Map DrawingNow that you have your most beautiful drawing, time to turn it into a map.
Take the drawing you did, (it matters not how you got it on to the paper originally, just remember to fix the distortions that may have occurred prior to step 2!) and transfer your drawing onto a piece of tracing paper in pencil (remember, high quality) and then create the outline on the tracing paper with the black marker. By not using the marker on your actual original sketch, you will save it in case you are not happy with the tracing and can use the original to create a new tracing.
As you can see, the actual outlined copy on tracing paper is not pristine. It's all crumpled and I actually accidentally ripped it. Just make sure that you keep your original in good shape in case you require it again.
You may have noticed that I have circles and lines in odd places. This is how I mark where I want a highlight to appear, or where shading may begin. These are all just place markers. It helps to identify approximately where I want things to appear on the work.
This is a good time to talk about paper.
If you choose a light coloured paper: (Not recommended for this picture)
For this step you will be transferring the outline you have created (what I called map) to a fabulously magnificent quality of paper. Most coloured pencil artists I know use "Stonehenge" more than any other types.
Another fair paper is "Bristol", Vellum (not smooth!)
If you purchase Stonehenge it will come in a large individual sheet. Just cut it to the correct size you want and save the rest for your next masterpiece.
Stonehenge comes in various shades. Pick the whitest. Bristol comes in pads. Stonehenge has more "tooth" to the paper and will hold more colour. Very sturdy!
Now you need a light box if you are working on white paper. You can use a window, or lightbox.
Place your "map" copy under the quality paper and VERY lightly outline the map on to your good paper. Every line you put on your good paper will eventually be erased as you replace it with colour. You don't want to score the page with the pencil line either. It will show if you do when you put the colour down.
Congratulations! You have now completed Step 2.
If you are smart and choose a black paper:
Okay. Here's the monkey wrench! I'm going to use black paper. That way I will save on pencil by not having to thickly lay on black since I'm working on a work that is primarily black. For this you will need a piece of white transfer paper. This is the equivalent of carbon paper, only in a white chalky substance. You can also make your own by saturating a piece of paper with white chalk or purchase it a Wallacks for a rather exorbitant price.
Take your "map" drawing and place it on top of the white chalk transfer paper and place them on top of the Stonehenge black paper.
Now use a coloured pencil to gently outline the "map" drawing so that the white chalk will transfer the the good quality black paper. It's important to use a different colour than black pencil when tracing over the lines on your map so that you will know which ones you've already traced over.
Once it's done you should have a white outline of your "map" drawing on the black paper. Before actually colouring with your coloured pencils, you will erase the white chalk marks with a kneaded eraser. But that's all part of the next step!
See you in a couple of weeks (God willing!) for Step 3.
4 comments:
Where do I get the dog?
Just grab one off the street, or I'll ship you mine. Even better, we'll bring him Friday when we go to your house for our vacation.
What happens if you have an all white dog? Not saying I have one, or plan to get one in the near future (especially considering that we shipped the last one to Chicago). Do you still do an outline? or do you draw out only the black parts?
I'm going to have to print out your lessons and work through them carefully.
Ahhhhh! But is the dog actually white! If you have a photo of something white, take a look at it. Pick the thing on the image that is the whitest and brightest. There may be other whites that are there but just aren't quite as sharp. Those are done in colour! There are 18 various shades of grey pencil in the Prismacolour pencil set alone. In each of those 18 pencils you can make a value scale of 9 or so different shades. That's without actually going into the lighter values of other colours! White is rarely ever white. It's usually a scant layer of some colour. The only thing that is ever white are highlights...and usually small ones at that!
Don't print it, just spend some time with me and we'll do one together.
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