Colouring Pencils and Pens Recommendations?

[redaxted 1,765]

Can anyone recommend some great colouring pencils and pens for me? I have some decent artistic pencils, but I'd very much like to colour my sketches and drawings in more professionally. I have done several good drawings which I'm very proud of, but now I regret colouring some of them in after they ended up looking quite scruffy using the pencils I currently own. I also tend to avoid colouring my art in pens and markers, but I'd definitely start if anyone could also suggest some quality paper to use markers with? Sorry if I sound a little demanding, I don't intend to, I'd just like be able to colour in my art better :)

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Wolves, 

 

I actually don't have a lot of experience with this, but I've at least dabbled in colored pencils and such. Less so in markers, but I don't count it out as something I plan on getting into later on.

 

First off, what coloring pencils do you use currently?

From what I hear, it's often a matter of finding what specific characteristics or brand feels the best, or works the best with how you do your art. Obviously stuff like Crayola colored pencils are easy to get a hold of, but I've spent some time looking around, and people praise other brands a lot higher for greater smoothness and usability (things like, less brittle lead, better blending, more vivid color, better mixing of clay and pigment, etc). After said looking around, I've found myself backing Prismacolor Premiers, though I'm also pretty fond of their Verithin line as well (harder lead, more akin to regular HB pencils only colored).

This link might be of interest.

 

Markers I know almost nothing about in a wider sense, but I've found Copics to be lovely for blending--it seems like few would compare when you learn to use them properly, as even a little of playing around yielded some impressive results, though they're definitely on the expensive side. I ended up buying a grayscale set so I can do some smoother shading in conjunction with inking. The set also came with a single Copic Multiliner SP (0.5), which so far might be the smoothest line art pen I've found; I'm honestly hoping to get a full set of them later on. Though, my old art teacher loved to use cheap sets of Pilot Precise V5, and would use them after they run out of ink to score the paper to create "white" lines; I've found them pretty awesome as well for what they are.

 

Paper... I'm not fully sure on that, but I would look into at least multimedia art paper or something. I've found I don't have a huge paper preference personally, but markers and ink (heck, even different brands of such) bleed into paper differently. You'll probably want to experiment yourself and match paper to brands/mediums firsthand. I've found I hated marker paper for copics, and loved some of my heavier-weight drawing paper. Either way, you can get some cheaper pads of art paper at Walmart and such to play with. Also, for colored pencils, supposedly you need something with texture in order to get solid color. When you smooth it out (or smooth it by using harder strokes), you theoretically lose some of the paper's ability to 'hold' more color.

 

 

 

 

Anyways, I want to emphasize this point however: your tools matter a TON less than your technique. Learning how to properly use colored pencils or markers will make a bigger difference than upgrading to higher quality tools often (though, said higher quality tools may be easier to use though). So, I would recommend devoting a good bit of time to that, as you could do well even with the cheap materials. Heck, my local art store (I talk to the owners a good bit when I visit) suggested like, 6-10 basic colors of Verithins to start off with, mostly being primaries, secondaries, white, black, and brown.

 

Also, it may seem stupid, but I would also look briefly in how to sharpen/take care of your colored pencils. There's little things like "dropping them can cause unseen breakage," or that some brands may be better after being heated slightly (to repair said breakage?), which are good things to know.

Edited August 5, 2015 by SFyr

[redaxted 1,765]

Thank you very much for taking your time to write such a great reply! I've actually heard of Copics markers now I've seen the name again, and I definitely want to achieve the kind of look they create. As for coloured pencils, I currently use watercolours because they're the only ones I can get my hands on. They're high quality, but not for colouring in the kind of art I do. I do solid art and stuff, with clear lines, so no portraits and environments and stuff. And I'm definitely looking to blend colours to create smooth transition when shading, rather than a sudden jump from, say, bright yellow to a darker shade. As for the pencils, the ones you mentioned definitely seem like the type I'm looking for! I'll definitely take a closer look thank you, again.

 

Also, I am working on my technique. I'm working on discovered my drawing style, too. I'm not actually any good at art without an image reference as of now, and I have to directly copy the image. However, I'm getting better... And I'd very much like to add a different tone, texture, and effect colour-wise to the ones I've copied.

[SFyr 1,982]

Copics are something I'd normally recommend, yeah, if they weren't 6-8 dollars per marker, haha. Though, if you're set on markers instead of pencils, I think they're the top-tier way to go, or at least it may be hard to find something better. Colored pencils I think you have a lot more things to choose from, and I'm sure you'll find a good fit if you look around.   I hope my reply helped a little bit though, haha. If you don't have a solid idea, I think Prismacolor Premiers are at least up there.

 

Ahh. I know someone who likes playing with watercolor pencils, and I've heard some you can use just fine dry, but you might be right in thinking there might be a better fit out there. 

 

Also, I wouldn't worry too bad about copying art to start out, though I would like to ask if you trace or attempt to 'sketch' it.  :grin2: A lot of drawing advice I've gotten seems to preach about the benefits for the latter, especially when drawing from life, but I've found it also helps with getting anatomy and style points from existing artwork.

Edited August 5, 2015 by SFyr

[redaxted 1,765]

I don't trace, I used to when I was younger to create collages and stuff of my favourite Pokemon (but I never coloured them in). I always try and copy every detail best I can though, so it can look like I traced some things. Here's and example (and it also shows how bad my current colouring-in technique is)

 

 

Again, thank you for the advice. But I'll have to save up to get some good markets. I heard Promarkers are also great, though? And I don't know know what to do to make my colouring technique better. It looks pretty scruffy. I'll try and observe some speed draws, see how they colour.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Wolves

[SFyr 1,982]

Well, it sounds like what your doing should still help you learn a good bit.  Sounds similar to what they suggest you do for drawing from life, only with other people's work instead (which I've done plenty of myself).

 

Mmm. Looks like their rating is decently good. Like I said, I'm not as familiar with markers, so I'm sure a little digging around would yield some good results, promarkers being possibly such. Either way, I wish you luck with moving forward and experimenting with some new stuff!