I've used colored pencils for years and years for fashion illustration.
There are so many benefits. I usually use them over watercolors/ gouache to create:
- highlights or shine
- shadow or deep, dark line
- topstitching
- embroidery, beading
- print or pattern
- color correcting
I also have some pet peeves when it comes to colored pencil
Colored pencils alone in a sketch tend to look thin and dry. Don't you think?
Low quality colored pencils are hard, thin, dent your paper and have very little pigment (very pale color).
The good news is that top quality pencils for fashion sketching like Prismacolor premier, (though they break WAY TOO EASILY) are rich, super-sensitive, and can even be used entirely opaque. The problem with colored pencils usually is that the paper is always showing through, so the figure on the page never really "pops off" of the paper as its own living thing.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE TIPS for colored pencil
is that you should use it over wet media when fashion sketching (markers, gouache, or watercolors). Why? Because this way your colored pencils are backed with the fluid look of wet media, which really captures the vital "flow" feeling of REAL FABRIC.
Another top tip
is that if you have have painted or used a marker and the color is "off"---- after it dried or the lighting changed you realize that it really doesn't match your fabric swatches or meet your needs, COLORED PENCILS give you a magic-wand advantage. You can just use the pencil on its side and lay down a sheer layer of tone over the color to adjust it. For example, if my red isn't BLUE enough, I can layer a bit of sheer blue over my red and it will change the appearance of it.
One thing I love doing with colored pencils
is using the side of the pencil to lay over because it adds some TEXTURE to what I've painted or used marker for. (markers on marker paper for fashion illustration need the most help of all because the paper and the medium are both thin and flat!) In my own work and for my students at Parsons School of Design and Fashion Illustration Tribe, I really want them to have texture in their fashion sketch.
In the example in this article
I did something I never usually do, and loved the result. I used the colored pencil WITHOUT marker or gouache being laid down first. I went straight to the page and sketched with Prismacolor Premiers only, to capture this African Print ensemble and headwrap.
I used Bee Paper Co's recycled sketch paper and LOVED the way the rich, opaque colored pencils POPPED off of it. If you squint or look closely, you'll see where I used white for highlights, and navy blue for some deep shadows on the fashion illustration.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What do you love to do? I also love colored pencils on my digital apps such as Tayasui Sketches Pro, Adobo Photoshop Sketch, Autodesk Sketchbook and Procreate. (The first two are my favorites).
If you'd love to learn more about fashion illustration, fashion design and fashion design sketching, please let me know here or contact me at info@fashionillustrationtribe.com. My name is Laura Volpintesta and I've been a fashion assistant professor at Parsons since 1997 and now founded http://www.FashionIllustrationTRIBE.com which is in its third year offering an ever-expanding fashion program so you can learn fashion on YOUR SCHEDULE and learn art and design at the same time.
Fashion Illustration TRIBE is body positive, ethical fashion happy, and attracts positive creatives who want to find their voice and create with skill and joy
You can find me at my site or you can email info@fashionillustrationtribe.com
https:instagram.com/LauraVolpintesta
My book: the Language of Fashion Design: 26 Principles Every Fashion Designer Should Know
