My First Colored Pencil Drawing - Porsche 911 991.2 GT2 RS in Red
I made this drawing of a Porsche 991.2 GT2 RS as it was one of my favorite cars at the time. I drew it from a photo I found on Instagram.
I made this drawing mostly to try my new colored pencils, so I wasn't trying to make it a fully detailed, hyperrealistic drawing. It was more of an experiment and it was quite a successful one I think, even though it didn't turn out 100% how I wanted.
This drawing was my first time drawing with colored pencils. Before this drawing I used alcohol markers to create my drawings.
Why Did I Choose to Buy Colored Pencils?
I watched a lot of YouTube videos at the time of car drawing timelapses. And I noticed some people were using colored pencils to make those drawings and they looked really awesome. I mainly watched videos from Roman Miah and SamieSocal. So naturally, I wanted to try that.
At that time I also felt like I had reached the limit of what I could learn about alcohol markers. So I wanted to try something new.
I also watched a lot of videos from Kirsty Partridge at the time. She made a ton of tutorials about how to color realistically with colored pencils, but also comparison videos between different brands of colored pencils. And that helped me a lot in deciding which colored pencils to buy.
At the time I really liked vibrant colors and I was going to make a lot of detailed drawings with them, so I chose to buy the Faber-Castell Polychromos in a tin of 60.
What I Learned from Drawing with Colored Pencils instead of Alcohol Marker
The first thing I noticed when trying to make this drawing with colored pencils is that you can't color as quickly as with alcohol markers.
Alcohol markers often have a large chisel nib that works really well for coloring large areas quickly, but colored pencils have a tiny point and it takes a lot of time to draw a larger area.
But the second thing I noticed was that you can get way more vibrant colors with colored pencils than you can with alcohol markers. That might also be due to the paper I used for my marker drawings; I used thicker paper which works really well for blending, but it isn't the best layering markers. It makes the colors a little bit less vibrant.
The third thing I noticed was that I could draw so many more tiny details with colored pencils than I could with alcohol markers. With colored pencils, I suddenly could draw with way more precision and with less effort, which I really liked. I always try to make my drawings as realistic as possible and details play a big role in that. So to be able to draw the tiniest details with less effort was a big win in my eyes.
The fourth thing I noticed was that it was kind of difficult to fully fill in the tooth of the paper. I already knew this and that's why I didn't start with realistic colored pencil drawings, but with realistic alcohol marker drawings. With markers, you just lightly push the nib against the paper and it will color all of the paper evenly (if you do it correctly). But with colored pencils, you need to layer a lot and then add way more pressure than felt right at the time to fully cover the paper and fill in the texture.
But overall I really liked how the pencils worked.
My Experience with Drawing on Grey-Toned Paper for the First Time
I decided to draw on grey-toned paper for my first pencil drawing because of those YouTube videos I watched. Roman Miah, especially, made a few amazing drawings on grey-toned paper, and the effect it gave to the whole drawing looked really good as you can draw with white on that paper and it will show up.
So I decided to give that a try.
One thing I noticed immediately when drawing on grey-toned paper was that not all colored pencils show up as vibrantly as I would've liked. This is because colored pencils are slightly transparent, so they don't fully cover the grey tone of the paper making the colors look a little desaturated.
Another thing I noticed with the paper I had bought was that it was way too thin for my liking. When drawing and using some pressure to fill in the tooth of the paper the paper would indent a bit. When drawing I also noticed that the paper was almost too smooth for drawing with colored pencils.
The colored pencils I had were more on the hard side, so they work better if the paper has a slight tooth to it. But the paper I had bought was kind of smooth, so the pigment of the pencils didn't stick too well to it. This also made the colors look a bit desaturated. In the end, I was a little disappointed that the drawing turned out so desaturated. And because of this I never used this paper again except for one time.
I do really want to try grey-toned paper sometime again though, but a different kind of paper this time.
What I Learned from Drawing with Colored Pencils for the First Time
From the videos I had watched I already knew a lot about colored pencils, so while drawing I tried to put them to practice. The thing that stood out the most when testing these pencils was that they were hard to blend and I needed to have a lot of patience and slowly layer to draw very smooth color transitions.
Blending the pencils was kind of challenging. And in some spots, it turned out a little uneven. I had still a lot to learn about how to blend well. Also when drawing the lighter colors turned out a lot more grainy. And that is likely because I wasn't used to burnishing. But when drawing I just let it be as it was just an experiment.
My Favorite Features of this Drawing
I was proud of the whole drawing, but I was especially proud of how the taillights and the wheels turned out. The right taillight has a lot of colors and sharp details that I could have drawn with alcohol markers. So to be able to draw it so precisely with colored pencils felt really good. Looking back at the whole drawing I notice a lot of things that are a bit off, but it's still a good drawing in my eyes. And I have to remember I had a lot less experience than I have now and it was my first ever realistic colored pencil drawing.
How this Drawing Influenced my Journey as an Artist
I have only drawn on grey-toned paper once since I made this drawing, but I have used colored pencils in every drawing that I made after this one. And slowly but surely colored pencils played a bigger part in my drawings.
I now first color block my drawings with alcohol markers and then I color everything with colored pencils to make it look as detailed as possible and to make the colors look smooth.
With colored pencils, I can make my drawings so much more vibrant and saturated. And also blending and drawing color transitions have become so much smoother. And most of all, it allows me to draw all the details I want without too much effort.
Lessons I Took from this Drawing
I learned that I need to be way more patient when drawing than I am and I still relearn that lesson every day...
This drawing also made me realize that not every drawing needs to be 100% perfect to be a good drawing. And with this, I also struggled for a long time afterward. I always tried to make the next drawing better, but when that didn't happen it made me feel like I failed. But after making this drawing and the next to come, I slowly realized that growth isn't linear, sometimes you need to make worse drawings to become a better artist.
