Grisaille
When creating a colored pencil drawing, I like to make my value decisions first and then add local color. French Gray is a warm, neutral color that works well to build a foundation of form and volume. This gray-like foundation is called grisaille (greese-eye). Click on this link to see a 3-step example of this process. Grisaille Example.

The Role of Paper Texture
Paper texture can play a role in the look of a finished colored pencil drawing. Each paper has a texture or "tooth". A light application of color will allow the tooth of the paper to contribute to texture and interest in your work. Click on this link to see examples of different drawing surfaces used with colored pencil. Paper Texture Examples.

Baby Wipes
Premoistened baby wipes will partially dissolve both wax and oil based colored pencils. Tip credit goes to colored-pencils list (www. egroups.com). I've also found the wipes do a great job completely dissolving water-soluble pencil leaving no stroke marks. Hypoallergenic and alcohol free, I don't know how they affect paper or pencil long term so use with caution for fine art work.

Bye-Bye Round End
I want to use as much as possible of each pencil (see New and Improved tip below) but the rounded end on Polychromos prevented me from gluing a stub onto a new pencil of the same color. To solve this problem, I hold the stub firmly upright and briskly rub the rounded end over sandpaper to make it flat. I do the same with a new Polychromo pencil of the same color then glue them together with super glue (for wood) to create a longer than usual 2-part pencil with both ends sharpened. When either pencil has been sharpened to within 3/4" of the glued seam, I use pliers to break off the short piece, re-sand and re-glue another pencil on.

New and Improved
You may remember my “Miles Per Pencil” tip in the Swipe File of The Artist’s Magazine July 1995. Here’s an improvement. Instead of taping or gluing your stub to the number end of a new pencil, attach it to the end you would sharpen before you sharpen it. Then, continue to sharpen all the way through the stub and into the new pencil. This way you’ll be able to use up every little bit of each pencil. Good News!

Loose Color?
Have you ever had a pencil dry out so much that the color shaft loosens from the wood enclosure? If so, you know it slips in and out making it impossible to sharpen or draw with. To repair, push the color out the “rear end” of the wooden shaft about 1/2” and apply a super glue to the colored lead. Push it in quickly before the glue dries and seal the end with more super glue.

Dents and Scratches
Examine your drawing paper for flaws and damage BEFORE you begin to work on it. Take your paper to a strong light and view it an angle for dents or scratches that will affect the application of color (as impressed line technique does). It is a frustrating surprise to color upon an area containing paper damage. Usually by then you are well into your work and reluctant to trash it and start over.

Recently, I began a new drawing on a different brand of 4-ply board. The sheet I was testing was purchased individually, not in the protection of a pack of 25 sheets and I did not examine it as carefully as I should have before beginning my drawing.
Fortunately, because I was working at an angle, the light caught the dents before I had applied color to that area. I didn’t want to throw away hours of work that was going well so I tried the following repair and it worked!

How to fix dents in uncolored 4-ply mat board drawing surface:
1. Lay the board flat, not at an angle.
2. Get two clean, cotton swabs and wet one with clean water.
3. Dab the dented area with the wet swab-tip, getting it quite wet. Depending upon the hardness of the paper, the fibers will begin to absorb water and swell and puff UP, bring the dent up level with the rest of the paper surface.
4. After a few minutes, absorb excess moisture by pressing a dry swab against the wet area. Let the paper dry completely before applying color.

Future Drawings Notebook
You shoot a couple rolls of film for reference photos and get them developed. Then what? Do you put the photos back into the photo-lab envelope and put them away until it’s time to start a new painting? Do you review all photos again to find the ones that excited you the first time through? I used to do that - it was exhausting! I figured out a way that works better for me...it might work better for you too.

When I have a little block of time to really ponder the photos, I look at them carefully for good light, composition, and design principles. I hope to find several out of each roll of film that I’m excited about. If I’m not excited the first time I see a photo, it’s doubtful that I'll like it any better later. I pull out those I have a “passion” for, label them in some way that ties them back to the photo-lab envelope and negatives, and tape them into a spiral notebook labeled FUTURE DRAWINGS NOTEBOOK. Then, when it’s time to start a new drawing, I look through the notebook. My enthusiasm remains high because I’m selecting from the best.

Reference Photo Storage
What about all the photos that didn’t end up in the FUTURE DRAWINGS NOTEBOOK? They may be close-ups of subjects in the “main” reference photo. I store them in gallon size zip top freezer bags. They'll be used as companion reference photos for the ones in the Future Drawings Notebook. I can label the front of the bag and also can see at a glance what photos are inside.

Protect Your Back Side
When entering work into competitions, show personnel frequently adhere their information to the back of your artwork with masking tape that then rips the surface of the backing when you try to remove it. Here’s a solution: peel the back off a self adhesive 8-1/2 x 11 sheet by 3M (removable like Post-It Notes). Adhere the sheet to the back of your art, draw a line all around to indicate an 8-1/2 x 11 box, and label it “Please attach all information in this area only”. When it gets too beat up you can peel it off and attach a new sheet.

Care for your electric sharpener
To keep the blades of your electric or battery pencil sharpener lubricated and free of wax build up, sharpen a graphite pencil occasionally. And, if you are faced with a chunk of colored pencil pigment stuck in your electric sharpener, select a sacrificial graphite pencil and push it firmly into the sharpener. The graphite will push the colored pencil pigment through the blades and clear the sharpener.

Terry Cloth Wrap
I wrap a scrap of terry cloth (from an old towel) to cover the top and sides of my Panasonic Auto-Stop electric sharpener and fasten with resusable adhesive. After each sharpening, I run the pencil point over the terry cloth to remove loose particles of wood and color. This helps keep my drawing clean.