10 reasons to sketch with coloured pencils

Today, the Derwent Pencil Company has published my article - 10 reasons to Sketch with Coloured Pencils by Katherine Tyrrell - on their lovepencils blog.

Published on the lovepencils blog 1st March 2011

I've now been sketching with coloured pencils for over twenty years - following a tip from a professional artist about how easy and effective they were to use for sketching.  I'm so convinced of their value I have no doubt I'll be sketching with them for the next twenty years too!

However I've always been really surprised that coloured pencils don't get mentioned more in art journals as a valuable sketching medium - for all the reasons I outline in the article.

As you can imagine I was absolutely delighted to be able to give coloured pencils a higher profile by focusing on value as an article for the blog!  Here are the 10 reasons - and if you want to know more you'll have to read the article!

1. Not a lot to carry!
2. As many colours as you want
3. Go where other artists cannot go
4. Scope for mixed media
5. Get a true record of colours and tones 
6. Work small - and large
7. Impervious to rain
8. If you make a mistake....
9. Coloured pencils don’t run 
10. No waiting for the paint to dry! 

I'll be putting a FREE downloadable copy of the article - in a slightly different format - on the Making A Mark Guides page of my website blog later this week. 

If you've not tried coloured pencils as a sketching medium why not give them a go!

The Love Pencils blog

The lovepencils blog was started in November last year by Derwent - the Cumberland Pencil Company. 
It was great to see a major pencils manufacturer grasp the value that a blog can have for those who are fans of their products and the company itself. 

The Derwent ladies make a point (joke!) of posting on a regular basis.  You can see the archive of past posts here.  Plus the blog has now passed the magical three month mark - which means it's "a stayer"! (It's a fact that something like 90% of blogs die before they are three months old).

I love all the people at Derwent - they're always really helpful and I'm certainly more than happy to contribute an article to this great new blog.  :)

If you're a fan of working with pencils I do recommend subscribing to the LovePencils blog.  Apart from keeping you up to date with new products and product changes, the blog also has articles by artists working with pencils in different ways.

"Travels with a Sketchbook" recommended by "The Times"

Learn How to Sketch - links to information and advice on my website

Just in case you missed the news - I'm absolutely delighted to announce that this blog Travels with a Sketchbook AND my advice on how to sketch were both highlighted and recommended by "The Times" newspaper last week!

That's the London newspaper with the name which was borrowed by every other newspaper with 'Times' in its title all around the world!

You can read the piece - included in the "Daily Universal Register" page below.  It's very pleasurable to read people's perspectives on your work when they are as good as this!

extract from the "The Times" newspaper 25th February 2011

I can't walk very well at the moment - so I found the article online and "he who must not bored while I sketch" bought me a copy of the newsprint version.  I had the page it was on memorised by the time he turned up with it! :)

It was nice to see that Urban Sketchers got the the "If you liked this then you might like this too" slot.

Tomorrow - I'll be highlighting my article about Ten reasons to sketch with coloured pencils which will be published by Derwent's LovePencils blog on Tuesday 1st March 2011.


Links:  Making A Mark - Press and Media coverage