Drawing and Painting with Pencils and Pastels
By Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
The completed pastel painting
This tutorial focuses on the process of painting a pastel flower portrait in Painter X: setting up for drawing and painting with Pencils and Pastels, designing a composition and building a drawing; then using the Pastels to block in base colors and model forms using feathered, hatched strokes.
Datura is a beautiful flowering vine that grows wild in the coastal areas of Southern California. During a morning hike along a coastal trail in spring, I came upon a beautiful specimen with light lavender flowers, illuminated by the early morning light. In this particular image, I was fascinated by the backlighting shining though the delicate flower petals. I shot several photographs, and also made some quick sketches in my sketchbook. Later, back at the studio, I began a Pencil and Pastel painting in Painter.
The Pastel brushes in Painter are exciting to use because they are so texture-sensitive and expressive. Pastels are ideal for creating soft atmospheric effects, and feathering (layering short strokes of broken color). Feathering is a traditional pastel technique that lends texture and freshness; I love to use this feathering and hatching technique in many of my paintings.
1 Choosing a reference. For this project, you can sketch from life or use a photograph for reference. If you want to use photo, choose a photograph with a simple composition that has a prominent subject, and dramatic lighting. I chose this photograph of the datura flower because of its well-balanced composition, and intriguing early morning lighting. Open your photo by navigating to it, and then choosing File, Open.
The photograph of the datura flower
2 Setting up, and building a custom palette. If you want to trace your photo when you sketch, you can use Painter's Quick Clone feature to set up your reference easily. Choose File, Quick Clone, and Painter will create a clone image with a blank background with the Tracing Paper enabled, ready for you to trace the photograph.
I did not want to create an exact copy of my photograph, so I sketched by observation instead of tracing. To follow my set up, begin by opening a new file (File, New). My file measures 5 x 6 inches x 300 ppi with a white background. I chose to make the drawn composition focus more on the flower, so I chose a format that was more square.
Now click on the title bar of your photo reference file and position it in the upper area of your screen, so that you can see it as you sketch. I am right-handed, so I position my drawing file on the right and the reference on the left as you can see in the workspace screen shot. To see details in the reference, you can always zoom in to see them, by using the Magnifier tool, (pressing Control/Command and the plus key to zoom in; to zoom out use Control/Command and the minus key.) You can use the Grabber hand to reposition the image in the window, and you can always change the size of the window by dragging on the bottom right corner. Note the illustration of the workspace I used while painting this pastel image. It includes the Colors palette, Mixer, a custom Color Set, and custom palette with Pencils and Pastels, Blenders and Paper Textures. The custom palette allows me to quickly switch between frequently used brushes.
To set up a custom palette with the brushes that I used, begin by selecting the Pencils category in the Brush Selector Bar, and then choosing the Cover Pencil variant. Click on the variant icon and drag it off the palette, and a new unamed custom palette will appear. Drag the lower right corner to expand the palette, then drag another Pencil onto the palette, I chose the 2B Pencil variant. Now, switch to the Pastels category in the Brush Selector Bar, and choose the Square X-Soft Pastel 30 variant and drag it onto the palette. Coninue to choose Pastel variants that you like and drag them onto the palette. I chose the Square X-Soft Pastel 10, Square Hard Pastel 25, Artist Pastel Chalk, Tapered Pastel 10, Pastel Pencil. When you are finished choosing Pastels, switch to the Blenders category, and add the Grainy Water and Soft Stump 20 variants. Finally, add Paper Texture. I chose the Sandy Pastel Paper Texture for this small custom palette. To rename your palette, choose Window, Custom Palette, Organizer, click on your palette and choose Rename, when the dialog box appears, give your palette a descriptive name. I named mine Pencil and Pastel Drawing 1. For more information about custom palettes, see the Painter X Wow! Book, page 40
My workspace showing the Colors, Mixer, Color Set, Layers and Custom palettes, and the in-progress sketch
The texture of the surface you will paint over is important to consider when working with Pencils and Pastels, as they are among the most texture-sensitive brushes in Painter. To choose a texture in the Paper Selector, click the Paper Selector near the bottom of the Toolbox and select Sandy Pastel Paper texture. Next, pick a color to sketch with from the Colors palette (I began with a dark gray). Now click on the Cover Pencil variant of Pencils in your custom palette, or if you did not build a palette, choose it from the Brush Selector Bar.
For a more sensitive response when using your stylus, choose Edit, Preferences/Corel Painter X, Preferences, Brush Tracking, make a representative brushstroke in the window and click OK.
3 Sketching the composition. Now you're set up and ready to sketch. Carefully look at your reference and begin drawing a line sketch, focusing on the contours of the object. Don't worry about adding too much detail, but sketch to get to know your subject. In my case, I got acqainted with the exterior shape of the flower, the contours of its petals, and how they turn and fold into one another, and the intriguing negative space around the flower. I wanted the leaves and flower buds to remain in the background as supporting elements.
Sketching with the Cover Pencil to create the loose sketch.
When you are satisfied with your drawing, lift it to a layer so that you can use it as a reference while painting with color on the Canvas. To cut your sketch onto a layer, choose Select, All, and then Select, Float. To make the white areas of the sketch layer appear clear, revealing the Canvas below, set the Composite Method to Multiply. To rename the layer, double-click on its name in the layers palette, and when the Layer Attibutes dialog box appears, type "sketch" into the field.
The Layers palette with the Sketch layer selected, and set to Multiply
4 Blocking in base colors. In preparation for blocking in base colors on the background, click on the Canvas, and then click on the Square X-Soft Pastel 30 in your custom palette or choose it from the Brush Selector Bar. The Square X-Soft Pastel variant has nice grain, and will smear slightly when you press down hard on the stylus. If you find the sketch distracting while you are painting, you can reduce its Opacity using the slider on the Layers palette, or hide it by closing its Eye icon.
When designing a composition, the space around an object (the negative space) is just as important as the object itself. Study the space around your subject, and then begin to block in the background, choosing new colors as needed.
Using the Xtra-Soft variant of Pastels to block in the beautiful negative space around the flower.
When your background is loosely roughed in, lay in more color over your sketch, allowing your strokes to follow the direction of the forms.
The base colors are laid in in this illustration
5 Sculpting forms with hatched strokes. Now, choose the Pastel Pencil variant of Pastels, and add more color and value to your painting by making curved and angled strokes. As I worked, I also used the Grainy Water variant of Blenders to selectively blend areas. Layer the color and blend the underpainting until you're pleased with the forms. For soft color variations on the background which would give the simple composition more movement and interest, I used the Tapered Pastel 10, and Square Hard Pastel 25 brushes to paint warmer green and gray-green colors. Then, I used a small Square X-Soft Pastel to paint varied pink, peach and lavender highlights where the stronger morning light was shining on and through the petals.
Using a small Square X-Soft Pastel to paint feathered strokes, to bring out highlights and color variations on the flower.
6 Softening the brush work. Pause and take a good look at your painting. Do some of the feathered areas need softening? Select the Grainy Water variant of Blenders and blend areas of color, again following the direction of the form. I softened strokes in the shaded areas of the petals, and in the center of the flower.
Using the Tapered Pastel 10 to paint details on the interior of the fold (left) and then blending the area with the Grainy Water (right)
7 Adding feathered strokes and highlight details. To create sensitve textured strokes on top of the blended forms, choose the Tapered Pastel 10 variant. If you need to reduce its Size, use the Size slider in the Property Bar. Stroke with this brush in the direction of the form. In this example, the feathering is most noticeable in the highlights of the flower-in the lighter yellow, pink and lavender colors overlaid over the base colors. Finish the piece by using the Grainy Water variant to soften a few of the shadow areas. (For the final blending touches, I lowered the Opacity of the Grainy Water to 40% using the Opacity slider in the Property Bar.) Finally, I used a small Pastel Pencil to add highlight details to interior elements of the flower, and to the petal points that were picking up the sunlight.
Good work! You have created a lovely painting using the Pencils and Pastels. Have fun exploring more of the Pastels in Painter X. Happy Painting!
Using a Pastel Pencil to paint brighter highlights on the tip of a flower petal. Feathered strokes are also visible on the body of the petal.
All content and images © 2008 Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
An award-winning artist and author, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis has always worked with traditional art tools. A pioneer in digital art, Cher has created illustrations using the Macintosh computer for two decades. She has been widely recognized for her mastery of Painter, Photoshop and the Wacom pressure-sensitive tablet, and has used these electronic tools since they were ?rst released. Exercising her passion for Painter's artist tools, Cher has worked as a consultant and demo-artist for the developers of Painter. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide and her articles and art have been published in many books and periodicals. Cher holds a BFA with Highest Honors and Distinction in Art specializing in painting and printmaking, and she is a member of the San Diego -Museum of Art Artist Guild and the Digital Art Guild. She has taught Painter and Photoshop workshops around the world, and is the principal of the consulting ?rm Cher Threinen Design.
Cher is the author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book, Creative Techniques in Digital Painting and all eight editions of The Painter Wow! Book. The Painter X Wow! Book is the latest edition of this highly-praised volume of techniques and inspiration. To learn more about Cher, visit her website at: www.pendarvis-studios.com.