by Maggie Stiefvater

Created on: August 19, 2007   Last Updated: March 15, 2010

Colored pencil is an amazing medium. If you're reading this article, I probably don't have to list the pros of colored pencils, but I will anyway:

- immediacy (no waiting for paint to dry - easy to pick up and set back down)
- convenience (pencil case and a portable sharpener and you're ready to travel)
- detail (tiny point = crazy detailed)

A lot of beginners, however, get frustrated with colored pencils. They can be painfully slow to work on (some established colored pencil artists spend hundreds of hours on a work; I don't), initial efforts can be scratchy and unappealing, and the dazzling array of colors and papers available can be daunting rather than inspiring.

So I'd like to break it down into a few easy steps: Mind-Set, Pencils, Support, Reference, Initial Technique, Layering, and Protecting.

MIND SET:

This is the most important step of any type of art-making. Before you begin a new medium, give yourself permission to make mistakes. Rome wasn't built in a day. People learn at different rates of speed and stressing it isn't going to make you learn any faster. Rather than struggling over one piece for days and weeks, vow to spend only one day on each piece. Make them small - 5 x 7" is a good size. You'll learn more by doing 100 drawings than spending 100 days on one drawing.

PENCILS:

Use good ones. I shot myself in the foot by using Crayola pencils for a year. They aren't lightfast, so my pieces faded badly, and they don't layer well. I really held myself back! I now use Prismacolor's artist quality pencils. Well worth the investment and you can buy them open stock (one at a time) from many stores.

SUPPORT:

No, I don't mean someone to hold your hair back or pat you on the back, though that's helpful as well (especially if they bring cookies). Support is the term for the paper, board, or film that you're drawing on. Stonehenge, a smooth paper that takes many, many layers of pencil, is a very traditional support for colored pencils, but it's also very time consuming.

I never use it.

Instead, I recommend Strathmore's Bristol Smooth to start out with. You can find it in inexpensive pads from your local art store or on-line, and it's a smooth, white surface that takes between 4-10 layers of colored pencil to cover.

Colored papers are also major time savers. Think about it. Instead of beginning from white and heading towards darker colors, you're starting in the middle and you can add lights and darks. I love Art Spectrum Colorfix and Pastelbord - they're both

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