Putting My Colored Pencil Lessons to Work

My colored pencil art class continues to go well. I'm dedicating a little bit of time each day to watching videos, reading articles, and/or actually practicing the skills I'm learning. 

First, a few random things I've learned in the past week:

• There are right and wrong ways to sharpen colored pencils. Many artists like to use a craft knife for precision, but there's nothing wrong with using a handheld sharpener as long as it is sharp. Turn the sharpener and not the pencil. If you use an electric sharpener, sharpen no more than 3 colored pencils at a time before letting the machine cool down. Then sharpen a regular graphite pencil before sharpening another colored pencil. 
• "Keen" is used to describe a very sharp point on a colored pencil. You can use sandpaper to turn your dull point to a keen one. It's the same word as in keen eyesight. 
• Colored Pencil Magazine exists. The website is great - I loved looking through the Art Challenges. I signed up for their newsletter in order to receive a free issue of the magazine so I could check it out. I like it and am considering subscribing. 
• Wax bloom is a thing. 
• Rather than leaving an area blank or coloring it with a white pencil, you can use an embossing tool on an area you want to remain white. Embossing can also keep colored details (like the veins of a leaf) crisp. It's basically pre-burnishing. 
• Non-Photo Blue is a specific color used in the pre-digital era because it doesn't show up on graphic arts camera film. I had a Non-Photo Blue colored pencil in my collection and never noticed until I made my swatches. 

Ready to see the most recent coloring page I've done? It is from the Love Grows coloring book and I used Prismacolor Premier color pencils on it. Affiliate links here and below. 

After I colored the image, I used microtip scissors to fussy-cut it. I glued it to a 5x7 white card base. I finished the card by gluing on the happy die-cut and the birthday sticker. 

I'm really enjoying my cobbled-together art class!