Pencils and Paper

17cm x 14.5cm
Pencil on Mohawk Superfine paper
Copyright Laura Hardie 2012
Original available

February appears to be whizzing by just as fast as January it seems! It really has been a busy couple of months with lots going on and me trying desperately to keep up and more often than not having to play catch-up. Some things have been neglected or put to one side, my blog being one, and I just have to accept that sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything. Anyway, as a result, this post has been a while coming as I’d promised a number of people I would do it some time ago. I’m going to talk about pencils and paper, that is the ones that I myself use for my drawings and like can’t do without. It is a question I am asked often from people so hopefully some of you might find it helpful.

The pencils I use, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend, are Staedtler Mars Lumograph. I like this particular pencil for the rich blacks/darks I can get with them and personally don’t think others compare. I do own Derwent Graphic and Faber Castell pencils and I’ve been known to draw with them now and again - mostly if I have run out of a particular grade in the Mars Lumograph admittedly, but used none the less. In any one drawing I will use pencils in grades 4H through to 8B.

Onto coloured pencils which is not so straight forward as I have a lot of those! When I first started working with coloured pencils, my brand of choice was Derwent Artist and they remained my favourite for years – I still rate them highly. But, as us artists do, I have added to my collection over the years and now have my favourites from a number of different brands, those being Derwent Artist, FC Polychromos, Caran D’Ache Pablo, Caran D’Ache Luminance, Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor. I’ve found they all work/layer well together and I personally have never come across any problems with using different brands in the one drawing. If I were to favour one brand slightly above the others it would probably be FC Polychromos as they have a good range of colours (120) and are what I call a ‘middle of the range’ pencil - not too hard and not too soft. Feel like a traitor now as I’ve been shouting the praises of Derwent Artist for long enough – still love you Derwent:-)

I’m often asked which brand I’d recommend and I don’t really like doing that with coloured pencils if I’m honest as at the end of the day it is a personal choice and artists will invariably prefer one over the other dependant on how they work, what they are looking for, etc, unless you’re like me of course and like (and want) them all! Most companies sell their pencils singly giving you the opportunity to try a number of them out before buying the full sets and I’d definitely advise doing that.

So that just leaves paper. I’m actually very fussy when it comes to my paper and I’m always on the look out for ‘the’ one. I love hot pressed watercolour paper and for years I’ve been using Fabriano Artistico hp watercolour paper (140lb) for my coloured pencil and pencil work. It is smooth enough to achieve fine detail and yet has enough tooth to allow for lots of layering which is a must in my book. I personally prefer my paper to be white and not ‘off white’ or ‘creamy white’ like a lot of them are so have recently been using the Artistico extra white for that reason. Another paper I like for my pencil drawings is Mellotex, a lot smoother than hp watercolour paper but a very nice surface to work on. Definitely one to try. Not enough tooth, in my experience, for coloured pencils however.

Think that covers everything ........quick check says yes.

Farley finished

Farley
12'x10' Coloured Pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2010

The portrait of Farley is now finished and has been for over a week but thanks to Blogger having a wobbly I couldn't upload any images at the time. And then of course it slipped my mind later!

I am currently trying out new papers for my coloured pencil drawings as, after years of using Fabriano Artistico hp watercolour paper (and shouting its praises to all who asked), I've decided it is too 'off white' and cream coloured for my liking - I want a paper that is a lot whiter. I probably would have quite happily carried on using the Artistico paper had it not been for my wanting to try Mellotex. Mike Sibley, who needs no introduction and whose work I greatly admire, uses this paper as do more and more pencil artists it seems.

Mellotex did take a bit of getting used to as it was so smooth but what I liked straight away was the whiteness of the paper and the fact that this in turn made getting prints of my drawings so much easier - made my Artistico look yellow in comparison! I encourage any artist who hasn't tried this paper to give it a go - you wont be disappointed. The range of darks you can achieve with this paper is reason alone - lots of lovely blacks:)

Unfortunately it is just too smooth for my coloured pencils hence my search. Farley has been drawn on Fabriano 5 described in Jacksons catalogue as 'a very white paper ideal for botanical work'. Sounded ideal, and still being a hp watercolour paper I knew it would have enough tooth to take all my many layers of pencil. But, for some reason or other, I didn't enjoy working on it and found it hard going. I still got the results I was after only I had to work harder to get them. I'm not an expert on papers but did wonder if the fact it was mould-made using 50% cotton rag as opposed to 100% in the Artistico could make a difference. I'm probably way out and clutching at straws but it is the only difference between the two papers, besides the colour, that I can see and it would be interesting to know. Maybe I got paper from a bad batch, who knows.

I will try it again but for my next portrait, which I'm currently working on, I'm back to the Artistico this time in extra white. No problems to report with this paper so far (still not as white as I'd ideally like but thats being picky) and there are a few more out there I'd like to try. Especially one from a fellow coloured pencil artist that I hadn't come across before and, thanks to him, have small samples of to scribble on and play around with.

I am working hard on my next portrait but unfortunately can't show you how this is progressing (yet) as it is going to be a present for somebody and it could ruin the surprise. I will of course post the stages as soon as I can.

Fabriano paper and watercolour

8x10 Graphite pencil
Private commission

Isn’t it strange how some papers are good for one medium but terrible with others. My paper of choice when working with coloured pencils is Fabriano Artistico hot pressed watercolour paper (140lb) – I love this paper and haven’t yet found one to top it. I even fought its corner with a fellow artist after she complained about it being terrible for working on with her watercolour paints. As far as I was concerned it could do no wrong, no matter what medium was used.

Imagine then my disappointment after discovering it is hopeless with watercolour (in my opinion). I’ve just spent the day fighting with the paper, willing it to love my watercolours, but alas, it wasn’t to be and the painting is now no more. Watercolour paints are not my forte and no doubt if they were I would have put up a better fight and at least finished the painting - even if deciding never to use the paper again.

I can't help feeling - however strange it may sound - that it had something to do with me not using my normal weight of paper, ie. 140lb, and instead used the 300lb. I know from experience that the heavier weight paper doesn't work well (again in my opinion) with coloured pencils so it might be the same with paint.

All in all a very frustrating day – I have to keep reminding myself that it wasn't wasted and instead is all part of the learning curve.

8x10 Graphite Pencil
Private Commission

A lot less frustrating, and certainly more enjoyable, was working on my latest commission - two pencil portraits of a brother and his sister. If I’m not drawing animals it’ll be people. Faces have always been a passion of mine - they continually fascinate me and I always get great enjoyment from drawing them.