Pencilvember: Small Breakthrough (and Luminance Illumination)

 

In every challenge in which I have given myself a specific drawing goal (not just the use of a specific medium all month), I usually hit a creative breakthrough point. In a month-long challenge, it often happens around the third week. I think it just takes a couple of weeks to warm up and push past any resistance before a breakthrough can happen. Last week I finally hit that point in Pencilvember: I pushed past being descriptive and moved more in the direction of caricature or imaginative drawing.

The lioness returns from hunting with hungry, squabbling cubs in tow while
the deadbeat king of the forest has been sleeping all day.

In truth, however, I should probably count all of InkTober before that as part of the warm-up. I had hoped to be more expressive and less descriptive when using a brush pen, too, but I never felt like I got there last month. It took a couple more weeks using colored pencils to finally loosen up my always-challenged imagination.

Awakened from her beauty sleep.

Although the first two dogs probably look fairly realistic without much caricature, I exaggerated some of their features. Those tries gave me permission to push harder with the lioness and the two kitties that followed – and what fun they were! I’m pleased to be hitting my goal while staying within my self-made time limit of 20 minutes.

Full of her own beauty.

The last dog’s (below) reference photo was a bit frowny, so I used a second reference photo to help me with the grin and tongue. I’m starting to learn that I can (and should, if necessary) use multiple reference photos when making imaginary drawings. I know pros do this all the time, but as a “realistic” sketcher all these years, I sometimes forget that I can use reference images in whatever way I want to help me do what I’m trying to do. The challenge with multiple references is that the lighting will not be consistent, so I must rely on my own knowledge of light logic if I want the lighting to make sense. (More on this next week in my Pencilvember finale.)

Material notes: These sketches were all done with Caran d’Ache Luminance. Following nearly a week of using Derwent Lightfast, I immediately noticed significant differences between them. While both are extremely soft, Luminance feels strangely “dry” compared to Lightfast. Although I’ve never thought of Lightfast as being “creamy” or “buttery” the way Derwent Drawing colored pencils are, Lightfast are, indeed, creamy compared to Luminance. Huh! Given how much I usually love Caran d’Ache’s premium products (and how mixed my feelings are about many Derwent products), I daresay I prefer Lightfast!