News page of the Step by Step Art website

Art Spectrum Colourfix 'Smooth'

19/11/2020

A while back I purchased a couple of sheets of the latest Colourfix paper. It is a smoother version of the standard paper that was launched by Art Spectrum in 2017
Available colours are the same as the standard Colourfix options which you can view HERE

Art Spectrum® Colourfix™ Smooth is manufactured by screen printing Colourfix™ Smooth Primer onto European Archival 300gsm Hot Pressed watercolour paper making 340gsm pastel paper.
Colourfix™ Smooth is a versatile surface that can be used for pastels, oil colours, acrylics, inks, oil pastels, gouache, watercolours and dry media such as charcoal and pencils.
The Colourfix™ Smooth texture is ideal for pastel artists who are looking for a not so toothy surface. The surface still has enough soft tooth to enable the artist to do multiple layers of pastel.

Colourfix™ Smooth is available:
Colours: 20 (As the Colourfix standard)
Sheet sizes: 23 x 30cm (9” x 12”) and 50x70cm (20” x 28”) 10 sheets per pack.
Rainbow packs available in 23 x 30cm (9” x 12”)
Cool and Warm packs in 23 x 30cm (9” x 12”) size

Primer

You can also purchase Colourfix smooth as a primer which allows you to paint it over any surface and create your art over the top. The primer is available in all colours found in the paper surfaces.

Comparison between the standard Colourfix paper and the smooth version

Below is a magnified image of the Colourfix standard paper versus the smooth surface. As you can see, the standard surface appears quite gritty next to the smooth surface. You can see how the smooth compares to the very popular Pastelmat paper below.

How does the Colourfix smooth compare to Pastelmat?

Here is a magnified image of the Colourfix smooth and Clairfontaine Pastelmat paper comparison. They look and feel exactly the same and I suspect Art Spectrum brought out the Colourfix smooth paper in competition with Pastelmat, knowing how popular the paper is.

Violet flower on Colourfix smooth paper

Having completed a soft pastel drawing on this paper, it reminded me of the popular Pastelmat paper. Pastels go on smoothly and is easy to blend on. As I blend by overlaying pastels rather than using my fingers or tools, this paper makes it easier to do this because of its smoothness, not as easy on the original surface which has more of a tooth. This paper is great for those just starting out with pastels and is suitable for other mediums such as pencils and acrylic paints.

Violet flower in soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix smooth Leaf green dark tone

The latest tutorial available on our website, created for inclusion in our autumn newsletter 2020, shows you how to create a Violet flower on the Colourfix smooth paper. Using soft pastels on the Leaf Green Dark tone (you can use any colour surface) we break down the process of base application with pastel blocks to creating the fine details using the PITT pastel pencils (you can use your own pastel range)

Why not give our pastel tutorial a go - Click to visit the page

NEW COLOURFIX™ OPTIMUM BOARD
ORIGINAL (MEDIUM) TEXTURE

The Colourfix original paper surface is also available in a more robust form known as the 'Optimum board'.
Unlike the Pastelmat surface, who has their own version which includes the foamcore (and was the first to offer this type of surface I believe?), the Colourfix surface also includes a thin layer of aluminium to prevent warping.

Art Spectrum® Colourfix™ Optimum Board is a high density archival and acid free foamcore board, hand screen printed with Art Spectrum® Colourfix™ Primer..
The secret that separates this board from all others is a super thin layer of Aluminum within the board that prevents warping and helps provide this substrate’s lightweight and sturdy characteristics.
Colourfix™ Optimum Board has a robust toothy surface that will hold layers of pastel without the need for fixative, allowing the velvet bloom and vibrant colour of pastel to be preserved.
The new Art Spectrum® Colourfix™ Optimum Board comes in 6 lightfast colours all with the Original Colourfix™ tooth. It is a superb substrate for pastels, oil colours, acrylics, inks, oil pastels, gouache, watercolours, and dry media such as charcoal and pencils.
Colourfix™ Optimum Board is available in 16 x 20” and ready to be framed without the need for a backing board.

What else you should know about this board:
The substrate board is acid free containing no lignin’s.
The glue used in this product is also acid free.
Aluminum thickness: 6.3μm
Colours available: White, Soft Umber, Terracotta, Rose Grey, Blue Haze and Deep Black.
Also available Rainbow Pack which includes one sheet of each colour

Available at Jackson's Art online store (UK)

Search the art spectrum website for a store near you (rest of world)

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Looking how to start your own art commission business?

12/11/2020

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If you are an artist thinking of starting your own commission based business, here at Step by Step Art, we have produced an article filled with lots of useful information for those of you needing some help and advice.
Written by artist Karen M Berisford who has always loved drawing since she was little, began taking on commissions back in the 90's after leaving school. She became a professional artist in 2011 and runs her own commission based business at: www.karenmberisford.com She is also the face behind this very website and provides all the content found within it. She is the web designer of both these sites and explains the importance of having your own website too.

In the art studio - easel, flowers, brushes and paints

Click the image above to visit the article.
Although the article was originally written in 2018, additional information has recently been added. As with all our articles on this website, we update, re-write or add new content to some from time to time.

Are there any other questions you would like answered that you would like to see included in our article? Please add them to our comments section below. We will answer them as soon as we can.

I hope you find the information helpful!

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Blenders & Burnishers

1/4/2016

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Prismacolor blender, derwent blender and burnisher and caran dache full blender bright image

Click the Image to visit the Article

I have recently completed a new article about coloured pencil blenders & burnishers and how best to use them. As I actively encourage people to get in touch if they would like to see a specific article or tutorial, this is one of them, which I thought would be a great subject to review. With thanks for the article request!

Although I own 3 different blenders and a burnisher myself, I forgot I had them and it gave me a great opportunity to try them all out and compare them, sharing with everyone my thoughts and findings.

If you are looking to find out what blenders & burnishers can offer you as a coloured pencil artist, or are new to blenders/burnishers and would like to know what they can achieve and how best to use them, why not take a look at this article - I was surprised to learn you can actually use them with graphite pencils too, although have not tried it myself.

If you would like to request an article, please get in touch - it's always great to hear feedback too if you wish to share your own experience on using any of these products so feel free to comment below. If you know someone who may find this article interesting, feel free to 'like' on Facebook or 'tweet' on your Twitter page!

I hope you find this article very helpful!
Karen :)

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New to coloured pencils? - product recommendation

9/3/2016

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Are you thinking of giving Coloured pencils a go, but not sure which pencils to start out with? Take a look at this article which offers a recommendation of a great set of pencils without breaking the bank, whilst offering lots of benefits that professional pencils have (and even some that certain pro pencils don't!) If you have £7* spare, these popular non branded pencils are the ones you should try before splashing out on an expensive, professional brand just in case you decide Coloured pencils is not the medium for you after all. This article offers advantages & disadvantages and also shows you what these pencils are capable of. It seems they are used extensively for those taking their GCSE's as well as Art Tutors (including myself) using them in Art Workshops.

Click on the image, to visit the article page.

Feel free to 'like' , share or leave a comment, especially if you have used these pencils before or found the article to be of help to you.

Please Note: These are only sold in the UK
*They may also be available to purchase at a lower price due to sale offers in-store or online.

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New article! Starting out with graphite pencils

8/3/2016

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If you are looking to take up a new art medium and are thinking of choosing graphite pencils but need some help and advice, I have written a little article about starting out with graphite pencils, what basic product requirements you will need to an explanation about those pencil grades. This article is a simple starting point for those totally new to graphite.

Click the image to visit the page.

Feel free to 'like', 'share' or leave a comment should you wish.
I hope this article is very helpful to newbies to graphite pencils.

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Caran Dache Luminance pencils article

18/2/2016

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Thinking of buying the Caran Dache Luminance pencils and wonder if they are going to be suitable for you? Take a look at my latest article on these pencils to find out more about them before you decide to splash out.

Caran Dache Luminance pencils in a tin image

What is important to you when buying a new Art product? This article offers some advantages & disadvantages of the pencils as well as giving lots of information on the lightfastness of the pencils and what this means. It also shows what these pencils are capable of and hopefully offers lots of helpful information and advice which will allow you to decide whether or not to take the plunge. Personally, I would say you can't go wrong with these pencils, but then I'm biased! ;)

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Looking for advice on which coloured pencil range to buy?

17/2/2016

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Help and advice is at hand if so....

Coloured pencil image for coloured pencil comparison article

In this post is a link to our article that focuses on coloured pencil brands. I decided to do a trial on various pencils that I have in my collection.

This article shows the 5 most important factors that I look for when selecting my professional pencil range:

I need to have a range that allows multiple layering
I need them to blend well for backgrounds and skin tones
Will work well with fixative
The pencils must be extremely lightfast and the colours strong
Need soft and hard pencils for different areas of my work

The 5 'tests' shown in this article includes:

Black & White Test
Hardness V's Softness
10 layer test - 'Mixed' layering
Fixative test
Blendability

This article also gives information on the importance of paper weight (gsm), information on each pencil including costs (GBP) and lightfast ratings as well as my own thoughts on 'adapting to coloured pencils' . I hope that this will be of help to all coloured pencil artists out there from those starting out looking to buy their first range to those interested in how each compare.

Any questions, just ask!

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featured artist in june's colored pencil magazine

27/5/2015

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Click on the image to purchase a copy

I was approached by the editor of the USA Colored pencil Magazine to be their featured artist in the June issue (2015), this is a wonderful magazine for Coloured pencil enthusiasts and I was honoured!
Most of my Artwork included in the magazine was created especially for this purpose and as such, some pieces of Art have never been seen before. The cover image was actually the completed recce piece of a Coloured pencil Workshop that I ran last year in Chesterfield, so thought it would be ideal to post on this News page.

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New product article - Derwent 'Inktense' pencils

24/3/2015

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Derwent Inktense pencils and a Peacock feather drawing

my 'Inktense' pencils review

Having tried out the Derwent 'Inktense' pencils a while back, I thought I would add an article to this site for any of you out there thinking about buying a set but wanted to find out a little more about them first. In my latest article about these pencils, I created my own trial piece of a peacock feather so I could test out the vibrancy and ease of use of these pencils. Please click on the image if you wish to find out more.

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WEBSITE UPDATED AND EXTENDED

11/3/2015

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The New Look Site

Anyone having visited and bookmarked this Step by Step Art Website will see it has had an overhaul in the last few days, the main reason is because I have decided to extend this site to offer artists out there, a website that offers art workshops and online advice. For those unable to attend my workshops, there will be articles and video tutorials provided to every artist worldwide.

I enjoy sharing my own artistic knowledge on a wide range of things from how to produce a pencil portrait to product recommendations that I have tried & tested myself. I hope to bring on board other artists to share their knowledge too. Offering information not only based on mediums I work with, as that can limit the market considerably, but articles from artists who work with other mediums.

Chesterfield art workshops page - click to view

Our Colourfix article - click here to read

So why not bookmark this website, there may be some tiny nugget of advice found within these pages that helps save the life of a drawing!
Please feel free to share this with other artistic friends and if anyone has any articles that they would like to submit to this site, please get in touch, I would love to hear from you!
Karen :)

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Art Spectrum Colourfix 'Smooth'

Primer

How does the Colourfix smooth compare to Pastelmat?

Violet flower on Colourfix smooth paper

NEW COLOURFIX™ OPTIMUM BOARD
ORIGINAL (MEDIUM) TEXTURE

Looking how to start your own art commission business?

Blenders & Burnishers

New to coloured pencils? - product recommendation

New article! Starting out with graphite pencils

Caran Dache Luminance pencils article

Looking for advice on which coloured pencil range to buy?

Help and advice is at hand if so....

featured artist in june's colored pencil magazine

New product article - Derwent 'Inktense' pencils

my 'Inktense' pencils review

WEBSITE UPDATED AND EXTENDED

Author

Archives

Categories

QUICK LINKS

HOW TO SUPPORT US

Primer

How does the Colourfix smooth compare to Pastelmat?

Violet flower on Colourfix smooth paper

**NEW** COLOURFIX™ OPTIMUM BOARDORIGINAL (MEDIUM) TEXTURE

Help and advice is at hand if so....

my 'Inktense' pencils review

Author

Archives

Categories

QUICK LINKS

HOW TO SUPPORT US

NEW COLOURFIX™ OPTIMUM BOARD
ORIGINAL (MEDIUM) TEXTURE