How to use colored pencils. Water-soluble colored pencils are an excellent tool for creating easy and colorful experiences. In this display of a yellow lily, artist Kristy shows us how to blend colored pencil systems with a perfect toothbrush and masking foil to create rich and straightforward backgrounds for our floral subjects.
How to draw a lily with colored pencils
This demo was adapted from North Light author Janie Gildow’s Crayon Explorations: Mixing Media for Creative Results. Reprinted in paperback format, Gildow and skilled pastel artists feature a variety of media to match the sad drawings easy. You learn how to use acrylic, watercolor, pastel, airbrush, ink, thinner and more in 24 exciting steps!
STEP 1: Start the values
Lightly draw the lily with the HB pencil. Apply the cream on the lighter parts of the petals, leaves, and buds. The cream acts as a unifying base for successive layers of color. Start developing the darker areas by first placing Golden Ocher and then Violet Light on the darker parts of the petals, along the folds, and towards the flower’s throat. To blend and soften the color of the petals, apply Canary Yellow on the Golden Ocher and Light Purple layers, continuing with the cream. Use the same colors to suggest darker values on the buds, leaves, and stems, then add Apple Green, and on top of it, apply Gray Green to darken those values even more.
STEP 2: Impress the lines of the veins and build the color
Mark the lines with a 9H pencil to indicate the veins of the leaves, stems, and buds. Use a blunt tip to color the printed lines. Intensify the color of the leaves, stems, and buds first with a layer of apple green and then with a layer of thick Tuscan red lead. Apply another coat of Golden Ocher on the darker areas of the petals, followed by Chrome Yellow Light to enrich and intensify the yellow.
STEP 3: Touch up the color
It uses a canary yellow, medium pressure coat followed by Limepeel on leaves, stems, and buds. Polish with the Colorless Blender pencil and then repeat with layers of Canary Yellow and Lime peel. Polish the flower with Crema. It softens the paper tooth and gives the whole lily a glossy effect. Reapply Golden Ocher and Chrome Yellow Light and add a touch of Canary Yellow for warmth. Use black grapes to gently define the gaps at the sides of the petals where they curve higher and where the stamens cast their darknesses. Add black grapes and the thick Tuscan red lead to the buds’ stems, leaves, and folds to continue darkening the values and increasing the local color.
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STEP 4: Sharpen and refine the image
From the very decisive Tuscan red and vermilion Verithin, it delimits and defines the stamens and the pistil in the middle of the shoot. Keep the defining edge clean and subtle. Using circular strokes, texture the tips of the stamens with Verithin Tuscan Red and Golden Brown, supported by Black Grape. Apply the short end of the Neutral Blender pen on the stems and tips just enough to blend and blend the color. Add Verithin Vermilion on top of the pistil and mix in the same way with the fine tip of the Colorless Blender pen. Use the thick Tuscan red lead with a lot of pressure to indicate the irregular spots on the leaves, then utilize the fine tip of the Neutral Blender pen on them, just protruding from each site to slightly blend the color to avoid a uniform spot effect.
STEP 5: Prepare the protective film
Place a piece of protective film, glossy side up and writing side down, over the lily. With the complex marker, trace the edge of the lily, buds, stems, and leaves. Using a permanent feature for this step is essential so that the ink dries quickly and does not stain.
STEP 6: Splash the background
Cut out the whole lily and the two little hostile areas inside the masking film. Peel the paper backing from the masking film cutout and lightly press the protective pattern into place over the lily and leaves, matching the lines and edges. Load the toothbrush with Albrecht Dürer Canary Yellow by moistening the toothbrush with water and sliding the water-soluble pencil back and forth over the wet toothbrush. Lightly dry on a handkerchief. By setting your finger along the end of the bristles and using the lily as the epicenter, move the yellow pigment against the white background, radiating around and out of the image.
Wet the toothbrush again, refill with the dye, trace again, and continue spraying until the entire experience is evenly coated with yellow. If a drop is too big, don’t wipe it off. Instead, touch a corner of the fabric with the giant slide and wipe away any excess moisture. Complete the background with a layer of Red Wine and finally a layer of Mallow. Allow each coat to dry for at least ten minutes before applying a new color.
STEP 7: Peel off the film and touch up
Let the bottom dry completely. Gently pull back one edge of the masking film and remove it. You can keep it on aluminum foil in case it needs to be repositioned and reused. Touch up any places where the film may have raised the colored pencil. In any area where the pattern extended beyond the lily and left gaps, randomly dab the background colors with a very sharp, dry water-soluble pencil, matching the sketches. Define and refine edges with Verithin Lavender or Tuscan Red. Spray with several light coats of UV-resistant spray in a well-ventilated area.
