How long should a colored pencil drawing take to finish? Carolyn is concerned about the amount of time she puts into her work. Here’s her question:
Colored pencil seems to take SO LONG, yet the results are satisfying. Am I doing something wrong that it takes me so long to finish a piece? I drew an 11×14 dahlia that I photographed in Seattle in August. I finally called it “done” last week. Almost 3 months.
Carolyn
I love this question, Carolyn, because it’s so common, and still so personal. Let’s get right to the answer.
How Long Should a Colored Pencil Drawing Take?
A lot of factors need to be considered in answering this question. The amount of time each day or week you have to work on your art is probably the most important. If you work on art only in your free time, it will take more weeks or months to finish than if you’re a full-time artist.
In the main, however, five factors determine how long any given artwork will take to finish. They are:
Size
Complexity
Level of Detail
Tools and Supplies
Personal Preferences
Size
Size is obvious. The bigger a piece, the longer it takes to finish. I’ve completed ACEO sized drawings in just a few hours stretched over a week. Lets say about 10 hours.
Similar styles of portraits that are 11×14 take up to 30 or 40 hours depending on what I do with the background.
I once did a 16×20 portrait that took 72 hours and several weeks to finish (yes, I actually timed myself.)
The largest colored pencil I did took months to complete. I have no idea how many hours it entailed, but it was a fully landscaped horse portrait, so it took probably close to a hundred hours.
So a good rule of thumb is that the larger a piece, the longer it takes to complete.
Complexity
For the purposes of this discussion, complexity and detail are not the same. When I speak of complexity, I’m speaking of the elements in the composition. If it’s a landscape, does it have a lot of trees, water, a mountain, flowers, animals, etc? If so, it’s more complex than a landscape of only trees and hills.
A still life with flowers, a vase, grapes, a coffee cup and saucer, and a biscuit on a plate is a lot more complex than a still life with only a banana.
If two drawings are the same size, have the same level of detail, and the artist uses the same tools, supplies, and methods to draw both, the more complex drawing is most likely to take more time.
Level of Detail
Level of detail means the amount of details in the drawing, both overall, and within each element. A sketchy-style drawing has very few details and can usually be completed quickly, sometimes in a single sitting if it’s smaller.
Lots of artists who draw from life do this kind of drawing and can complete one or two or more drawings in an afternoon.
But if a drawing has a lot of detail, it will take longer to finish, just because all those details require time. In some case, each area of detail can be like finishing a separate drawing!
Tools and Supplies
If you use just colored pencils and no solvents, blending tools, or special papers, it will probably take longer to complete a drawing, than if you used solvents, blending tools, or special papers. Solvents especially are time-savers for colored pencil artists.
So are watercolor pencils. You can lay down base colors very quickly with watercolor pencils if you want to, then let the paper dry and finish the drawing with regular colored pencils. The time saved with the watercolor pencils can sometimes significantly reduce the amount of time needed to finish even large pieces.
(I wish I had known about watercolor pencils back when I did that big portrait!)
Personal Preferences
Finally comes personal preferences. This includes the method of drawing you use—lots of layers applied with light pressure or just a few layers applied with heavier pressure.
Your personal preferences include (but aren’t limited to) the reason you’re making art in the first place, your goals for art overall and for each piece, size preferences, subject preferences, and too many other things to mention here.
Most important, however, is this.
“Colored pencil seems to take SO LONG, yet the results are satisfying.”
Do I need to say more?
So How Long Should a Colored Pencil Drawing Take?
As long as it takes!
Don’t worry about how long it takes other artists to do the same kind of art. Some will finish their pieces more quickly, and some will take a lot longer! Just enjoy what you’re doing and keep making great pieces!
If you find the process satisfying and you like the results of the time you spend, then don’t worry about how long it takes you. The process is as much a part of the pleasure as the finished drawing.
Good article! The length of time to do a drawing in CP never bothers me because I am used to doing embroidery projects that may take me several years.