Drawing a Sunrise with Water Soluble

Colored Pencils
by Carrie Lewis

Step 1: Filling in the sky

I began with water soluble Light Blue, which I layered diagonal then horizontal throughout the
upper sky; followed by similar layers of water soluble Light Flesh, which I layered over all of
the sky except where the sun will be.

I used light pressure and the sides of the pencils for both colors. Then I blended the colors
together with a medium-sized sable flat brush dampened with clean water. I blotted the brush to
remove most of the water before blending, because Im not using watercolor paper. I also used
no more than one or two strokes over any area, because additional strokes tend to remove or
pull up color.

Step 2: Adding trees and sunbeams

When the paper was dry, I added the most distant trees as vague shapes using Light Blue and
Light Flesh, then blended them with a wet brush. Note that in a couple of areas (shown above in
the first image), I rubbed away strips of color to suggest faint sunbeams.
I drew the darker trees with Van Dyke Brown and blended with a wet brush. Then I moistened

the pencil by dipping the tip into water and tapped color into place. I used this stippling
technique to create an interesting edge between the trees.
Next, I added Olive Green Yellowish with loose, vertical strokes and light to medium pressure.
I used the tip of a slightly blunt pencil and the side of the pencil for the first layer and diagonal
cross-hatching with the point of the pencil for subsequent layers. In the latter layers, I kept the
pencil well sharpened to fill in paper holes and put down maximum color with medium
pressure. I followed up with the sides of the pencil and circular strokes to even out color and
value.
To darken the trees, I layered Blue Violet and Cobalt Turquoise with the pencil point in circular
strokes and the side of the pencil with a variety of strokes for both colors. The objective was
smooth color so I also blended with a finger to remove visible strokes.

Next I blurred the edge of the fog by rolling a piece of Handi-Tak into a ball, then rolling it
back and forth between my palm and the paper. That not only lifted color, but put down color.
The resulting randomness of value and color was perfect for duplicating the appearance of fog
and creating ragged and blurred edges.
I also used Handi-Tak to develop the sun beams. This time, I formed the Handi-Tak into a thin
shape and pulled it through the color beginning at the light source and stroking away. I used
heavier pressure at the beginning of each stroke and decreased pressure as I lengthened the
stroke. Each stroke picked up a lot of color at the beginning and diminishing amounts as the
stroke lengthened. The less color was lifted, the dimmer the sunbeam became. I had worked

around the sunbeams with most of the colors but lifting that color brought them to life.

Step 3: Drawing the meadow

In the meadow I applied Olive Green Yellowish with light pressure and the side of the pencil.
Strokes were open and sweeping from one side to the other, slightly overlapping in a random
pattern.
I also glazed the horse and other parts of the background with light pressure.

Step 4: Adding another layer of color

The next round of work began with multiple layers of Olive Green Yellowish in vertical strokes
in the meadow. After a few layers, I rubbed the area with my fingers, blending the strokes into a
field of color ranging from a very light tint to fairly dark areas along the bottom.
Next, I added Permanent Green Olive. The first layers were vertical strokes of varying lengths
with light to medium pressure. Over those, I used the side of the pencil and broad horizontal
strokes to cover larger areas quickly. I didnt blend at this stage, but used the random patterns of
overlapping layers and no layers to create lights and darks that gave the meadow the look of
undulating ground.

The foreground needed to be nearly black with a greenish cast, so after the initial work with
Olive Green Yellowish, I added Helioblue Reddish with vertical strokes, long in front, shorter
toward the back. I used medium pressure in the foreground, decreasing to very light pressure as
I worked toward the horizon. In the background, I added Cobalt Green then Light Phthalo
Green with vertical strokes of varying lengths using the pencil point.

To unify the color of the trees with the rest of the landscape, I layered Helioblue Reddish,
Emerald Green, and Helioblue Reddish into the trees. I used medium pressure and worked
horizontally and vertically to create a solid band of color. I worked around the bands of
sunlight, stroking color in the same direction as the sun beams and finished with a glaze of Deep

Cobalt Green over the trees and foreground.

Step 5: Filling in foreground objects

For the pine trees, I used Black, Olive Green Yellowish, Deep Cobalt Green, Helioblue
Reddish, Grass Green, and Van Dyke Brown in alternating layers until the trees were the right
color and value for the landscape. I used short, upwardly sweeping strokes to mimic pine
needles and stroked along the length of trunks and branches, working around the sunlit edges
where necessary.

I then layered Helioblue Reddish, Deep Cobalt Green and Van Dyke Brown over the horse and
added Van Dyke brown to the foreground grass.
Finally, I did a very limited wash of the grass and the pines with a damp brush. I didnt want a
complete blending, so I didnt use a lot of water in selected areas and left other areas untouched.

Like last time, Im using a combination of pencils and methods including water soluble FaberCastell Art Grip Aquarelle, traditional Faber-Castell Art Grip, and Prismacolor Premier. Today
Ill also be using Prismacolor Verithin pencils.
Lets get back into it!

Step 1: Finishing the meadow

I shaded Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle (water soluble) Van Dyke Brown and Deep Cobalt
Green throughout the foreground and into the middle ground using medium pressure and
vertical strokes. At the back edge of the foreground (just below the fog in the middle ground), I
glazed Deep Cobalt Green in horizontal strokes with lighter pressure and the side of the pencil.
Then I switched to Faber-Castell Art Grip traditional pencils, beginning with a layer of
Permanent Green Olive over the foreground, the line of trees visible beneath the fog belt, and
the pine trees.
In the next phase, I layered Permanent Green Olive, Black, Delft Blue, and Emerald Green over
the pines and foreground grass, followed by Prismacolor Thick Lead Metallic Green in the pine
trees. I chose that color because its a dull, muted green and I thought it would be a good color
for suggesting fog. It did work that way, but didnt cover very well. I finished the pines with
Peacock Green.

The areas in the foreground that I tried to wash earlier (see part 1) didnt turn out well and has
never looked right, so that area needed to be corrected.
I began by layering Peacock Green over the entire area, followed by Olive Green and Grass
Green. I would have used Dark Green next, but didnt have any, so I used Indigo Blue applied
with medium to heavy pressure. The darker color covered the problem area very well.
But what really did the trick was burnishing with Peacock Green. I ended up doing all of the
foreground in short, blunt vertical strokes with heavy to very heavy pressure. I left the strokes
open so some lighter and darker areas showed through, but I covered the entire area below the

horse and worked up into the area just beyond the horse.

The further into the background I moved, the lighter the pressure I used, until I was using light
pressure in the areas that disappear into the fog.

Step 2: Adjusting colors and values

I worked throughout the entire drawing, but focused mostly on the horse and the pines, both of
which needed to be darkened. These areas were darkened by layering Dark Green and Black
Grape and using medium to heavy pressure. On the horse, I also used Sienna Brown.
I also adjusted the middle ground by adding a vertical glaze of Dark Green to the lightest areas
on each edge of the painting and darkened the trees in the background with Dark Green, in order

to emphasize the sunbeams.

I wanted to make sure I was getting the background right before considering the landscape
finished. I finished the fog belt in front of the trees with Lemon Yellow and White, both of
which I also stroked into the sunbeams to increase the contrast between sunlight and distant
trees.

Step 3: Finishing the horse

I finished the horse by applying a heavy layer of Dark Brown, then blending it with rubbing
alcohol. I followed that with heavy layers of Indigo Blue and Black, a few touches of greens
and yellows around the back lit edges and another blending with rubbing alcohol.

BLENDING TIP: When blending, I poured a small amount of rubbing alcohol into a small
container, dipped a clean cotton swab into the alcohol, then rubbed the swab over the parts I
wanted to blend. Choosing a swab instead of a bristle brush keeps the blended edges soft and
blurred. And, using a swab instead of a cotton ball allows me to work in smaller areas.

Step 4: Adding more details

The last thing to add was the row of fence posts and the fence. I liked the drawing without them,
but for this particular drawing I had a client who wanted the fence posts included.
I drew the posts using random mixes of French Grey 20%, French Grey 70%, Warm Grey 30%,

Warm Grey 50%, Sepia, Dark Umber, Black, Indigo Blue, Black Grape, Peacock Green,
Cream, Jasmine and Lemon. I next layered Cream heavily over the foggy area, working over
parts of the posts to push them into the fog. Next I blended with rubbing alcohol.

I wanted to see if I could add better highlights after blending with rubbing alcohol, but there
was too much wax on the paper. So after the paper dried, I gave it one or two light coats of
retouch varnish to restore the paper tooth. Once the retouch varnish dried, I worked over the
posts again, brightening the back lighted edges and darkening the darkest shadows.

Step 5: Putting in the final touches

The last remaining work was adding the fence stretching between the posts. The lower strands
are barely visible through the fog and the upper strands are barely visible because they are close
to the same value as the background.
Because I needed an extremely fine, uniform line, I selected a Verithin pencil. The Verithin line
is comprised of wax-based pencils manufactured by Prismacolor. They have a very thin, hard
lead, so the pencils can be honed to a very sharp point which they hold extremely well.
I used a straight edge with a dark Verithin to draw in each strand of fencing. Then I worked
over the lower strands with Cream, Jasmine, and just a hint of Lemon to push them more deeply
into the fog.

Ordinarily, I let a finished drawing sit for as much as week just to make sure there are no other
corrections to be made. But this was a Christmas portrait and the deadline was rapidly
approaching, so I fixed the drawing with another coat of retouch varnish and it was ready for the
client.