Prismacolor Practice

The first time I tried Prismacolor ... you probably don't want to see.

But you can if you want - 

Not the best.

Shading is not the best on the BEAR, looks too flat - but does give transition to charcoal.

So over this past week, I sneaked into my sister's room and found her stash of Prismacolors - hehehe

She let me ... No need for a suspenseful story. Anyway, I had some practice with those colors, I don't do a lot of Prismacolor pictures, so I needed to brush up on my skills (or would it be pencil up on my coloring skills). I penciled up pretty good and got some good shadings especially on the face of my second drawing.

I'll talk about my first picture first. Haha. 

How did I decide. With the help of my younger sister we got the idea to draw at random ... Yes, I'm talking statistics, - A math term - Don't worry, I survived. We found her Saints Memory Game and drew from Random, yes from random one of the Saints. Guess who I chose. No need to guess - just look below, or keep reading.

Our Lady of the Rosary - Yup! You guessed right ... Or maybe read right - those English classes really paid off then - Go thank your English teacher.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The value of the yellows really turned out well - my favorite color to shade with. I used yellows and browns to add the different tones. The faces were the most difficult because I couldn't figure out how to get darks and lights from the peach color.

Then I remembered - "Make your own colors" 🔴🟡🔵

I remembered that on my second picture. But overall I think I improved since the first time I used Prismacolor. Well done. 👏

Close-up of the faces

-My Second Picture

For my second picture I chose Saint Therese of Lisieux. This time I remembered to make my own colors for the face. I rummaged through my sisters massive stock pile of Prismacolors, actually only 24, and found a golden umbery color, a red, and a white and started creating the face. (all after I did a sketch the night before).

After many layers and shading with a blender, I added more layers and darks and lights and it looked much better than my first face.

I kept working on it that day and didn't stop until I did some more ... I finished the next day. I didn't stay up all night and hold a spoon so I wouldn't fall asleep - it might not have turned out the same.

And when I woke up it looked like this

It wasn't finished. That meant there was more to do. After many more layers and much hard labor it looked like this.

Saint Therese of Lisieux

And when I put it in black and white, it appeared to be colorless and looked totally different, yet the same.

Yes, now I saw much improvement, and with practice much can be accomplished. I think I'll start a series - I'll probably call it, 'Saints on 7.25 X 9.75 Paper' - More will come.

If you have a suggestion on which saint you would like to see next please suggest it in the comments.

What's Next In The Studio

I might start another 'Saints on 7.25 X 9.75 Paper' or maybe ... yes I should probably use up the last of my Titanium White that's waiting to be used up - I had left over paint on my palette (Ice cream bucket cover) that needs to be used - an excuse to do another painting. 

Titanium White: "Joshua, come paint me on your canvas, don't just leave me on this cover to die. Ohhhh! Aahhhh! Ohhhhh, come use me up, I'm drying out."

Joshua: "Don't worry T.W., I'm coming, I had to finish my other projects first ... and get another idea. You're always complaining, wait your turn. Prismacolor was in need of some attention this week.

Yes, I should probably paint so I don't get Titanium White too sad - maybe a hospital scene for my sister.

✏✎✐✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏✎✏

- “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

― St. Therese of Lisieux