Info for Beginning Artists written by Elaine Rittler
Have you ever seen cute little painted rocks in your travels? From healing stones to refrigerator magnets to paper weights to table-top or shelf decorations, these painted rocks serve a purpose and have become more popular in recent years. You may have thought it must be tricky or difficult to paint rocks and have always … Read more
Someone gave you a set of oil pastels (or you’ve seen them in the store), and you haven’t the foggiest idea what they are or how to use them. Am I right? Are they different from chalk pastels? Am I supposed to draw with them? Should I use blending techniques? The answer to all the … Read more
We all go through life’s ups and downs. When you are in a great place and everything is going well, you sail through your days with enthusiasm, making time for everything, and art goes so well. With life’s downs, however, it’s quite a different story. Undoubtedly you have been through rough times in your life … Read more
Blending colored pencil is a very popular topic, and there are oodles of articles addressing the how-to-blend question. Many articles discuss materials and tools you can use to blend this medium. In fact my own earlier article, “6 Ways for How to Blend Colored Pencil”, included discussion of materials you can use to blend. But … Read more
Whether you have been creating art for awhile or are just beginning, I’m guessing you have what I refer to as having a “fire in the belly” for creating art. That is akin to having a food craving (like my frequent chocolate craving—has to be dark, though, not the milk chocolate, lol, but I digress!). … Read more
If you have landed here to read about the best paper for colored pencil, it might be that you are less than satisfied with your colored pencil work. You may have some of the best colored pencils—Faber-Castell Polychromos, Prismacolor Premier, Koh-i-Noor, to name a few. Also, you may have the basics down: layering, blending shading, … Read more
You’ve probably heard the terms cold press or hot press watercolor paper but are not exactly sure what that means and what would be best for you. I remember when I started using watercolor pencils (which requires watercolor paper), I purchased cold press simply because it was more popular and have happily used it for … Read more
Watercolor pencils are a unique medium in that they combine the fun part of each medium—drawing with a pencil and painting with a brush. If you have used colored pencils but have always wanted to try painting, this may be the perfect transition for you. It’s frankly easier than traditional watercolor painting. No kidding! I wrote … Read more
In the world of Japanese animation, the anime characters have huge eyes, are absolutely adorable and striking, and are very popular. If you google the word anime, you will find over 2 billion results! And believe it or not, these characters are fun to draw, too, when you learn how to draw in the anime … Read more
Have you ever heard of Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colored Pencils? That’s OK, years ago, I hadn’t either. One of the elders in my colored pencil class brought them in to show me. As soon as I put one in my hand, I was enthralled and began taking it for a little test drive. I “ooed” and … Read more