Sky using Prismacolor Art Sticks. WIP

[Jean270]

Hi everybody! Here is the Wip I said I would do to show how I use dust made from Prismacolor Art Sticks to "Paint" skies. I use a rather course Piece of Sand Paper to grind down the Sticks.

[Jean270]

I do this one color at a time! When I have ground the color on the sandpaper I use a small bristle brush to transfer the dust to a small bowl in one of my watercolor palette s.

[Jean270]

The I take a paper towel and tear into several pieces!I use one to apply each color!

[Jean270]

Then I dip the end of the folded paper towel into the lightest color. (Turquoise is my lightest color that I used here) and apply it using a swirling motion to the paper. You have to keep dipping into the dust and apply gently till you have the effect you want.

[Jean270]

Next layer I used was a darker blue! I added as I did before using a swirling motion and a clean piece of paper towel. Keep adding color till you have the depth you want. I don't go all the way down as the sky is lighter at the bottom!

[Jean270]

Next layer would be purple added mostly to the top section and maybe under the bottom edge of the clouds.
Jean

[Jean270]

Then I add just a hint of pink to the top edges of the clouds and blend everything together using stencil bristle brush that has been trimmed down. You can add detail to the clouds using a very small brush that has had the hairs trimmed very short. If you have questions, Just ask and I will try to answer! I am not very good at doing WIP and describing what I do! Jean

[Herb]

I really appreciate you showing how to do this, Jean. I've been thinking about how to get a realistic sky with CP, as I don't recall seeing too many. This looks like a good way to do it. Bookmarked your demo until I can have a go at one.

[Rita2479]

Thanks Jean, this is very useful, and inventive!
What paper are you using for this (or what paper do you normally work on?)

Rita

[Clever]

Originally Posted by Rita2479

Thanks Jean, this is very useful, and inventive!
What paper are you using for this (or what paper do you normally work on?)

Rita

I agree Jean, beautiful WIP and I am wondering about the paper as well.

[Jean270]

Here is my last update for this thread! I added more definition to the clouds using a small brush added more purple and pink to the sky and tops & bottoms of the clouds. I think the color of this picture is looks closer to the original than the ones I posted earlier!
Jean

[Jean270]

Hi Rita and Clever! The Paper I am using is Stonehenge!
As I stated on the "Prismacolor Art Sticks" thread. This method doesn't fill in the tooth of the paper so you have a very soft sky! You can also use other colors and make sunsets and Gray Skies. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort.
One other thing I forgot to mention is... you can erase with an electric eraser and get back your white paper (almost) and if you use a kneaded eraser you can soften the edges of your clouds.
Jean

[Jean270]

Hi Herb! Hope that this thread is of some help to you. At least it's another way to do skies.
Jean

[RobinZ]

Neat demo! Thanks so much!!

I wonder how it would look to start with a blue paper and grind up white for the clouds? I might try it! Wonder how it would work with a harder paper.

[Jean270]

Go for it Robin! We never know what will work until we try! This method was not mine! I picked it up from somewhere, but I don't know who came up with the idea of using dust. Most people I know have ground their pencils on sandpaper to do this! I have the Sticks and never used them, so I thought why waste my pencils?
Jean