Wednesday, July 7, 2010

That Perfect Colored Pencil

I know most of my readers don't draw, but surely this post will stick in your head when one day (a) you're inspired to draw something (whether you show anyone else or not doesn't matter), (b) your child is so inspired (or at least has to color a map for a social studies project and then may decide to experiment with his or her drawing supplies after the homework is done), or (c) not sure... but this is worth writing about anyway.

That perfect Colored Pencil is unquestionably Prismacolor. These are awesome little colorful sticks of wonder. A beloved art professor of mine at UT creates the most detailed, amazing large-scale drawings with Prismacolors, and a visit to his home in my undergraduate years for a party introduced me to them and is what inspired me to buy my first Prismacolors. And now, I wouldn't use any others.

They are brilliant, true colors. And their blender pencil (which has a semi-opaque yet clear "lead") allows for awesome blending. I have learned over the years that if you buy cheap art supplies, they feel cheap: the colors are all wrong and the textures they have or create are flimsy, runny, or have some other negative quality you just can't work with. Another example is when I used to frequently buy oil paints. If you have any familiarity with oil paints, it's like the difference between napthol red and cadmium red medium. Or ultramarine versus cobalt blue. Or lemon yellow versus cadmium yellow light. (In each case, the latter is the really real color, and the former is the imposter.) Or, for those with slightly more basic art supply knowledge, it's like comparing the dime store crayons (or the freebie restaurant crayons) to Crayolas. I am certainly not an advocate of spending money where unnecessary; however, I will shout all day with all the enthusiasm in my bones about the merits of spending your money well - on quality things, on quality experiences. If you have any inclination to draw, the experience and the end result with Prismacolors will certainly provide the most quality for the time and money. Now, if only I had the time these days...

http://www.prismacolor.com/products/colored-pencils

Here's a quick sample of a drawing of mine done exclusively with Prismacolors just to show you what you can do with colored pencils (they're not just for coloring maps in jr. high anymore)...

1 comment:

  1. And I find it funny that this post coincidentally has the exact same time stamp as the last post, which spoke to That Perfect Hour... See?

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