Whilst out with a couple having a meal the other evening, we were talking about art tutorials. I am seriously of the opinion that art can get better the more you practice and being shown how to do something is all important. It is also the case that small pieces of art can be great, you don’t have to allow too much time.
So this one is just a strawberry! However, anything in coloured pencil takes a little while so you do need to allow yourself a couple of hours to have a go at it....I am using polychromo’s so I will provide the colour as I go through the tutorial. If you are using other coloured pencils, simply try to find a close hue; also if you are using a mix of brand, do not worry. I used to be seriously afraid that if I mixed prismacolors with something else, that there would be some kind of meltdown and I would find my artwork turning into a waxy mess overnight! You will also need a pencil, perhaps a putty rubber and some white paper. I am using Stonehenge which is now available in the UK but the back of watercolour paper (the smooth side) does just as well.
First of all, you do need a strawberry, so I think you should treat yourself to a whole punnet and then go looking for the one that appeals to you the most, resisting the temptation to eat it of course.
Find a piece of white paper and place it on a table with some light coming from one side, it does make it easier if you have some proper shadows.
With the pencil I have sketched an outline of the strawberry, this takes me a little while until I am happy and the putty rubber does get wielded until I think I have a suitable strawberry shape.
In the next stage, I use earth green and draw in the seeds all over the strawberry. I am not patient enough to make these all entirely accurate but it is good to look hard at the fruit and see where they lie to start with. Also note that with perspective they get closer together towards the edge of the fruit. All, I am doing is putting in the outline using a sharp pencil. Do keep sharpening it as you go otherwise the lines will become quite broad.
For the next stage colour the entire fruit in Light yellow glaze. Use a light stroke, you don’t want it to be all waxy, pay a lot of attention to the edges to keep them as crisp as possible. Again it helps to keep the pencil full sharpened. In the middle of the green pips, coloured those with the yellow using a firmer stroke so that they stand out quite yellow.
Change to cream for the bottom of the strawberry and then cover that area lightly with white. Also use white over the middle of the pips.
Using Pale geranium red go over the strawberry working around the pip areas, using a circular motion.
Using manganese violet for the shadows, stroke this over the darker areas and also the shadow underneath the strawberry.
Use a blending pencil and go over all the fruit.
Use pine green for the stalk making sure that the yellow is left for the highlighted areas.
Go over the entire strawberry in the yellow.
Using the white, gently highlight those areas of the fruit that have sheen, in this case around some of the seeds in the centre of the fruit.
Using deep scarlet red go over the whole fruit and lightly in shaded areas beneath the fruit.
Alternatively using the yellow, the red and a blending pencil deepens the fruit colour. Finally, I take a Q tip and using sansador or zest-it, gently work the tip lightly over the fruit and the shadow to blend the colour. Just use slow, light circular motions. I then finished with a final layer of the red and added a little grey to the shadows.
If you do have a go at this, please let me know how you get on and of course, please do feel free to post any questions below.
