Colored Pencil with Mixed Media: Two Experiments

I don’t do very much mixed media work. I can’t really explain why beyond the thought that it just doesn’t seem necessary most of the time. But I recently did two experiments using colored pencil with mixed media. The results were such that I decided to share them with you.

Colored Pencil with Mixed Media: Two Experiments

To keep things simple and easy to compare, I used the same paper for both experiments. The paper is Stonehenge Aqua 140lb hot press watercolor paper. It’s a good, sturdy paper with a surface texture similar to regular Stonehenge paper. For more information about it, read my review here.

I used regular watercolors for the first experiment and black gouache for the second. In each case, I started with wet media, let the paper dry thoroughly, then layered colored pencil over it. I also drew a similar design with each one, and used similar colors.

One thing I did do differently was use different colored pencils. For the first experiment I used Prismacolor pencils exclusively. I used Caran d’Ache Luminance and Prismacolor on the second experiment.

Experiment #1

I started out by blocking in the sky colors. For this, I used basic watercolor techniques such as letting the colors bleed together for smooth transitions. I did not dampen the paper before adding color because I wanted the color to be a little more vibrant.

Then I painted in the bushes and trees with a mix of black and blue. I would have liked to do more brushwork, because I like brushwork, but I didn’t have a small enough brush (or couldn’t find it).

When the paper was dry, I used Prismacolor pencils to add yellow, pink, and violet-blue in the sky. Overlapping the colors and hatching and crosshatching color created very smooth transitions. I also followed the patterns established in the underpainting.

Then I used black and violet-blue to refine the trees, and added Marine Green in the foreground.

Everything went well and if I would have stopped at that point, it would have been a success.

But I wanted to show the sun glowing through the gap in the bushes. The problem was that the yellow picked up color from the black watercolor, which was totally unexpected. I tried several things to create sun glow, finally concluding with a Titanium White-Touch Up Texture mixture. The best part about that was being able to paint in some grass details in the foreground.

After a couple of rounds of Titanium White-Touch Up Texture and colored pencil application, I called the experiment concluded.

No, it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, but there was more good than bad about the finished ACEO.

Colored Pencil with Mixed Media: Experiment #2

For this ACEO, I started out with Black gouache straight out of the tube to paint a landscape I wanted silhouetted against an evening sky. Although the gouache was more watery and transparent than expected, it was easy to paint with.

It took longer to dry, so I let this piece sit overnight before adding colored pencil. Even then the gouache felt sticky. Some of the colored pencils picked up the black gouache and leave faint hints of it in the layer of colored pencil.

I then set it aside to do other things and essentially forgot about it for about a week. When I took it out to finish it, the gouache no longer felt sticky, but I could feel it on the paper. It didn’t lie flat like watercolor does.

I used Caran d’Ache Luminance for this because I had set I’d never used, and I wanted to see how they performed. It’s difficult to get a direct comparison between Luminance and Prismacolor in this test because I had so few colors of Luminance. But my first impressions were that the Prismacolors were better.

Part of the reason for that is that I added Prismacolor over watercolor washes in the first experiment. That meant I didn’t need as many layers of colored pencil. I used Luminance with no watercolor wash, so naturally it took more layers with the colored pencils.

I also had a limited color selection (I have the portrait set of 20 colors), so the resulting sky was neither as red nor as vibrant as I wanted.

Even so, this experiment turned out better overall than the first one. I left the sun glow the white of the paper and that was much more satisfactory, even though the scan doesn’t reveal the subtleties of the gradations.

Colored Pencil with Mixed Media: Two Experiments

Neither experiment was a total failure, and neither one was a resounding success, but I learned from both.

One thing I learned was that watercolor works much better than gouache for this type of work. It dries faster and doesn’t leave a noticeable film on the paper. Gouache dries more slowly and felt almost like acrylic paint even after it was dry to the touch. However, I was able to get more subtle gradations in value with gouache than watercolor. Practice with both of them would be helpful if I want to do more works combining them with colored pencil.

Another thing I learned was that I do need to do a side-by-side comparison between Prismacolor and Luminance.

I also need to chose similar colors for that comparison. That would give me (and you) a more honest and clear idea of how these two soft pencil brands compare.

Sign up for Carrie’s free weekly newsletter and be among the first to know when she publishes new articles.

Share this!