Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils. Ann Swan
x 30 cm (18 x 12 in)
∆ Artist Ann Swan at work in her studio.
BASIC START-UP KIT
You can add more pencils and other equipment as you progress, but these items will start you off.
• 2 graphite pencils – HB and H
• 20 to 25 good quality coloured pencils
• Sharpener with spiral blade
• Hot-pressed paper – at least 300 gsm (140 lb)
• Plastic eraser
• Sketch paper
• Magnifying glass
COLOURED PENCILS
The coloured strip, or core, of a coloured pencil consists of pigment held together with either a wax or an oil-based binder. The binder can either be watersoluble, to make a pencil that can be used with water, or non-soluble and this type is mainly used dry. Generally speaking, you will find that more expensive pencils have better quality pigments and tend to be more lightfast.
Coloured pencils vary enormously not only in quality and feel, but in the range of colours available. Before you buy any, try them out. We all have a different way of drawing, so what suits one person may not work at all for another.
LIGHTFAST OR FUGITIVE?
What do we mean by lightfast colours? When colours exposed to light over many years do not change much, if at all, then they are considered ‘lightfast’. However, exposure to light can alter some pigments over time and these colours are termed ‘fugitive’ because they fade, change colour or, occasionally, darken or become dull. How quickly colours deteriorate from their original, and over what period of time, determines the lightfast rating of a colour; that is, just how lightfast or fugitive the colour is.
Although the pigments used in coloured pencils are often identical to those used in watercolour they can behave differently because of the oil or wax-based binder. Oil-based binders can make some pigments more lightfast than they are when used with water. Over the last few years a lot of work has been done to achieve an acceptable standard for measuring lightfastness in coloured pencils. Most of this work has been done in the USA, and the American Society for Testing Materials or ASTM accepted test for coloured pencils is ASTM C-6901. Coloured pencils complying with this standard are considered to be lightfast.
TEST SWATCHES
If you have a mixed range of pencils accumulated over many years, as many botanical artists have, it is a good idea to do your own lightfast testing. Make two identical colour swatches. Place one swatch under glass in full sun (the dashboard of a car is a good place or a greenhouse or south-facing window), and cover the remaining one and place it in a drawer away from any light. You can then compare the effects of light on the two after a few weeks, and sometimes, in strong, bright sunlight, a difference will show up in a matter of days.
FABER-CASTELL POLYCHROMOS COLOURED PENCILS
These are good quality, oil-based artists’ pencils with 3.8mm leads that hold a point well, an essential requirement for fine detailed work. They come in a range of 120 colours. Colour laydown is smooth and colour is easily blended without smudging.
The colour on the casing quite closely resembles the actual colour, which is useful, and the pencils are clearly marked with individual lightfast ratings, from three asterisks (***) for lightfast down to one asterisk (*) for fugitive.
Coloured pencils generally are poor in the green range, which is not helpful for the botanical artist, but Faber-Castell have at least seven good greens. What I mean by a ‘good’ green is one that looks natural, mixes well and stays true in combination with other colours and when blended. Some greens that sound well suited to the work of the botanical artist, such as Sap Green, Leaf Green, Grass Green and Pine Green, can be a bit garish and unnatural looking. They do not always produce successful or consistent results when mixed with other greens, so use these with caution.
Polychromos have a good range of greys too – six warm (redder) greys and six cold (bluer) greys. Greys are the main method used for deepening the tones of colours without changing their hue.
From left to right
FC270 Warm Grey I
FC271 Warm Grey II
FC272 Warm Grey III
FC273 Warm Grey IV
FC274 Warm Grey V
FC275 Warm Grey VI
FC230 Cold Grey I
FC231 Cold Grey II
FC232 Cold Grey III
FC233 Cold Grey IV
FC234 Cold Grey V
FC235 Cold Grey VI
FC181 Paynes Grey
∆ These warm and cold greys are useful for a starter palette.
From left to right:
FC101 White
FC103 Ivory
FC102 Cream
FC184 Dark Naples Ochre (Ochre)
FC118 Scarlet Red (Scarlet Lake)
FC142 Madder
FC133 Magenta (Bordeaux Wine Red)
FC193 Burnt Carmine
FC225 Dark Red
FC123 Fuchsia
FC134 Crimson (Magenta)
FC139 Light Violet (limited availability)
FC138 Violet
FC170 May Green (Apple Green)
FC168 Earth Green Yellowish (Moss Green)
FC172 Earth Green (Grey Green)
FC173 Olive Green Yellowish (Olive Green)
FC174 Chrome Green Opaque (Cedar Green)
FC278 Chrome Green Oxide
FC179 Bistre
FC178 Nougat
FC175 Dark Sepia
∆ Here is a useful basic starter range of 22 Faber-Castell Polychromos coloured pencils. (The names in brackets appear on older stock and are no longer used, but the pencil numbers remain unchanged.)
PRISMACOLOR PREMIER COLOURED PENCILS
These artists’ quality pencils are made by Sanford in a range of 132 colours with good quality pigments that provide rich colour saturation. They are wax-based pencils, but I find the range mixes well with the Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils as they are smooth and creamy in texture.
Prismacolor has an excellent range of the colours found in fruits such as autumn berries, blackcurrants, aubergines and cherries – the darker violets, purples and reds – with colours such as Black Grape, Black Cherry, Dark Purple and Black Raspberry, and some more unusual greens such as Pale Sage, Limepeel, Green Ochre and Artichoke.
You can buy these pencils online mainly from suppliers in the USA although a few UK sites are now offering them. It is worth the effort to try and obtain them; even with shipping and import tax, they are still no more expensive than other makes.
The disadvantage of using these pencils as your main range for botanical work is that the point invariably snaps off in use, making fine detailed work quite difficult. Additionally their softness can create rather too grainy a texture if they are used alone. However,