Are you looking for an informal group of colored pencil artists to join? A place for colored pencil artists of all levels to share their work, get help and be encouraged? Then Carrie’s Colored Pencil Club is for you.
There are no secret passwords, handshakes, or codes. All you need to do is apply for membership.
What You Get When You Join Carrie’s Colored Pencil Club
When you join the club, you instantly have access to live chats among members, group discussions and group challenges. Members can also post works-in-progress if they need help.
Members also help me decide which tutorials to publish next. How? When I’m ready to start a new project, I’ll post the subjects I’m considering and members vote on their favorites.
I’ve also created an album filled with photos I’ve taken and which members may use free of charge.
Regular Q&A chats and art crits are also in my plans for the group.
How to Join
Joining is easy and takes only a few minutes. Click this link to request membership and answer three simple questions. I review all the answers and approve new members, but don’t worry about getting the right answers. The only real “wrong answer” is not answering the questions. Requests that do not include answers are considered spam (yes, it really does happen,) and are automatically deleted.
So answer those questions!
Requirements
You must have a MeWe account to join, but it’s easy to open and use and FREE! If you aren’t already a MeWe member, join here.
Never heard of MeWe? That’s okay. A lot of people haven’t. MeWe is a social media platform founded in 2012 and which does not collect or sell personal data, runs no advertising and offers both free options and a paid version. It’s like Facebook used to be.
So far, it’s proven to be a great platform and, as one of the club members said, it’s a fun place to be. I hope you’ll join us there.
If you have problems finding the club, click here to visit my MeWe page and let me know. I can then send you a personal invitation.
I’m hoping this is just the beginning. Plans are already in the works for annual subscriptions to the magazine, and I’m currently exploring the possibility of memberships through the store.
And of course new issues of CP Magic will be published each month and brand new tutorials.
But I’m excited. I’ve wanted to open a standalone online store for a couple of years now. That was my original plan back when I started offering tutorials from the blog. Somehow, it took launching the magazine to get me off dead center.
Now it’s a reality!
The Fine Print
I’ll be taking down the tutorials and magazines from this website over the course of the next few days, so I encourage you to visit ColoredPencilTutorials.com and bookmark it. You can also sign up for the store newsletter for free to make sure you don’t miss new releases or store news.
Anyway, ’nuff said. This is your personal invitation to take a look around the store, and see what you think.
To celebrate, I’m giving you 20% off all purchases made between now and August 15. To get the discount, type the word opening in the coupon box when you check out.
Introducing the latest from Peggy Osborne: a long haired cat tutorial.
Beautiful, full-color illustrations provide step-by-step progress images of the portrait. Easy-to-read and follow descriptions tell you what Peggy did at each step.
But there’s more.
What I like best about this tutorial isn’t Peggy’s conversational style of teaching. Yes, she makes you feel like she’s sitting beside you while you work, and that’s great. What I like best about this tutorial is the personality and character of her subject.
As she says in her introduction, cats are natural subjects because they’re so unique and individual. No two are alike.
Maine Coon cat lovers already know that these cats are even more unique. From their tufted ears and luxurious manes to their attitude. They’re perfect portrait subjects!
That’s why I think this is Peggy’s best tutorial yet.
Long Haired Cat Tutorial from Peggy Osborne
This a must-have tutorial if you’re at all interested in drawing pets. Or animals of any type, for that matter.
With the Ginger Cat tutorial, you’ll learn how to draw fur of different lengths and color transitions. Peggy demonstrates how to lay down base colors, then add details layer-by-layer to draw thick, long fur. Create color, value, depth and realism!
See how Peggy mixes and uses Brush & Pencil’s Titanium White mixture to add detail. She includes tips for easy mixing and easier clean up.
She uses Strathmore toned grey mixed media paper and Prismacolor pencils, but you can successfully complete the portrait with supplies you have.
Skill Level
Intermediate and higher.
But don’t let the skill level sway you. This tutorial contains information for students at any level. If you’ve found Peggy’s tutorial posts helpful, then you can successfully complete this tutorial.
The tutorial is designed for students who have a basic understanding of colored pencil methods, but it’s also ideal for artists who want to stretch their skills.
I’m thrilled to announce a brand new tutorial by pet portrait artist, Peggy Osborne: Regal Rottweiler tutorial.
Peggy has been providing guest posts each month for several months. If you’ve enjoyed those monthly features, you’ll love this new tutorial.
Regal Rottweiler Tutorial from Peggy Osborne
The tutorial includes all the great information you’ve grown familiar with through her monthly posts, and more. Beautiful, full-color illustrations, a full-size line drawing you can print for a fast start, and a complete supply list with color swatches for color matching.
Rottweilers are primarily black, but different colors appear in that black depending on lighting, surroundings and many other things. Peggy shows you how to infuse black fur with those colors to create vibrant black fur.
She uses Strathmore toned grey mixed media paper and Prismacolor pencils, but you can successfully complete the portrait with supplies you have. No need to buy more (unless you want to!)
You’ll learn how to layer and blend color without using solvents to draw saturated color and beautiful values.
Preserve and add highlights, as well as draw whiskers, eyes, and a chain.
In addition to detailed descriptions and illustrations, Peggy shares basic tips for choosing colors, matching pencil strokes to different types of fur, and adding details.
Skill Level
Intermediate and higher.
But don’t let the skill level sway you. This tutorial contains information for students at any level. If you’ve found Peggy’s tutorial posts helpful, then you can successfully complete this tutorial.
The tutorial is designed for students who have a basic understanding of colored pencil methods, but is also ideal for anyone who enjoys stretching their skills.
It’s also suitable for ages 12 and up.
This tutorial is a great start for any artist who wants to become a pet portrait artist, or who enjoys drawing dogs.
I’ve doing a lot of updates and behind-the-scenes administrative work this year. You know about some of them already. CP Magic, for instance. Among the many things you haven’t heard about is creating new colored pencil art galleries on my art website.
New Colored Pencil Art Galleries
It’s been a busy time the last few months, both on this blog and in other ways. In the last few weeks, I’ve launched a new monthly magazine, a new series of colored pencil class downloads, and started plans for new tutorials.
But I’ve also re-organized existing galleries and added three new galleries on my art website, where I share my best colored pencil work.
The reorganized website now includes galleries for Kansas, Michigan, the Flint Hills, and Horses. No surprise there.
But I’ve also added a gallery for Miniature Art and ACEOs, for Sketches in Colored Pencil, and for Experimental Art.
Miniature art, and in particular ACEOs, have intrigued me since I first learned about them over ten years ago. In 2007, I challenged myself to paint one ACEO every day for a year. Some of those pieces will someday appear in this gallery.
But the pieces you’re more likely to find there are more than quick studies. They may be experiments, but they’re also complete pieces in their own right. Small studies of larger landscapes or other subjects, perhaps.
Or a means of using small pieces of expensive drawing paper.
Flint Hills Study, 3-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches. One of the new works in the Miniature Art/ACEO Gallery.
These works are either life drawings or sketches from a photograph. Sometimes, they even arise from my imagination or memory. They’re meant to be completed in one sitting, so are small, and often use only one or two colors.
They also aren’t usually highly detailed, but are still nice pieces deserving of a place in a public gallery.
Sometimes, I want to try a new method, technique or tool, but don’t want to try it on a “serious” piece.
Sometimes, I just want to have fun.
In both cases, I use small pieces of paper to conduct my experiments. This gallery is still small, but you may be surprised by what you find there. Even though this gallery features the best of those pieces, they’re not easily recognizable as my work.
At least I don’t think so. You may think differently.
Purple and Blue Landscape 2019 1, 5 inches by 4 inches. One of a series of pieces created while experimenting with watercolor pencils and night-time compositions.
As with all of art, my art galleries are always changing. I’ll be uploading new work and the best of my old work over the course of the year, so I hope you’ll visit www.CarrieLewis.com often.
The February 8 Colored Pencil Workshop for Beginners has been rescheduled due to illness. The workshop is now scheduled for March 7, 2020.
If you’ve never used colored pencil before, but would like to learn more about colored pencils and gain basic skills, this workshop is for you.
Colored Pencil Workshop for Beginners
Where: Carriage Factory Art Gallery, Newton, Kansas
When: March 7, 2020 from 10 am to 3 pm
Tuition: $80
What to Bring:
Supplies (supply list available from the gallery)
A work in progress
Reference photos
Workshop Description
The workshop begins with an introduction to colored pencils including basic colored pencil terms, learning about the various grades of pencils, and different types of paper.
I will demonstrate fundamental techniques such as layering, blending, and pencil control, as well as different ways to hold a pencil and put marks on paper.
Students will see how these methods work in practice with two drawing exercises, then practice on a drawing they bring with them.
What to Bring to the Workshop
Supplies. A supply list is available from the gallery.
A drawing to work on. This can be something brand new, or a work in progress to practice the lessons on. A line drawing on drawing paper is preferable, so the student is able to practice layering from the beginning.
What to Expect from the Workshop
Expect to have fun while you learn (that is the best way to learn, after all.)
Expect to get personal feedback from me, and to meet other artists interested in colored pencils and colored pencil art.
It is my goal to give you the basic skills to take home and make your own great artwork.
Count Me In! What Do I Do Next?
The Carriage Factory Art Gallery in Newton, Kansas is hosting the workshop and handling all registrations. Students must pre-register. Just click here to register and make payment.
Guess what? I’m appearing on John Middick’s popular Sharpened Artist podcast today! How exciting is that?
Cincinnati, Ohio artist, John Middick created the Sharpened Artist Podcast in the summer of 2015. A weekly audio show dedicated to colored pencil, the podcast reaches artists of all skill levels across the country and around the world.
“The biggest reason I started the podcast is to help encourage new colored pencil artists, and provide tips and techniques to learn this new medium,” Middick says. “I was also able to give a voice to many colored pencil artists through artist interviews.”
Middick interviews colored pencil artists who are working on their art in isolation. The public sees their work and knows them by name, but rarely gets to meet them. And they don’t often get to meet each other.
“Hearing their voice created an intimate experience for the listener,” Middick goes on to say. “I quickly started getting listeners emailing me talking about how they felt like they were getting to know the artist’s behind the artwork.”
I’ve listened to the podcast for a long time, and have been encouraged and instructed by many episodes. So it’s a special treat to be able to give back to the podcast and its listeners.
John and I talked about my artistic journey, colored pencils in general, and the artist’s life. I hope you’ll join us. I’ve designed a very special and hopefully helpful giveaway to accompany the podcast.
Time to share a favorite freebie with you—a free color wheel template.
Every time I talk about using the complementary method of drawing, color wheels come up. If you’ve been an artist for a while, you probably know what a color is.
But maybe you’ve never made one of your own.
Now’s the time!
To get you started, I decided to offer you a tool you might not have, but do need: A free color wheel. While I’m at it, I’m also including a free value scale template.
Free Color Wheel Template
This is the same template used in the EmptyEasel.com article, Making a Color Wheel with Colored Pencil, but with a few improvements. It can be used for a standard color wheel or as a project-specific color wheel.
The template is a jpg file and should be accessible through any photo manipulation program. All you have to do is open it, print it, and start filling in the slices.
The value scale is a 10-part scale that can be used to create gray scale or color values. It can also be used to create a palette for two colors. My sample shows blue, but you can use any colors or color combinations with this template.
This is a great tool for practicing pencil control and pressure levels. It also is ideal for deciding how light or dark to make something. Just lay it over your reference photo to see how light or dark an area is, then shade your drawing until it matches.
The download includes instructions.
The template is a doc file and should be accessible through most Microsoft Word versions or any word processing software that can translate Microsoft Word.
I never thought it would happen. I mean, what do I know that anyone else would want to learn, let alone pay to learn from me? But it has happened, and I find myself thinking about all the twists and turns that led to this place, and about why I teach colored pencil in the first place.
How I Learned to Make Art
When I first began making art way back in the 1960s, there was no such thing as the internet. At least not for public use. I learned how to paint by painting every paint-by-number kit that featured a horse. Every Christmas, I got one or two and they were the highlight of the season.
After working my way through all known kits and painting them the way they were supposed to be painted, I started making changes. Small at first, then bigger.
A different color here or there.
A changed leg position.
Maybe a change to the background.
One day, my mother suggested I try making my own drawing and painting that instead of looking for another paint-by-number. A window opened on a whole new world. I’ve been drawing and painting ever since.
I could have gone to art school had I wanted to. But by the time I graduated high school, I already knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
I wanted to draw horses to look as life-like as I could make them. I wanted to paint portraits.
Since abstract art was all the rage at the time, I was more or less on my own. I learned how to draw and paint by trial and error.
When I picked up colored pencils a few years later, it was the same process.
Why I Teach Colored Pencil
A lot of what I’ve learned about drawing and painting horses has come by trial and error. I can’t tell you how many paintings I started over because some method didn’t work or because I made poor choices. I don’t regret those obstacles. Every single one contributed to the artist I am today.
But those obstacles become even more useful if they can be used to help others avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls.
Or reach their artistic goals more quickly and without the detours I experienced.
If even one new artist succeeds because of something they learned here, then all my work—including the mistakes—has been worth it.
And that’s the primary reason I teach.
From the beginning, my online colored pencil courses have been designed to provide to you what I wish I’d had years ago. Personalized instruction on the subject and style of my choice offered by someone whose work I admired and wanted to emulate.
And a way of hopefully avoiding some of the time-consuming trial-and-error learning I experienced.
What You Gain From an Online Colored Pencil Course
I don’t know if I’m an artist whose work you admire. The fact that you’re reading this post suggests that maybe I am.
Nor do I know if you want to learn what I can teach.
What I do know is that the instruction you’ll get is personalized. One-on-one correspondence by email. Personalized help with drawing, and personalized critiques of your work-in-progress during the course and, if you like, afterward as well.
While I hope you share my love of the form and art of horses, my larger hope is that you’ll find something of value in the course itself. Whether you want to learn a new medium, try your hand with a new subject, or just want to brush up on existing skills, there is something here for you.
If a course isn’t your cup of tea, but you could use help with a specific project, try a personalized art critique. You’ll get the same one-on-one help, but only for a single project, be it painting or drawing. Any subject*. Any medium.
About Carrie
Carrie has been making art for most of her life and has been painting portraits of horses and other animals since selling her first portrait in Junior High. She specializes in up-close-and-personal portraits and moment-in-time images, with a special interest in horse racing of all types.
Her focus is now on teaching colored pencil and, by special request, oil painting.
Her medium of choice is colored pencil.
She writes regularly for the online art magazine, EmptyEasel.com. Topics include the artist’s life, the business of art, and, of course, colored pencil and oil painting.
Thank you, and we hope to sign you up today.
*The artist’s specialties are with horses and other animals and with landscapes. Other subjects will be considered except for nudes and offensive subjects. If you have a question, please contact the artist.
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