I’m trying a portrait in polychromos. Generally I prefer those pencils even though I do love the prismacolour. But I noticed that the tip scratches the surface of my paper (left side) and creates some pilling (around the eye)
The sketchbook/Artbook is pretty old, little texture but no specifications given. I used it for portraiture before in graphite.
Is it the combination of pencil/paper? Can the paper be too old? Which surface would you recommend for polychromos?
I also wondered how to get softer shadows. They seem far more subtle in the original especially they melt in withthe surroundings
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Generally wax based pencils are softer and easier to blend. As with all colored pencils, the more layers the better. I generally reserve the harder colored pencils for finishing “details”.
Hope this helps.
Terri Robichon
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Thanks. I have seen many people exclusively use polychromos for portraiture, though. Also I have a hard time buying prismacolor where I live so I thought I would try a drawing exclusively with them…
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No question that both brands work. Use what you have. Also, I order most of my art supplies on-line, even getting ball-point pens sent to me from as far away as Japan (and ordered on Amazon).
Don’t forget, PastelMat is probably one of the all-time best papers for colored pencil and pastel.
Terri Robichon
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I also have to order online because the art supply store is very far away and not well stocked. But even then prismacolor are few and far between.
I also don’t have pastelmat and am pretty sure you can’t find it here. Do you think that miteintes works well with oil based?
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Sorry, I don’t know. Hopefully someone else will answer.
Terri Robichon
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I just found out, that the paper is 100 g but is titled “color sketch” so I would not expect it to “buckle under” colour even though it’s not the sturdiest paper in the world… I have the feeling that good paper is really hard to come by in my place…
