I get treated very well on my birthday and on Christmas. (And really, most of the rest of the year, too.) But this past birthday was extra special: I received such a glorious gift that I think the angels sang when I opened the box. Inside was a set of 72 Derwent Lightfast Colored Pencils. <swoon>
Now, few months later, and I’m in colored pencil heaven. I’ve used these babies to create several lovely pieces of art on drafting film. But recently, the longing set in. I knew that Derwent had added 28 additional colors, and I HAD to get the rest of the set.
As of this writing, the full boxed sets of Derwent Lightfast pencils are not available in the U.S. market. But thanks to the folks at Cult Pens in the UK, those of us who live across the pond can top-off our 72-pencil Lightfast sets with “The missing 28,” too. (And those 28 are even sold in a bundle.) My pencils arrived lightning-fast yesterday and I’ll be starting soon on a new project with 100 pencils to choose from.
But the very first thing I do with any new set of pencils is to create a color chart that I keep on file and use to help me select colors when working on a project. And with 28 new colors, I had to create a new chart.
I did that for myself yesterday, and thought, hey, maybe some other folks would like a copy, too.
So I’m happy to share. Download the Derwent Lightfast 100 Chart.
Whether you have 36, 72, or the full 100 pencils, this chart should work great for you.
Enjoy! Have fun, and let me know what YOU think of the Derwent Lightfast line!
Read more →
Right now, between keystrokes, I am sipping some perfect coffee and nibbling on a cinnamon roll. Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S.A. It’s a rare day off for me, a perfect day to reflect on all of life’s goodness (and to share a post.)
One of the cool things I have noticed is that the more gratitude you feel, the more life gives you to be grateful about.
Don’t believe me? Try it yourself.
Whenever it occurs to you throughout the day, take a second and silently give thanks for everything: not only the obvious things like food on the table or the good people in your life, but also the often overlooked stuff, like your five senses, or how your body knows how to breathe. You can say thanks to God, or to the universe, or to Mother Nature or to nobody in particular. Just let being grateful wash over you.
You’ll find that when you are in a state of gratitude, your heart softens and you feel more peaceful. Life warms up a little. And over time, you might be surprised how the universe rushes in to give you more of what you are grateful for.
——
Speaking of time, it’s been a long time since I checked in, so I’d like to share a few big things I am grateful for in 2019:
• Being Editor-in-Chief of Ann Kullberg’s COLOR Magazine.
• Publication of Find Your Voice, a beautiful with advice and inspiration by and for creative people – August, 2019.
• Earning a CPSA designation with the Colored Pencil Society of America – August 2019
• Winning an Award for Exceptional Merit at the CPSA International Exhibition – August, 2019.
• Taking second place at the Edmonds Arts Festival – June 2019.
• Teaching workshops to some amazing students around the U.S.
• Serving my local CPSA chapter as newsletter editor and board member.
—–
Do you enjoy creating with colored pencils on drafting film? Me, too. And I recently found a wonderful new eraser that works beautifully on film.
My go-to erasers have been a Tombow Mono Eraser for really precise and small areas, and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for larger areas. But now there’s a new eraser in town. It’s the Faber-Castell PVC-Free eraser.
White erasers have generally been bad news when used on film, but this PVC-eraser is a game-changer. When used with a light touch, this eraser can be used at least two or three times in the same area while minimally affecting the delicate tooth of the film. (Meaning that you can erase, reapply colored pencil in the same spot and still get great coverage.)
Thanks for everything you do for art, for making art and/or supporting artists. Creativity is the wings for the soul.
Read more →
Since I started working with colored pencil on drafting film, I’ve heard many opinions about which pencils brands work best on film. I’ve heard that certain brands create lots of crumbs, other brands can’t be layered, even that some pencils “don’t work at all.”
Recently gifted with a couple of new sets of pencils and on the hunt for consensus, I posting this question in a Facebook group for colored pencil artists who work on drafting film:
What are your favorite pencils to use on drafting film?
Are some types of pencils more compatible with film than others?
I received a lot of responses and a treasure trove of information. A huge thank you to everyone who commented. Some folks said they liked Polychromos better, and at least an equal amount of folks said they prefer Prismacolor. There were a couple of other brands mentioned once or twice and someone else really likes using graphite. A few people had directly opposite experiences with the same brands.
This was puzzling, so I decided to do a little experiment of my own. I grabbed seven sets of pencils and did my own testing. And the results are below.
For each test, I created a rosebud from my Rose Crush Workshop, matching the colors as closely as I could across the sets. I also did a smear test, a layer test, and a burnishing test, using a Derwent Blender (the top performer from my blender test).
For the layering test, I used a fairly light pressure, slightly lighter than writing pressure, and built colors up from lightest to darkest. (It may be difficult to see the burnishing results, as these are subtle.)
Your results with these pencils may vary from mine, but this gives you some at-a-glance visual info on how these pencils perform in a head-to-head test. Click on the images below for larger versions.
Read more →