Okay so i know a lot of you are youngish like me i am 14. and just a few years ago i thought that i wanted to be an artist. i really didnt try all that hard to get better, i figured oh somday ill just get really good. (i was already a little bit talented and saw things in a different way like an artist should but just could not capture what i was seeing with my eyes). i didnt improve much, until i started taking action! i would try to draw realistic things more and drew and drew and drew a 2 years later i still need practice, but just look at my paintings! even in the matter of a few months i have inproved so much!!! serioudly look at my gallery from oldest to newest. and all that came with was practice (not even lessons) so dont give up!

I've been drawing for the past 25 years, had art lessons, graduated from art school, all that. So I feel like I've paid my dues. If you're drawing a landscape, by all means freehand it, but if you want it to be exact and look exactly like a specific person, use a stencil. I print my image out to the size of the canvas and apply a substantial layer of graphite, tape the image down for placement, and do some basic reference outlines. The reference marks keep me aligned to scale and proportion which is the most difficult part so I can then concentrate on the shading, expression, and texture. There is some leeway with erasing and moving things but this cuts down substantially on mess-ups and frustration.

Start off with your black shadowed areas first. With black and white paintings, block out your blacks with a warm black - it's more brown based than blue based so it won't make your painting blue like regular black or cool black - then step up to a 70% or 60% french gray. The colors dry almost immediately but will re-wet with the next color applied to it and blend beautifully. The pre-treat barrier on the canvas keeps the marker from soaking in and feathering and keeps the shapes in place and able to re-wet. In the whites of the eyes I usually do a warm black liner and use a 10% french gray to soften the lines. And your white areas? Just leave it raw canvas like you would with drawing paper! Go from 10% gray to colorless blender.

The pre-treat that comes on most canvases will gradually soak up into your markers and they'll stop up. You can remedy this by having a scrap piece of paper nearby to rub the marker on when you notice it happening. Eventually it won't unstop so I keep a razor handy and gently carve off the least bit possible where it's soaked in and voila - it's like a brand new marker again! If you prefer, for larger areas you can even slice it horizontally and give the marker a flat, round area. And when the tips are totally gone, try pulling out the end and snapping the marker open to get to the inside, slitting up the plastic wrapped edge, and using it like a paint brush. It goes quickly at that point but can really smooth out a background.

A few years ago I began doing custom Chuck Taylor shoes with Prismacolor markers and loved how much control it gave me so I tried it on canvas on a larger scale and lo and behold... it became my preferred medium. I went on to win the "Best of Knoxville" award from our local paper, the Metro Pulse, for the past two years and want to share it with you! More to come...

Does anyone ever use turpenoid (or anything of the like) to blend their colored pencils? I found that it works AMAZINGLY and you don't have to layer as much. You usually need slightly thicker paper but I do this in my sketchbook without a problem. I take a small amount of turpenoid (I usually just fill the cap of the container) and dip a small soft paintbrush in it and go over the layer of color I just put down. Then I give the drawings more dimension by adding another layer of a different color and repeating the process. you can usually do as many layers as you want. 2-4 works for me. Since the pencils are oil based it blends reeeally nicely and smoothly.

what is the best type of 'canvas' or paper to use for final colored pencil pieces? Thanks!

Hey, Guys seeing as though prisma is rarely active and I'm rarely on here. I decided I will be deleting my account soon. To my fans you can reach me at these sites where I am most active and for all my art updates. Many Thanks https://www.facebook.com/LMJCreations Instagram: LMJCreations

When you start drawing just let it flow.Even if someone says it doesn't look good still keep it and finish it.

I have a million ideas, my issue is getting started. Does anyone have any advice on how to get past that hump to get started?? I appreciate all of the artists on this site and have a lot of respect, I hope to become as good as half of you on here...but I can't seem to just START