Drawing skills: Inktense coloured pencils

I bought my Inktense pencils a while ago, after I read in the student forums that people were so amazed by them. I hadn’t really had the time to explore these until now. At the occasion of my review of part three, I made a sunset cloudscape drawing using Inktense coloured pencils. I was dissatisfied with the result, in particular with the low colour intensity, because the white paper shines through everywhere when using the a dry technique. But before applying water, I wanted to enquire about the technique which I found quite difficult to master in earlier attempts. So I started the enquiry with a Google search for “Derwent Inktense” and found several videos.

Dina Kowal: Inktense Pencils http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYU_PV34cNA

The first video I watched from start to end was by Dina Kowal. It is a brief 5-minute demonstration how to use Inktense pencils with water. She explains that Inktense pencils are like ink, in that once dried, they are no longer watersoluble. This means that one has to work fast. But it is possible to apply a second layer with the pencils, which can then be worked with water again. As a tool, she used a brush pen, which looked quite useful. The tip is a brush, and then the pencil has a tiny water tank in the handle. She also used a rag to clean the brush after each colour for not mixing colours inadvertedly.

She explained that the first step is to sketch in the colours with lighter and darker tones for shades roughly where you want them, and then use water to work from lighter colours to darker colours. For example, the yellow at the inside of her example flower was dissolved first and then blended with the red tone at the bottom and tips of the flower. She applied a second layer which was worked out the same way to give more depth to the colours. The result looked really lovely and the colours were as intense as I had hoped for these pencils.

Now my big question was whether this technique would work for my sunset cloudscape with the burning yellow, orange, red and rose tones before the darkening sky. It takes quite a bit of courage to go over a “finished” drawing and risking to completely spoil it. Another problem was that I hadn’t used watercolour paper, but only medium weight drawing paper. The surface would not permit much brushing, and there’s a risk that the paper will buckle. I would have to take a very soft brush, and apply a trick to flatten the paper afterwards: Since the pigments are no longer watersoluble once dried, I can re-work the drawing and after it has dried, soak in water and flatten out to dry as if it was a watercolour sheet.

Info on Derwent Waterbrushes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrx51eNv5c

The waterbrushes presented here didn’t look like the one used in the Dina Kowal’s video. The demonstration looked interesting, but I couldn’t really see the advantage over using just a brush with a pot of water. “Avoiding the hassle” as it was presented, ok maybe, but so far I didn’t have the feeling that it was a hassle if I used those simple means.

But I found one comment to the video interesting. Somebody reported a problem with suction of these water brushes: When you draw, a little pressure is applied to make the water flow through the brush. But once this pressure is released, there is a suction of the fluid including pigment back into the container, and the result is coloured water in the reservoir, which is not what you want. So maybe I’ll keep it simple and resist the temptation to buy just another art tool.

Drawing with watersoluble graphite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vedjfO-L54U

This video was a little off-topic but I thought maybe I can make use of similar techniques for the inktense pencils. Watching the video began with a surprise: The graphite pens presented are the ones that I have, but I wasn’t aware they are watersoluble.
A good tip followed: If the colour is getting too dark or too intense, it can be lifted of with a paper towel or a damp Q-Tip. And something important to remember: Letting hatching lines follow the surface shape of an object supports three dimensionality. I think I forgot that and applied my marks criss-cross which destroyed the impression of volume.

Interestingly, the different grades of graphite sticks, like 2B or 6B result in different intensities. 6B is softer and when applied and dissolved with water, it creates much darker tones. This is good for creating depth in the tones. Greatest difference compared with Inktense pencils, apart from colour of course, is that the watersoluble graphite remains soluble. Adding a second layer and dissolving it will also dissolve what’s underneath.

Next step presented was to add details with watersoluble graphite pencils. The video became a bit lengthy at this point. But it was an interesting demonstration nevertheless.

Derwent graphitint pencils http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms19LuGOkng

Another product presentation from the manufacturer. I used these pencils before and also applied water, they are a mixture of graphite and colour pigment and create very interesting broken colour effects.

Pencil blending techniques http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufgdg8bwexI

A further instructional video by Dina Kowal. The different blending mediums presented were interesting. It was also good hint to have three values for each colour – the colour itself, plus a lighter and a darker tone. This idea of three tones was very central when I worked on the cloudscapes. I saw that I needed at least these three different tones, but often I did not manage to build them up.

Dissolvents: Odorless mineral spirits, baby oil or mineral oil, alcohol blender, colourless blender pencil

Tools: Blending stump

The way she used the blending stump with mineral spirits might work nicely for my cloudscape drawing, because it does not make the paper wet and it looks like a very controlled technique to get an even distribution of colours, which is what I want for the dark blue sky. I might need a different technique for the clouds because here the colours are really wildly torn as the clouds are. It might be a good idea to experiment first on a separate sheet, before touching my drawing.

Tip: When using oil, keep a dedicated stump for each colour family to avoid smudging the colours

She also explained that blending with a colourless blender pencil does not dissolve the pigment, but fill up the paper with binder and mixes in the pigments of coloured layers.

With pencils only, applied dry, blending can be achieved in three basic steps
– Apply lightest colour, leave out highlights
– Add darker tone to the edges etc
– Use lighter colour to blend in the darker with the lighter colour
These steps are repeated between lighter and darker colour until the desired shading is achieved.

Jerry’s Artarama, How to sketch using watersoluble drawing tools http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbeGKa99TFk

This video shows an entirely different approach, much more painterly and expressive. The layers of pigment are applied boldly on the paper, and then a big brush with lots of water is applied. Working like this looks like working with watercolours. I really liked the approach. Another good tip: “Reductionist techniques”, using a paper towel to take off paint and create light areas where needed. This might work nicely for my cloudscape, although I’m a bit concerned whether the paper I used is robust enough for this kind of surface treatment, when wet.

What I like about this video is the instructor… not the kind of “how to draw a sunset”-instructor, but someone with a loose and exciting style. An interesting painter, despite (?) commercial success. http://robertburridge.com/

Selected drawings with Inktense pencils

Inktense pencils are often used for photorealistic or kitsch style drawings, which I find less interesting. I chose some which I liked, as an inspiration for myself and reminder what can be done with these pencils. Interesting how there seem to be two different basic approaches: painterly vs drawing/sketching.