The paragraph introduces the concept of color pencil layering, emphasizing the technique of gradually building up color with light layers. It explains that layering is a method of mixing colors by applying one on top of another to create new shades. The speaker proposes to demonstrate layering using only 12 color pencils, starting with a drawing of a rose bud. The process involves beginning with lighter colors and progressing to darker ones, laying down base layers that map out the key shapes and areas of the drawing. The importance of applying light pressure and maintaining a sharp pencil for smooth, consistent application is highlighted. The speaker also discusses the approach to layering for different parts of the rose, such as using red as a base for the pink rose and green for the stem, with the intention of adjusting colors later.
🖌️ Building Up Color Layers
This paragraph delves deeper into the layering process, focusing on the application of additional color layers to enhance the drawing. The artist continues to work with light pressure, gradually adding more color to the rose bud and its stem. The process involves using different color pencils to represent various shades and tones, such as using a magenta pencil for the shadowed areas of the rose to introduce a hint of purple. The artist stresses the importance of layering as a forgiving technique that allows for adjustments in both color and shape. The paragraph also touches on the concept of color theory, suggesting that by combining colors like red and blue, one can create new shades, such as purple, even with a limited color set. The artist demonstrates how to build up the vibrancy of the drawing by adding more of the base colors and adjusting the contrast in the shadows.
🌹 Final Touches and Burnishing
The final paragraph describes the last stages of the drawing process, where the artist focuses on refining the colors and contrast of the rose bud. The artist adds darker shades to the shadows and adjusts the overall color balance by reintroducing colors that may have been lost under previous layers. Techniques such as burnishing, which involves pressing firmly with the pencil to smooth and blend colors, are discussed. The artist uses a white pencil for burnishing to achieve a lighter, pinker tone in the rose. The paragraph concludes with the artist making minor color adjustments and emphasizing the importance of comparing the drawing to the reference photo to ensure accuracy. The artist invites viewers to join a Patreon for more in-depth tutorials and ends with a prompt to check out another video for more details on burnishing.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Layering
💡Base Layers
💡Color Theory
💡Burnishing
💡Reference Photo
💡Contrast
💡Muted Colors
💡Sharp Pencil
💡Forgiving
💡Vibrancy
💡Pencil Pressure
Highlights
Layering color pencils involves gradually building up color with light layers.
Layering is a technique to mix colors by putting one color on top of another.
The tutorial focuses on layering techniques with a limited set of 12 color pencils.
A demonstration of layering is provided through the drawing of a rose bud.
The importance of starting with light layers for base colors is emphasized.
Holding the pencil halfway down helps in applying light pressure for base layers.
Circular motions are used to achieve a smooth and even application of color.
A sharp pencil is crucial for controlled and consistent application in base layers.
Different base layers are applied to various sections of the rose for accuracy.
The stem of the rose is initially layered with green, then progressively darkened.
Layering allows for adjustments in color and shape due to the light initial application.
Color theory and the color wheel are essential for creating missing colors with limited pencils.
Adding blue over red base layers can create a purple hue, demonstrating color mixing.
The use of darker shades like Walnut Brown is introduced to define the darkest areas.
Black is used sparingly for the darkest parts, with plans to overlay more colors to soften it.
Burning is a technique to smooth and blend colors by pressing firmly after layering.
The final steps involve comparing the drawing to a reference photo to fill in missing colors.
The video concludes with a summary of the layering process and a reminder about Patreon resources.
Transcripts
let's talk about layering color pencils
but not only how you layer them how you
layer them if you haven't got a huge
array of colors I want to focus today on
how to layer if you've only got a set of
12 first up what is layering layering is
where you gradually build up the color
with a series of very light layers of
pencil layering is essentially how you
mix up the colors you put one color on
top of another and they gradually blend
to make a new color now I think it's
going to be simplest if I talk you
through a drawing and show you how I go
about building up the different colors
so I'm going to show you by drawing this
Rose Bud now as I say I am drawing this
only with 12 pencils and in many ways I
think it makes it a bit easier to see
what I'm doing now before we get started
with the actual drawing if you would
like to draw this rose bud with me it is
available on my patreon my patreon is
full of a whole variety of tutorials in
both color pencil and graphite pencil
and for every drawing I include full
in-depth instructions all of the real
time footage sketch outlines details of
all of the colors I'll be using and of
course the reference photo I like to
include a mixture of some shorter
drawings so some drawings that can be
completed in less than 2 hours as well
as some much bigger more impressive
drawings but they do take a lot longer
do check out the link in the description
all right let's have a look at this Rose
whenever and whatever I'm layering I
always follow the same rough rules I
like to generally start from the lighter
colors and work my way towards the
darker colors and I begin doing this by
putting down what I call base layers so
what I want to be doing here is very
lightly drawing everything out mapping
it out and giving myself something that
I can work with now because I'm working
with the set of 12 I haven't got a huge
array of colors here so I'm just going
to look at each area of the Rose and
find kind of the closest color to each
section and put down a very light amount
of that color the rose itself is pink
the closest color I have to Pink is red
so what I'm doing is very very lightly
mapping out the lights and darks with
this red mapping out all of the key
shapes now the absolute key thing here
is it needs to be really light I like it
to not only be light but also be really
nice and smooth now there's a few ways I
go about making it as light and smooth
as possible to help me make it light
first off you'll notice that I'm not
holding the pencil really close to the
tip I'm holding it probably about
halfway down that is because if I hold
it back here it literally stops me from
being able to press too hard by holding
it back here I'm not able to be as
accurate but I don't need to be hugely
accurate at this point because I'm just
roughly mapping everything out and
roughly mapping out the key shapes the
other thing I'm doing is working in
small little circular motions so kind of
circular oval motions which is going
going to help get a really smooth even
amount of the pencil down which is all
part of making it as smooth as possible
and the final thing that I'm doing here
for my base layers is making sure that
my pencil is really nice and sharp the
sharper the pencil not only the easier
to control but I find the pencil just
goes down in a much more consistent way
so you'll notice that here because I am
needing to be a bit more precise about
my base layers I am holding the pencil
closer to the tip on this part but I am
still pressing as lightly as possible as
I say and I can't stress this enough the
key to layering is to be as light as
possible you want to be able to put down
a lot of pencil on the same area of
paper and you can only do that if you
press lightly if you go in really hard
with the pencil you're not going to be
able to build up the same amount of
color now I don't want to put the same
base layer down for every section each
section of the rows has a different base
layer so the rose itself as I mentioned
is pink and the stem is on on the most
part green I'd say some parts are green
and some parts are brown but for now
because I'm just focusing on base layers
I'm focusing on the leaves here I'm
going to block in and Mark in their
shape with this green pencil and that's
the whole point in layering is that we
can adjust the colors later this is the
closest color I feel I have to these
leaves now once again you'll notice that
I'm going about this in exactly the same
way I'm not holding the pencil really
close to the tip which is helping me
press really nice and lightly I have a
nice sharp pencil and I'm working as
smoothly as possible i' say that the
stem is green down to about this point
then from here I can think about moving
on to a slightly darker pencil to Mark
in some more of the shapes this still
isn't about getting the perfect end
color it's just thinking about which
color kind of is next so for example on
the leaf here it's a little bit darker
on either side so I can use this pencil
to just darken down each side still
lightly going over the top of what I've
already got to very gradually start
building up and layering up that color
do exactly the same for the leaf in the
middle and I just gradually work my way
around very lightly building up extra of
this color and then on the actual stem
the stem is more of this brown color I
would say than the green and it's darker
on the right hand side and lighter on
the left so I'm just going to build up a
little bit more color and put down a bit
more base layer on that right hand side
I'm still not pressing hard I'm just
going over it a few more times to build
up that color but this is all still very
much part of building up the Bas layers
you'll notice that it all looks very
muted in the colors because we don't
want to go in really hard with any of
the pencils at this point we want to
give ourselves a lot of leeway to build
up other colors I think the main thing
to take note of with layering is that
it's a very forgiving way of drawing you
get lots of opportunities to adjust what
you're doing either with the color by
adding more Colors Over the Top you can
really significantly change a color but
also you can change the shapes quite
easily because you're putting down the
pencil so lightly to start with so back
to the Rose at the top and I'm still
wanting to build up some of these base
layers I'm still working from the
lighter colors towards the darker colors
and here I'm using a this is the magenta
pencil it's kind of a purpley red and
I'm using it to go over a lot of the
shadowed areas so although the rose is
mostly pink in the more shadowed areas
of the Rose it has a little hint of blue
so using this color because it's kind of
purpley seems like a good one to use at
this point and then once I've gone over
and built up a little bit a lot of the
Shadows I can then again carry on
working towards the darker colors this
is still the base layers at this point I
can start thinking about adding in the
darkest Shadows so this is the Walnut
Brown It's like a very dark brown to
just put in those darkest areas now I
can't stress enough that I am still
working very very lightly and we will be
until the very end I can just gradually
build up this color now you'll see where
I'm putting the brown over where we've
put the green before and that lighter
brown is kind of looking like it's
covering a lot of that up it's looking a
bit kind of flatter but that's okay
because we can build up more Colors Over
the Top it doesn't matter in many ways I
think that the base layers are the
hardest part of layering and the hardest
part of any drawing because you're
mapping out the key colors and the key
shapes it's where it's kind of most
likely to go wrong I guess once you've
already marked a lot of it out you'll
really just building on what you've
already got I think it gets much easier
so the final thing for the base layers
is to go over the absolute darkest Parts
very lightly with the black I don't
generally like using the black
particularly for sort of natural objects
I think it's a bit harsh but we will put
more colors over the top of this which
will tone it down a bit so at this point
I would say that the base layers are
done now what we want to do is to keep
building up on top of all of these
colors and as I say I think from this
point it does get a lot easier so now I
want to focus on brightening everything
up and generally adding all of the
missing colors so I like to look at my
drawing compared to my reference photo
and think about which colors are missing
so right now I can see some elements of
purple quite a light purple in a lot of
the particularly the ends of the petals
so I can use this light blue to go
lightly over the top and you can see how
much it changes the color of the petal
even though I'm not putting a huge
amount down and I can just work around
all of the petals putting down the blue
anywhere I want to add a hint of that
purple so I guess the only thing really
to be focusing on when using fewer
colors like this is you need to think a
little bit more about color theory and
the color wheel so you have to bear in
mind that red and blue make perf purple
and you may not have an amazing purple
in your set but if you have a red and a
blue you can make a purple same goes for
if your green is looking not quite
yellow enough you can think about adding
a yellow to a green to slightly change
the color you should have to be a little
bit more imaginative I think so I can
keep going over the whole of the Rose
Bud adding in this blue and once I think
that I have added in everything I can
see in the reference I think it's lost a
lot of its kind of Pinky red so I can go
back to the quite bright red and fill in
a lot of the areas that I did with the
base layer but because is gradually
building up it is starting to look more
vibrant so I can go back over all of
those same areas again putting down more
of this red and that changes what we've
got here so at this point I think a lot
of the darker more shaded areas are now
not looking quite dark enough they
haven't got enough contrast to them so I
can switch back to that very dark brown
and start adding this in on just the
very darkest Shadows so particularly
around this petal here for example where
it folds over and in between a lot of
the folds at the top up here now doing
this I think is taking away a little bit
of the kind of ready pink tone but again
that's okay we can always add that back
in in a minute but you can see how
quickly the vibrancy does build up so
let's fill in some more of the darker
Shadows down the bottom as well with
that same darker brown and then I'm not
completely happy with the general color
down here I'd say I'm pretty happy with
the level of contrast but the underlying
color isn't right what I want to do is
add a lighter brown over the top of this
so I can once again add this brown over
the top of this area I have already
added this brown in on the base layers
at the very beginning but it all got a
little bit lost under the darker Browns
and the black that I added here now I do
find that the more colors I build up I
do have to start pressing slightly
harder just to get the pencil to show up
I'm by no means pressing hard just maybe
a bit harder than I was to start with as
that color builds so once I filled in a
lot of this brown I'm once again wanting
to think about the most obvious color
that's missing so now on these leaves
pretty much all the green has been lost
so I want to go back to that same green
we used before go over the top of these
areas and it's just slightly adjusting
the stem here and then actually I'm
thinking that the green doesn't look
like quite the right green it needs to
be made a little bit more yellow so I
can put some yellow over the top of that
and maybe add a little bit of a bright
red into the stem and then I can go back
to that lighter brown add some more of
that in slightly adjust and tone down
the green again and then go back to
really making the dark areas look a bit
darker I think that they're not looking
like the contrast has been lost a little
bit so I can go back to that Walnut
Brown fill in the same areas again and
you'll notice I'm really just flicking
through the colors and gradually
building them up now you will see here
that I am pressing quite a lot firmer
because I have mostly put down the
colors that I want at this point I can
press a little bit firmer just to kind
of smooth everything out and you'll see
me doing that a little bit more with a
different color in a minute so let's
tweak some of the contrast up the top
with this same brown as well before once
again going back to the red and
brightening things up again but then
maybe that's a little bit too red it's a
bit too much of a bright red and I want
to add a bit more of a slightly purple
tone to it so I can go back to the
reddish purple the magenta add some more
of that over the top before then
thinking maybe that's not quite blue
enough and all of that blue that I added
earlier on looks like it's been lost so
I can go back to that light blue and
once again add some of these cooler
tones back in now the more that I add in
the colors the firmer as I've said
before I need to press and when when I
am happy with everything I have got in
an area what I generally want to do is
blend it I want to smooth it all out and
blend it all together and I do this with
something called burnishing so
burnishing is where you press a lot
firmer with the pencil once you finished
all of your layering you press one much
firmer and it Smooths everything out and
sort of finishes it off now I'm using
the white pencil here to Bish because I
want this Rose to look pink at the end I
want to blend with the white so it
lightens everything up and once I'm
happy that everything's all smoothed out
and burnished maybe I want to add a tiny
little bit more color so maybe just
adding a little bit of red over the top
and maybe a little bit of brown as well
to slightly adjust that color but that
is essentially how I go about layering
starting off with some very light base
layers and kind of mapping everything
out and then comparing my drawing to my
reference photo and thinking about which
color is missing allowing myself to
gradually build up that color until the
very end when I want to burnish and
smooth everything out now don't forget
if you want to draw this rose with me it
is available on my patreon now I have
briefly touched on burnishing in this
video but I haven't g into a huge amount
of detail if you do want to learn more
about what banishing is and when you
should use it check out this video here
as always happy drawing guys and I'll
see you in the next one by
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