Original Coloured Pencil Drawings
MAGICAL WILDLIFE DRAWINGS CREATED WITH LOVE IN EVERY PENCIL STROKE
Each original drawing I create is achieved by applying many, many layers of coloured pencils, up to 20 layers, which are lightly built up on the surface of the paper, this achieves the photorealism required and for the wildlife portrait to come to life!
I use very specific makes of pencils called Polychromos, Prismacolor, Derwent, and Caran d'Ache, which are chosen for their quality and lightfastness to ensure each creation will not fade for up to 100 years under museum conditions.
If you would like to find out more about the process, please click here
THE PROCESS
The process begins by choosing a reference photo. I am connected with a few of my favourite animal photographers, who allow me to use their beautifully captured work. I mostly use a combination of photos to create a composition for the finished piece, but occasionally I will just use the photo as it is. I then select the paper, of which I have three favourites: Canson/Mi-Teintes, Clairefontaine/Pastlemat and Hahnemuhle/Nostalgie. The next stage is to select the pencil colours, which I choose by eye. Coloured pencil is known to be the slowest medium and it can take 5-50+ hours to complete a drawing depending on the size. This for me is part of the attraction, as it is a very peaceful and methodical process that builds over hours, with the end result slowly coming into sight, then pop! That moment when the drawing really looks like the real animal! It excites me every time.