Experimenting with coloured pencils

Using coloured pencils is time consuming and building up the colour takes patience.  I tried blending two colours using a propen blender but I found that it darkened the colour and gave it a muddied effect.  I then tried using a pencil blender and this worked really well, the yellow and blue produced a green and it also smoothed out the lines giving a matt look.  Coloured pencils do not erase very well so some thought about what you are doing is essential.  A good knowledge about colour co-ordination is useful and trying colours out on a spare piece of paper is a good idea.  The use of coloured pencils have been taken more seriously in recent years and artists are using these as an alternative medium.  They lend themselves to detailed work and I have sought the permission of an award winning artist Jonathan Newey to use his pictures as an example.  His web site address is http://www.jonathannewey.com/.

                 Scarlet Macaws by Jonathan Newey Coloured Pencils on Paper

                 Primate Eyes by Jonathan Newey Pencil on Black Paper

                     Scruffy by Jonathan Newey Coloured Pencil on Paper