A world full of colour

Colour: it's a whole new world! Perhaps because I've been concentrating so hard on sculpting this past few years, now that I've rediscovered colour I just can't stop myself! . Now, I'm not going to allow myself to get into colour-theory, I have enough to study with the horses! But, I do want to know what effects all my new (and old) pencils will give me, so, inspired by a fellow blogger I decided to make up some little colour charts to use as reference when I need to decide what medium to use for a drawing. I only got the following done in the whole evening I spent working on them, but am pretty pleased with the outcome. I tested the pencils on the little A6 sketchpad that came in my previous post, and the pens were tested on A5 Bristol Board, as that is what I'll be doing any pen drawings on. . First up, the Graphitint pencils. This photo was taken under artificial light indoors as it was night time, but although the flash has reflected on the dry squares, the colours show well on the water-brushed samples. The top row is of squares just coloured using the pencils, the second row has a drop of water added but not aggitated (to see if just adding water has an effect) and the third row was washed/dragged with the waterpen that also came in the new kit (fantastic little brush, self-cleaning too!), the image has rotated, blog sometimes does this and I can't fix it, sorry. This is the same page a few hours later, when the bead of water had evaporated. The camera's flash washed out the depth of colour in this image, but as an acutal reference sheet it should be quite handy, especially being so small (A6).

The following sheet was to compare some of the pen sets I have - I LOVE pens, I don't know why but the simplicity and straightforwardness of the colour has always fascinated me. These are just some pen sets I had hanging around, I thought I'd compare them. The result of this - I want more of those Letraset type markers!! As you can see I "shaded" each square by frist drawing horizontal stripes in each box, then allowing to dry; then I drew vertical lines halfway along each box crossing the first layer, allowed to dry, then horizontal lines again halfway down each box, filing the gaps on a single layer; and finally I coloured in the top-left corner for a multi-layer shade. This gave me effectively 4 shades from each pen. With the Letraset pens I also coloured a full box as they have a broad tip too, I just love how they blend into a smooth colour!

More pens - this time a little more serious - this sheet shows all 48 colours of the Faber Castell PITT pens, shaded as above and labelled with the number and name of each colour. Previously I've only been concerned with the numbers on each pen, but knowing the names actually helps when choosing colours. For instance, there is Dark Phthalo Green and Light Phthalo Green - I may not have seen that these were shades of the same colour without seeing the name there. I made a mistake on the Pink Madder Lake/Magenta, but will cut out a fresh piece of board and stick it over the top, this chart took me so long to do I don't fancy starting over! I've also noted the three colours that I have in the fineliner pens too, as a quick-reference as to which shade they match up with (ok black's quite an easy one, but Sanguine could be mistaken for Terracotta or Indian Red). ...and finally (for now :o), here is the brief chart for the Derwent Tinted Charcoal. I'd quite like to make up a chart overlaying each colour on top of the others, and might do that if I get a chance, but for now I at least know what each colour looks like on paper. I gave this, and the Graphitint page a couple of coated of fixative to make sure they stay true and don't smudge everywhere! The pages on the A6 pad are perforated, so I may detach these charts and keep them filed together with the larger pen ones somewhere when I have more done.

Following another expensive day, I now have a set of 24 Derwent Inktense pencils on their way to me, which I will definitely be making a chart up for. The interesting thing I've heard about these is that you can only wash over them once - makes me think of acrylics and how you can paint with them using water but once dry they are waterproof. I don't even know where to start on a chart for them!! I've not yet made up a chart for my set of 24 Derwent Soft Drawing pencils, a few other small sets of pens and pencils or my posh 21st birthday 120 set of Derwent Artists pencils - they may take a little while to complete!

All these colours... and all these ways to use them - this is so much fun!!!