Chiaroscuro in Color

I was hesitant about coloring this piece, but then I figured, "why not?"  I'm glad I did!

Fixative may be my colored pencils' new best friend. It makes the black stay put while you add color on top! I had to order some online, but I was impatient and curious of what would happen if I didn't use it... so I colored half of it before the fixative arrived in the mail. It smeared a bit. I definitely didn't want to color the skin before fixing the black! (No specks and smears on the skin, please!) Working with fixative was very effective in keeping it all clean. A new item in the tool box, yessir!

Chiaroscuro

I'm watching a class on Skillshare by Marco Mazzoni, a colored pencil artist. It's about creating chiaroscuro portraits, utilizing darkness and light.

Realistic portraiture is something that I don't have the greatest interest in, so I decided to use the techniques discussed in this class to explore my preferred style of drawing.

I enjoyed using colored pencil, since it's been many years since I abandoned them for india ink and crow quill! I was surprised how small my black pencil became while doing this drawing! It feels satisfying to burn through supplies.