I was invited once again to create a coloured pencil tutorial for the American Colored pencil magazine workshop series. Past tutorials contributed to this series are the Blueberries (2018) and the Peacock Feather (2019). This year I chose the Hare, a very popular subject among artists. Click the image below, which links to the page where you can purchase a digital (or print) copy of the magazine. If you are in the UK, the digital copy costs less than £2.50 and you can download it in seconds. A great read at a cheap price.

What is included in this issue?

Spotlighting Art-n-Fly - Art-n-fly is an affordable oil-based coloured pencil which is covered in this edition. There is a link to a You Tube video demonstrating these pencils used with Art-n-fly alcohol markers.
Finding the Unique You - Alexandra Zeres showing her artwork framed in flowers, birds and butterflies
Creating Prints of Your Art - Learn how to navigate the options in order to get started printing and providing your followers and fans with gorgeous prints of your artwork.
Hare Tutorial - Workshop series by Karen M Berisford
Pairing with Pitt Pens - Sara Ostlund compares the pros and cons of using the Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens with your coloured pencils. Follow her demo to try it for yourself.
Creating a Beautiful Layout - Learn how to create beautiful layouts by Erin McManness in an excerpt from the book of the month.
Sketchbook - See what's new and in the news
Challenge Met Gallery - Artwork of 18 artists who undertook every monthly art challenge in 2020 and won themselves a free digital subscription.
plus Selfie challenge and December art challenge winners.
Featuring: Ambro Jordi
Ambro brings animals to life when he puts pencil to paper. Learn how he went from pursuing a career in animation to one in fine art. Read how he enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and offering words of encouragement.

FREE Art-n-Fly Oil-Based Colored Pencil inside the USA Print Issues only - While Supplies Last

Price: USA $3.99    UK £2.87*      Euro €3.31*
*Price may vary due to exchange rate when you purchase.

You can also download the Colored pencil magazine app on your Android or Apple device and purchase this edition, although there are no discounts available. The price is $2.99 and £2.99

If you haven't read this magazine before, you may find it a valuable resource as not only does it provide plenty of data on coloured pencils, it occasionally covers other mediums like pastel pencils and marker pens. There is an abundance of articles offering hints and tips, tutorials like this Hare above, regular competitions, a peek into the lives and studios of other artists and even guidance on the art business. They also have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages too so you can get involved in those competitions wherever you are in the world - I even had a go myself a few years ago!

For anyone who uses the Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils, the company has released 24 new colours! You can buy individual pencils or purchase 20 of the colours in a box set called the 'Portrait assortment' 

These pencils have been available to 'pre-order' for a while, but online stores, are now receiving stock and getting them sent out to everyone. My set appeared on Saturday morning (18.07.20) and I have to admit to being very excited upon opening the box.

For me, the Luminance pencils are THE best pencils I have used and I really appreciate that Caran d'Ache have extended the colour palette from 76 to 100. I suspect this was a reaction to Derwent releasing their first, fully lightfast pencil range last summer, which had 100 colours. For anyone interested, I have both ranges. The Luminance pencils are my regular 'go to' pencils as they are a little firmer than the Derwent Lightfast, and I am able to create finer details with them, but both ranges offer different colour palettes and having a larger choice is always a bonus.

The two darker tones, Indanthrone Blue and Dark Indigo will make a more natural replacement for the black pencil, but as the majority of my own work includes pets and portraits, having additional browns and pinks added to the palette is excellent. My current favourite colours are Burnt Ochre 10% and Burnt Sienna 10%, which I use on almost every portrait, so the introduction of the Herculanum Red, Violet Pink and Dark Flesh 40% are most welcome!

Above are the four new colours not included in the Portrait set. Personally, I think that Caran Dache should have created the Portrait set and include all 24 colours as they are just as important as all the other colours. I also wish they had included an extra grey for the 'eye colour selection', but as I use the greys more than most other colours, I could never have enough choice!

Have you got yours yet? Do let me know what your favourite, or most used colours are, and which new colours you are most excited about!

You can view our Luminance article by clicking the link below.

Unfortunately, I have had to cancel my final art workshop of the year.
The two day, coloured pencil workshop that was booked to run over the weekend of 15th and the 16th of August has now been rolled over to next year.
The Coronavirus has turned many lives and businesses upside down this year, and although we are all trying to get back to normal, it's going to take some time adapting to the new normal. Government regulations offer advice for all businesses and event planners to follow so they can provide a service as safely as possible. For many, this is possible, for others, it isn't. This workshop comes under the latter, and unfortunately there are too many hurdles that I, as the art tutor, am unable to fulfil.

The room where the workshop is held, is simply too small for social distancing. The raison d'etre of my workshops is providing demonstrations and one to one help, any social distancing means the whole point of the workshop is lost. Other guidelines, understandably, cover strict sanitation and it would be almost impossible to follow all the requirements.

As many are still concerned about gathering in groups, the interest in this workshop has been low, meaning people are simply not booking and the workshop is not viable.

I have decided to roll all my 2020 art workshops over to 2021 whilst adding in a Coronavirus caveat which may affect a workshop depending on the situation at that time. Anyone who wanted to attend the workshops this year, can still attend next year if they are able. You can click on any of the images below to find out more information on each workshop. I will open up bookings in the new year.

I want to send out a big thank you to everyone who booked one of my art workshops this year. For those who have attended previous events, I have missed seeing you again and for those who booked for the first time, I will look forward to meeting you in the future.

Stay safe everyone,

Karen Berisford,
Artist & art tutor of Step by Step Art

I am currently in the process of organising this years art workshops and will be included in the winter newsletter which will be Emailed out to subscribers hopefully by the end of this month. All details will be posted on the step by step art CHESTERFIELD WORKSHOP page once available and added to social media pages for this site & my KMB social media pages too,  ensuring a larger audience reach.

Every year I choose 3 or 4 subjects for the Coloured pencil & Graphite pencil workshops which include varying techniques and surfaces to previous years, ensuring each workshop is different to another. Coloured pencil workshops using textured paper are somewhat easier for a complete beginner than the workshops working on smooth paper, however every workshop available  can be attended by any artist regardless of their calibre, even if they have NEVER drawn anything since their time at school!

​To find out more about our workshops, click any one of the following links to visit the page of interest:

Black fur can be a real challenge to create in art and it can be frustrating working out where to start and how to layer effectively to get the right finish. In this workshop I will show you how to create the black fur on a Labrador dog using coloured pencils and how to correctly layer with them to create realistic fur. Although all spaces are fully booked for this workshop, you can add your name to our reserves list in case of a cancellation, just Email me if so. View our T's & C's for more details.

This wild rabbit subject was originally booked as an acrylic workshop, but I decided to change the medium to coloured pencils for two reasons, my coloured pencil workshops are fast becoming popular and only having ten spaces to a workshop, they get booked up quickly and so I decided to change the medium to allow more people a chance to attend a pencil workshop, the second reason is that the BLENDERS AND BURNISHERS page on this website is one of the most read articles and this subject lends itself well to teaching how to use blenders to create smooth transitions perfect for tonal backgrounds and foregrounds. The subject will be created on green tonal paper which will aid highlights and show how important coloured paper can be in art. The perfect subject for those new to coloured pencils but ideal for those looking to take their pencil work a stage further. Blenders will be available for trial or purchase on the day or bring your own.

All of these workshops are accompanied by demonstrations so you can see how each section is built up so you can go back to your workstation and repeat the procedure on your own drawing, you are also presented with a workshop booklet that you can keep and use it to help you progress both during the workshop and at home if you are unable to finish your portrait on the day. You also receive a print photo of the subject (or  work from your iPad) and a photocopy outline for Tracedown use.

There are only 10 spaces available at our workshops although some places have already been booked, as I keep them relatively small which allows me to offer 1 to 1 help in between each demonstration to those that request it. The venue is  a small community centre in a very quiet part of Newbold in Chesterfield with ample parking for attendees. You can purchase many of the products that I use during the demonstrations if you choose to and continue to use them for your own projects or a future Step by Step Art workshop.

You can either use your own products from home or loan/purchase an art kit from myself (book in advance)

THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN COMPLETED

If you have any questions before you book a place, feel free to get in touch at any time at:
karenmberisfordart@gmail.com

I realise it has been many months since I wrote a post here on the Step by Step Art website and for that I apologise. There has been much happening since April 2016 but overlooked the power of the news blog. Hopefully I am able to change that in 2017 with new workshops and articles coming this year.  As technology improves at a rate I certainly cannot keep up with, websites also have to keep up with the times and this is the reason for the 'new look'. I hope it is more visually appealing (we artists love colour!) whilst still offering lots of help and advice to artists here in the UK and around the world.

I am currently in the process of adding six new articles, including a mini step by step coloured pencil tutorial (other mediums will be available in future tutorials too). I also have a date for the first two workshops in May which will be run as a two day weekend workshop that can be booked together or individually depending on your preferences. The Saturday will be the coloured pencil workshop of a Snow Leopard eye on black Colourfix, which I ran in August 2013, and was quickly booked up. On the Sunday will be a graphite pencil workshop of a Ring-tailed Lemur, so if you are interested in learning how to work with pencils to create detailed art, these workshops may be for you. You don't need any previous experience with pencils or with art to join in, but I can guarantee that if you are a complete beginner you will be very surprised with what you have achieved by the end of the day.

Everyone gets their own workstation so you have ample room to spread out. The price of each workshop includes the paper, outline print out, booklet/sheets, and if you are bringing your own products to the coloured pencil workshop, you will be supplied a colour chart for the day or you can loan a kit. The pencil colours are individually coded to match the workshop notes, making it easy to select your pencils. The graphite pencil workshop also includes the paper, outline and workshop booklet. You can also loan a kit or purchase a home kit.

THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN COMPLETED

For anyone wishing to attend one of Karen's Workshops, bookings are now being taken for a 1 Day Coloured pencil Workshop that will be run in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. If you wish to find out more, please click the image below to visit the webpage or get in touch via the MAIL US page. You can also fill in your details to secure your place via the booking form found on the CHESTERFIELD WORKSHOPS page.

Learn how to layer with coloured pencils to create realism in your pencil work and how best to apply colours and application to create a smooth, tonal background. Karen has been working with coloured pencils for over 30 years and during each of her workshops, always offers demonstrations, 1 to 1 help and provides a take home work sheet for every attendee to ensure everyone regardless of artistic talent, is able to follow the process with confidence.

Feel free to click the Facebook 'Like' button, 'tweet' on Twitter or post a comment below!

​Hope to see you there!