Really Whale Down Those Colors

Whew. I'm back from my two-day colored pencil workshop at the Apple Tree in Springfield. It went really well. Much caffeine was had by all. As it's the last workshop I'm teaching for awhile, I thought I'd reveal a few of the secrets of the world here on the blog. Well, secrets of my workshops, anyway.

Here they are -- do with them what you will.

• We spend half the workshops getting over the fear of failing. The path to success is littered with bodies. For every successful colored pencil piece I turn out now, there are at least twenty quite hideous colored pencil things (not even fit to be called 'pieces') laying moldering in some garbage pile somewhere
• We do three versions of each piece. A two minute value sketch (like the black and white sketch of the books), a 10-15 minute color sketch (like the color version of the books) and a final piece that takes 2-4 hours (like the portrait of Moose at the top)
• All the time that you spend staring at your art, trying to decide what to do next or what color to pick up -- that's time you could be using to slap some color down. All those "ums" "ahs" and "ers" really add up. That's what preliminary sketches are for.
• I have discovered that if I were made into a doll with a pull string on the back, I would say the following phrases: "push those dark values." "Whale down those colors." "Super sharp point on that pencil, ladies." "Do I need to come over there and heckle you?" and "Pick out some wild colors!"

Maggie on Art Materials, Part III

"Thursday" - set of sketches in my sketchbook.
copyright 2008 Maggie Stiefvater.

Remember, the sketchbook will be given away to a random blog subscriber when it's full, so sign up for the blog even if you don't read it through your e-mail if you want to have a chance to win it! (I'm about half-way through the current sketchbook at the moment)


Sorry about the delay! My brother whisked my computer away to HighSpeedInternetLand to get updates downloaded and so I was without computer access. However, it did give me a nice long day to get other things done, especially since Sunday is my lazy day. After drinking four glasses of sweet tea, I decided it was time I try a fun looking project that my friend Vivien Blackburn mentioned to me. It's a comic strip of your day done in twelve panels, done from memory rather than observation. Hers is rather prettier than mine but it was a lot of fun regardless. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to illustrate novel-writing! All the exciting stuff having to do with writing a novel goes on in my head . . . to the uninitiated, I'm just staring blankly at a computer screen.

Anyway, Vivien has captions for hers but I think I'll let you puzzle out what mine is without. I'd love to see any of my blog readers tackle this -- if you do, be sure to let Vivien know on her blog.

Okay, onto the questions from the last posts. There are just a few -- let me know if I missed you.

1. About solvents. Have you tried "eco-house extra mild citrus thinner #115?" It is as you described the British solvent that you order. This is made in Canada, and I think I got my last batch from Dick Blick. Smells nice. For even lower toxicity you can't beat Gamblin's Gamsol. It just doesn't smell quite as nice.:-)

I've had this mentioned to me quite a few times but I've never gotten around to ordering it. I think I've now been officially pushed over the edge, however (my husband would argue that happened a long time ago), and I'm going to give it a try.

2. Hi Maggie, which retailer do you trust to place your overseas order with?

I don't really have too much call to order overseas except to order Zest-It, as mentioned in the solvents post, and the few times that I ordered from Canadian super-art-store, Curry's, which went off without a hitch. Other than that, I haven't had much experience with it . . . I think if I were choosing an overseas retailer, I'd be tempted to google their name to find out if there is anyone talking smack about them online (that's slang, did you catch it? I'm so hip) and then I would decide between the final two by determining which company's sales representatives had the most charming foreign accent.

3. I have a question related to the pastelbord (although I suppose this could apply to any support) and solvents: Do you find that the application of solvent limits the number of layers that you can apply?

I actually find the opposite to be true. If I'm really between a wall and a hard place (which, um, really are the same things, did you notice?) layerwise, I'll usually add some solvent, because it'll let me get another layer down on top. Now -- layers on top of solvent do behave completely differently than layers pre-solvent, so that's something to experiment with. I don't think I'd go around adding solvent to a portrait commission before I had tried it on something that I wasn't afraid to make Excrutiatingly Ugly.

4. have you ever tried working on metal? as a metalsmith i haven't tried it yet, but it is all the rage right now. the metal has to be sandblasted so the pencil can grip, but its quite a neat effect. i think its rachelle thiewes that has done it best, especially in her sculpture pieces.

Metal is something I hadn't thought of -- I can only imagine that layers must be a thing of the past working on a surface like that, because there's nothing to absorb the layers. I tried googling her but didn't find anything immediately accessible.

5. I like Colourfix alot and was just wondering how you choose a background/support color to use. Sometimes I use a color that is in the subject alot (like cream or tan for a drawing of a yellow lab ) and sometimes I use a complementary color for the punchy contrast. Is there any color you prefer/would order a bunch of?

I always use the dark colors of Colorfix, because I prefer working on darker supports (my work tends to be mostly dark with elements of light, because I am Wednesday Addams). I also prefer the warm colors -- the brown and the red in particular -- because my work tends to be warmer. I would just keep in mind when I was ordering that colored supports are supposed to save you work. If you're doing a dark piece, you want a dark surface. If you're doing a warm piece, pick a warm color, etc. If you're doing a cool piece on red, you'll kill yourself trying to beat back that red. Colored papers should be a time-saver, not an ulcer-causer.

Okay! I'm hitting the sack. Let me know if I missed you and if there's anything you'd like to see me tackle as a series post for next week. Otherwise, I'll be announcing my next one Monday night.

Maggie on Art Materials, Part II

Today a brief post to talk about other fancy-schmancy stuff I’ve tried in the course of my pencils. Last post I mumbled somewhat coherently about the Bristol Smooth paper I often use.


I love trying new supports and so here are the ones I’ve tried, from most successful to least.


Top of the list has to be drafting film. I use Dura-Lar Matte, which is a non-yellowing acetate alternative (if we’re being official). Make sure you get the matte, otherwise your pencils won’t stick. Anyway, film is this lovely strange surface that is very smooth and buttery. I only ever managed to get two layers (on each side) and never had much luck with solvent on it. Because it’s so terrible to blend but amazing for fine detail, I had a great time using this for the 8 gagillion ACEOs I did last year (ACEO = Art Cards, Editions & Originals – 2.5 x 3.5" of art).

It is, as its name suggests, transparent, so it's easy to get fun and fascinating effects by experimenting with which colors you make dominant (on the front side) and which you make more subtle (on the back side). I still recommend that newbies to film start very small on this support and give it a few pieces to get the hang of it. It is absolutely nothing like working on paper, and if you treat it like paper, it will treat you like crap. The pieces around this paragraph are all 2.5 x 3.5" pieces I did on drafting film. See the crazy detail? It’s because the film loves detail like I love sweet tea.


Okay, next up. Artagain black paper. This is a nice, smooth paper that lets you play with working on dark paper without having the crazy toothiness of Colorfix paper (mentioned in the first post in the series). Drawbacks to working on black paper include ugly green colors when you try and use yellow without putting white under it first and not being able to erase without creating a mess uglier than a Ford Festiva. Here’s an example of an old piece I did on Artagain.


Next is another white paper. Arches HP Watercolor paper. It’s got a lot more texture than Bristol Smooth, but it still takes colored pencil without making it look like chicken wire. There are other good watercolor papers out there for colored pencils but when you’re trying them, I’d recommend looking for “HP” by the name (versus “CP”). The HP stands for “Hunky Prince” and who doesn’t need one of those?

No, seriously, it stands for “hot-pressed,” which results in a smoother paper than cold-pressing. Here’s an example of an old piece I did on Arches HP. Notice how much of the toothiness you can see through it – it’s almost grainy looking.

Finally, some weird supports I tried but wasn’t thrilled with: wood, canvas, Clayboard, and Mi-Teintes paper. Wood was interesting but didn’t layer well, canvas was really bumpy (even smooth portrait canvas - the image on left is on canvas) and didn’t layer well, clayboard was slick and didn’t blend properly, and Mi-Teintes paper . . . . well, I was fine with Mi-Teintes once I decided it was manufactured by the devil to torture colored pencil souls still on earth. Every time I try it, I have to fight endlessly against the chicken-wire pattern on the rough side or the ugly, tactless smooth side. You might have luck with these supports, but I just didn’t like working on them, even if the eventual results were passable as something like art.


And one last footnote to this . . . I was sent samples of a new board, r-tistx boards, to try out, and I finally got around to trying the week before last. It had a sort of colorfix type sandpaper surface on a white archival backing board and the color went down okay (though not as nice as pastelbord from the get-go) but things went weird when I layered. Once I got a some pigment down, the next layer started sort of swirling up from the surface and making a dusty mess on everything. So I decided to tamp it down with some solvent. Well, that worked much better . . . um, until I started back with my pencil and it ripped right through the sanded surface and straight down to the slick board.

Hm. Might be just that board. I’m going to try one of the other sample boards sent before I write it off as too fragile, but I have to say that after two hours of work on a piece, I was pretty p’oed. Plus, it would’ve been done already if it had been on pastelbord. So, grrr. But again, it usually takes me a few tries on a new support to get the hang of it, so jury's out.

Questions/ comments? Question's and anything I've forgotten will be tackled tomorrow.

Reader Questions on Preliminary Sketches & More

"Cats of the Old Masters" - available on various shirts, etc. here.
All cats, no matter what strange outfit they're wearing, are copyright Maggie Stiefvater 2008.

Here are the questions from the last series. If I've missed anybody, please post in the comments!

1. Do you use any photo manipulation programs to do the altering or do you do sketch after sketch or some combination?

I use Adobe Photoshop (Elements would work fine) for a lot of my art work (notice there's a space between "Art" and "work" there) but not in the ways that you might think I do. For pre-art-making, I use Photoshop to punch up saturation and contrast in my photos to make them closer to how I remember the scene or to brighten a dark reference to see details. After I've begun a piece, if I'm stuck on it, I'll scan or photograph it and twiddle with in PS to try out drastic changes before I do them -- like putting in a dark background where I have a light one or warming up an area colorwise, etc. I really let my sketches do most of the gruntwork for me, because they're faster for most of the changes I make. If I was a slow sketcher or a super fast PS-er, I might do it the other way. I figure, what you do to work out your groundwork at the beginning is, like the color of your underwear, your business alone. Most everyone does some preliminary work (and wears underwear -- though not the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band from Canada, or so I heard from a scarred passerby at a Scottish festival) but what sort depends on what comes naturally to you.

Word of warning to those who have not used Photoshop before and don't own it -- it's a complicated program, so be prepared to put in some hours learning how to do the most basic functions.


2. When you do those preliminary sketches, how do you pick the best one? I do them and then find that I have a terrible time picking just one.

I had to think about this question, because it wasn't an issue I normally have, and I wasn't sure why. I think it's because before I start a piece, I usually know sort of what I want to do with it. I think part of this is a style thing too -- I'm very set in my stylistic ways and that defines what sort of crop I'll do. The odds of me, for instance, doing a horse in a wide open landscape shot where you see the horse's full body and lots of territory around it . . . very slim. The odds of me doing a close up, edgy crop that's a little off kilter? Much more like me.

So I guess I would say -- pick the one that feels the most like you, if you've got several options that all play nicely within the composition world. Pick the one that you'd be happiest to have hanging on a wall somewhere and brag about. If one doesn't stand out, maybe that means you need to do one more and push the envelope.

2. When you say “colored pencil on board” – what type of board do you mean?

I use a bunch of different sorts, but my favorite is Ampersand's Pastelbord, a nice gritty board that eats pencils like Cookie Monster eats cookies. I also use Colorfix primer on masonite board. Both of them are a lot different from working on paper -- they have their pros and cons. I'm always trying new supports for colored pencil. I've done canvas, wood, clayboard . . . right now I've started a piece on a new type of support for me -- the company sent me samples and it's interesting. More on that later.

4. How do you handle something like someone asking you to incorporate their pets into famous paintings?

I had to put my Master Cats series up on this post because of this question. I don't have anything ethically wrong with inserting pets into paintings well out of copyright (well out of copyright), because I think they're humorous and I like humorous. But that's also in my style. Everyone of those tiny Master Cats (the originals were 2.5 x 3.5") is a copy of another painting, but I like to think that they're all vaguely recognizable as mine as well.

So my answer to this one is, do it if it fits in with your style. If you normally do abstracts or only paint in blue or something else that means that these sort of spoofs would be a departure -- decline.


Tomorrow I'm going to one of two blog posts on Time Management & Motivation. If you have any questions on that front, leave 'em in the comments as usual! Thanks to everyone for being so enthusiastic about these series posts!

Ranting and Raving

"Nature Lover" - 4 x 9" colored pencil on paper.
Copyright 2007 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

Another work in progress sequence of a quickie (boy, I oughta get me some great google hits off that phrase). This sucker was probably an hour and three quarters from start to finish.

Again, the key to my technique is using the painter's technique of going from rough to detailed -- so I lay down messy color first, in light layers, and then with each consecutive layer, I tidy, until I'm where I want to be.

May I take a moment to rant? It's about colored pencils, so it's relevant. Sort of. When I was at the CPSA exhibition this year, the docent urged us to enjoy the show and then offered us magnifying glasses, the better to see the detail the colored pencil artists put in there.

Let's take a moment here, shall we?

The ideal viewing distance for an average-sized piece of art, say 11 x 14", is ten feet. That's where most people look at art from. Then, if they're curious, they sometimes draw in closer, to one foot or closer, to look at a detail or two. But for most of a piece of art's life, it's going to be enjoyed from a bit of a distance. Say, while its owner is sitting on the couch, thinking, boy, I'm glad I bought that piece from Maggie Stiefvater because it makes me Happy.

Why in the world are these extremely talented artists spending 200 hours on a piece of art, only to put in details that can be seen with a magnifying glass? Wouldn't their time be better spent exploring more subjects and pieces and really populating the world with their art?

I love detail. But not that much detail. So for me, my messy layers work because from ten feet away, my 11 x 14"s look like a million bucks. Heck, from even a foot they look pretty darn good. But I can guarantee you that all you'll see through a magnifying glass is pencil strokes on mine. And that's how I like it!

Secrets of the World Revealed . . . Sort Of

"Checking out the Competition" - 4 x 6" colored pencil on Bristol paper.
Copyright 2007 Maggie Stiefvater.
Click here to bid.

Y'all should be flattered. I spend 2.5 hours today working on creating a detailed work in progress for you guys, pausing every so often to take photos of the wondrous maggic that is my technique, imagining your shining faces when you opened up your inboxes to find the wonder of this illustrated education.

Except my photos sucked.

I didn't have enough light in my studio for my camera to take nice pictures so I got a bunch of weird-colored things with no real value, like a tartan-colored possum.

But I'll throw them up for you anyway, to make of them what you will. Um, good luck.