maybe a stupid question

[IlliniPoke]

Ok I have zero experience with CP drawing. I bought my first set this weekend to play with after talking to a very talented local PC artist. Anyway I picked up a set of Derwent WC's.

I also picked up one of those waxy blending pencils. This was made by Cretacolor however... Would there be any reason for a blending stick (ok help, whats its real name?) made by someone else to not work well? I was wondering if maybe the wax consistency or something might affect different types of pencills differently.

When I use the stick it seems to not really blend much, but instead tends to lift or maybe scrape the color from the paper. Is this normal, am i using it wrong, am i expecting it to do something it isnt supposed to?

Oh well, thanks in advance for any help, and expect more questions cuz I'm absolutely clueless so far about CP's ;)

[arlene]

Simple problem...

The waxy blender's are meant to be used with wax pencils, such as Prismacolors, Cretacolors, or Derwent's Studio or Artist's brand pencils.

You bought watercolor pencils...if you want to blend all you need is a brush and some water. When wet, they give the appearance of watercolor.

They can be kept dry, and to get shading you would need to do blending, which is layering one color over another.

[IlliniPoke]

DOH!

Thumpin my head against the wall.

Ok I'll stop.. that hurt

Thank you. yeah I knew they were watercolor pencils but my brain didnt click into gear that the wax wouldnt blend them. I had seen a wax stick in the artist's tool box, but I forgot that she also used prisma colors. So the stick wasnt for the Derwents ;-)

Thats a relief, I kept trying to use them, i kept reading how they blended, filled in white spaces and made colors more vibrant... but all it was doing for me was making a waxy haze and scraping color away.

My experiment for tonight was to do a small underpainting of hues using the pencils then a little water, letting it dry, then drawing over the top (a snow scene with fall brush behind it). I think that will work better now that i know not to rub the wax on top of it ;-)

I guess I'll find out tonight, but can lighter colors be aplied dryly over a darker underpainting (that has dried of course)?

Ok last rambling question. Any way to lighten a smudge or mistake? Say I put in a tiny bit of brown in the snow to show a hill or a level change, any way to lighten it if too dark? Rubbing white over and over it didnt do too much.

ok ramble over ;-)

[Ivyleaf]

There are several ways to lift/correct colored pencils, here is a thread dealing with this issue: CP Removal Tips (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15104) . One way I like to work with pencils when they are not so waxy or do not have many layers down, is to take either a kneadable eraser or white handi-tack (aka sticky tack or mounting putty) and form into a ball, then dab, do not rub, the excess away. Dab up and down several times, turning the handi-tack as you do this. This will lighten the area somewhat . When you do this make sure you try it out on scrap paper first, it takes a while to get the feeling of the push/pull effect of dabbing: if you do press it too hard, you may rip softer papers. It might make a funny noise as it's being released from the paper, so don't be surprised :D :D :D . How fast you put it down and pull it off will also effect this noise level ;) . If you press, let it sit, then lift quickly, it will make the biggest noise. Best suggestion on how to dab properly: pretend you are putting calamine lotion on poison ivy. Little dabs will do ya ;)

Good luck :)

[IlliniPoke]

Thanks Ivy I have actually used sticky tack for graphite drawings, i really like the stuff, hadn't considered it for CP yet.

Thanks for the link also, I'll check it out.

Thanks to both yall :-)