Like all of my pieces, the best place to start is with a sketch of my chosen subject. For today, I have chosen a little brown acorn to draw. After I have lightly sketched the acorn basic shape with Graphic HB pencil, I began to add colour. This time with the Derwent Lightfast pencils, with colours chosen from the 12 tin, on the Derwent Lightfast 100% cotton paper.
I will build up the colour with many layers of the following colours: Brown Ochre, Mid Ultramarine, Sandstone, Natural Brown, Scarlet, Yellow Ochre, Sun Yellow and Violet for the shade tones in the acorn. I start with the light colours and build it up just to create the right tone. Of course it would be easy if you have the 100 colours of the Lightfast, but remember creating a colour from multiple pencils is better then to use one correct colour from your collection of Lightfast pencils. So always remember create a colour with at least three colours to create a beautiful colour. So you get more depth in the colour.
The paper I am using is the new Derwent Lightfast 100% cotton paper. It is an off-white colour paper with a smooth surface that hold down the layers very nicely. I am very surprised about the paper, I think this would not be the last creation on this paper ;-).
For the ‘hat’ of the acorn I used Sandstone, Natural Brown, Scarlet, Sun Yellow and Violet. Here I did not only give colour but also drew lines with the Derwent Lightfast to create the structure of the ‘hat’. The pencils I gave a nice sharp point by using the Derwent Super Point Mini Sharpener or you can use the Derwent Super Point Desk Sharpener. It essential to use a good sharpener with pencils in general but especially with the Lightfast range.
Then at last I used the Derwent Operated Eraser to get some light back in this little drawing of the acorn.
Watch the full video here.
Good luck with practising with the Derwent Lightfast pencils and try the Lightfast paper it will not disappoint you and enjoy creating – there’s always time to add a bit of colour to your life!