I’m pretty happy with this one! This completes the Three Little Birds course. This is the hummingbird done with Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils on black pastel paper. I have to say after doing the blue jay with polychromos pencils and this one with the Luminance pencils, I am so excited to have those options in my art tool box! I’ve always used Prismacolor pencils, but I’m finding out that even with a single kind of medium, there are so many choices and that each one can have different applications. AND that the surface I use makes a huge difference in the end results! I’m learning every day from this amazing website.
Thanks! I think it works well on black paper, too. I seem to be beckoned to draw birds. I seem to be most successful with them. I do want to try pet portraits though.
VERY Nice! The highlights on the wings really make the bird pop off the page!
The Caran d’Ache pencils really have some intensity to them. I can’t get Prismacolor or Faber Castell colored pencils that saturated of color on dark paper. Another case of ‘you get what you pay for’.
Is that the Canson Tients paper or some other? Seems a bit shiny for black paper but that might just be flash bounce confusing me.
Replying to second post:
May I suggest a Sun Conure for a project? That is what I have who is always wanting his portrait, but I’m not worthy yet. You get to use basically every color of the rainbow, “Skittles” is a common name given to them since they go from red/yellow to green then blue to iridescent indigo on tip of tail.
Thanks! The Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils are simply amazing and brilliant. I didn’t have the Canson Mi Tients paper in black, so I used a piece of Strathmore Textured Black which worked really well. The light you see behind the bird is my drawing lamp which was on at the time. I kinda liked the effect, so I left it!
Speaking of colored pencils, since using the Luminance pencils on this drawing and the Faber Castell Polychromos on the blue jay, I am unsure what my favorite is between them and Prismacolor Premiere. I think it might be like what my favorite bird is – the one I’m seeing when I’m asked! So, probably the pencils I’m using at the time would be my favorite!
I’m loving doing drawings of birds, even the graphite of the falcon that I did. I might add a sun conure to my growing list of subjects. I’ve been requested to do an owl, and I have a photo I took of a Cooper’s Hawk on vacation that I want to get done as soon as possible. So many drawings, so little time!
