"Good Prospects"
I published this colored pencil portrait of my daughter as a personal project. It honors her acceptance of an offer to become an editor at a respected international science journal. I think this might be close to being a dream job for her. I created this colored pencil drawing of her in 2012 at the Mission Point Lighthouse in northern Michigan and titled it "Good Prospects" as a statement of hope and confidence.
I published this colored pencil portrait of my daughter as a personal project. It honors her acceptance of an offer to become an editor at a respected international science journal. I think this might be close to being a dream job for her. I created this colored pencil drawing of her in 2012 at the Mission Point Lighthouse in northern Michigan and titled it "Good Prospects" as a statement of hope and confidence.
Working in colored pencil as a medium is challenging for a number of reasons. One is that the process can be slow.as you spend time layering tones as with the sky and clouds in this landscape portrait. I used a pattern of vertical strokes throughout the sky and most of the portrait to unify the rendering and create an energy with the lines.
Another challenge is creating rich tones for skin and making them look authentic without loosing the unique quality of the medium. I love to let the strokes show because it creates a somewhat impressionistic effect.
Deep tones in shadows can be a challenge in that I always want to avoid completely burying the paper as a base tone. This keeps the rendering from looking heavy in places and inconsistent.
