There are five articles covered in our latest newsletter, which are: Graphite pencils for beginners Having overhauled the original article, it's worth checking out (again) if you are new to graphite. Unison pastels What makes these pastels so special? We share our findings in this article. Clairfontaine Pastelmat Are you an artist, looking for suitable paper? Find out more. Ideal for pastel artists and can be used for other mediums too. Blending with coloured pencils If you are a coloured pencil artist and want to learn how to create smooth blends, this article offers lots of hints and tips. New tutorial for coloured pencil artists Our latest tutorial shows you how to draw a Hare. You can click any of the image below to visit each article. If you are not currently a subscriber to our quarterly newsletter, you can sign up here.
Have you tried any of the products we mention in this post? If so, what are your thoughts? Any preferences? Maybe you have a favourite art product? Share it with us in the comments, and tell us what you like about it and why. Let's share our knowledge among other artists.
Our current favourite product is the Sennelier oil pastel. Creamy, highly vibrant and great fun to work with. Perfect for use on the pastelmat paper too!
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Feeling moody? Look no further, Derwent Onyx is our blackest graphite pencil, even darker than a 9B! Great on its own for drawing really moody pictures or use it with other graphite media like Graphic or Sketching pencils to add dense shade and tone. We have created two tones, medium and dark, but it is easy to build up darker shades if you need them by increasing the pressure. The wide strip can be easily sharpened and will hold a fine point, perfect for capturing the detail in drawings! Taken from the Derwent website - www.pencils.co.uk
Derwent Graphic v's Derwent Onyx tonal chartWe decided to research this product online and see what other artists are saying about these pencils, but found mixed reviews. Some noted the Dark grade was as black as Derwent suggests, but others said it was not. There is little information about these pencils on the Derwent site, but they do state that they are lightfast (rated 8 on the Blue Wool scale) and that both pencils contain animal fat in the wax blend. As you can purchase these pencils for under £2.00 each, we decided to buy them and try them out ourselves. We created a chart below, comparing the grades of the Derwent graphic range and the Derwent Onyx pencils. We include it here so you can see the difference for yourself. We applied the pencils as heavily as possible to ensure the darkest tones were replicated. Our findingsWe have created a tutorial using the Onyx pencils, so people can examine for themselves what they can accomplish. It gives you a chance to learn how to draw facial features whilst trying the pencils too. Using other tools to blend and erase, will help you create highly effective drawings, without the constant need to change grades. For this reason, these pencils are ideal for sketches on the go and take up very little space in your bag. The medium pencil can create the finer lines and the Dark grade allows you to create shade, either heavy or light. Personally, we do not feel that the Dark grade is darker than the Graphic 9B, but what do you think? Click the link below and try our graphite pencil tutorial. The Derwent Onyx pencils are used in this tutorial, but we do recommend two standard grades of graphite pencils in the place of the Onyx ones, should you wish to use those instead. What are your personal experiences with these pencils? Do you use them exclusively or in conjunction with other brands? Do you find them useful? Let us know in the comments section below. |
AuthorKaren M Berisford Archives
March 2024
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