This weekend I held my first “MORE Travel Sketching with watercolour pencils” class. It is aimed at people who have done my “Travel Sketching with Watercolour pencils” or used watercolour pencils and want to know more about using them. They offer so much potential, I am still learning after using watercolour pencils for 10 years . 

One of areas this class covered was blending colours and adding texture . I really had to think hard to articulate what I do (and to remember to take photos along the way).

As an experiment during the week I drew the face of my teddy bear Bentley.  On Sunday, we sketched food – Danishes and Scrolls from Laurent. The theories are the same. 

There are two main colours for the fur 

• Burnt Ochre
• Burnt Umber

the other three – Black for the eyes, Orange Glaze for the nose and a bit of Ivory.

You can see the step in stages.

It involves drawing the basic areas on the page, in the colour that it is going to be. I do not draw in HB or 2B pencil first, but go straight in with colour. If you are travelling , there is not time to do things twice – jump straight into colour. Be Brave.

We spent a bit of time on the day over the next stage which is building up the layers.  By building up layers of colour in different areas of the page, you can create depth. It does involve patience as you wait for areas to dry. However, you can work on other areas of the page while you wait for one to dry. I tend to move around the page.

There are different ways of making marks on the page with watercolour pencils and this will affect the way the colour can be played with on the page. The other factor is the way water is added and moved around the page with the brush. Practicing and playing is the way to experiment and discover the possibilities.

The final stage is adding hard lines and finer details in some areas of the object. It is these details that give it character. 

This took about 20 minutes.

We spent most of the class time on colour and texture today. Once you understand and become more confident in making marks on the page and adding colour it is easier to apply the concepts to the faster, on the spot sketches you would do while travel sketching. 

and remember to sharpen your pencils along the way, especially before adding the finer detail. It does make a difference.

I hope this provides an insight into the way I use watercolour pencils .There are no rules and this is just one approach to their use.

Happy sketching . Let me know if you have any questions.