WHICH COLOURED PENCILS DO I USE?
Choose the pencils that best suit you and your work
Since appearing on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year it has been rewarding to read so many messages from people who have been inspired to pick up a pencil and start drawing. I’ve also received lots of enquiries about the coloured pencils I use to produce my work.
When it comes to choosing any art materials I think it’s important to experiment and find products that best suit the way you work.
I’ve used Derwent coloured pencils for many years and I love them. In a nutshell, they offer a superb range of quality pencils with different characteristics that I can rely on when I‘m drawing on the go, at a life session or in the studio.
Derwent Lightfast
These are the pencils I used to create the winner’s commission portrait of Carlos Acosta for the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. They are ‘lightfast’, which means they won’t fade for 100 years under museum conditions.
Derwent Lightfast pencils are oil-based and their creamy texture suits how I layer and blend colours using hatching and cross-hatching techniques. They also offer the broadest colour spectrum of any 100% lightfast pencils on the market, so you’re spoilt for choice colour-wise. I love the wooden shafts too.
Derwent Procolour
Procolour is my go-to range of coloured pencils for life sessions and drawing outdoors. There are 72 wax-based pencils in the range, all of which give an intense punch of vibrant colour.
With Procolcour pencils I find you can get a good surface of colour down quickly and their smooth texture makes it easy to layer additional colours. They also retain a sharp point so are effective for fine detail. Great pencils for artists who are new to coloured pencils, as well as seasoned pros.