HOW TO USE SOLVENT IN YOUR COLORED PENCIL ART! 

Thank you! It’s still one of my favorites :)

I am glad this has helped you:)

thank you!💙 it is still one of my favorites ive done i think:)

So glad this could help. Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much!

I’m happy to hear it helped :)

Oh trust me, this took me many hours. Maybe even a month to finish. What you just wrote is oddly beautiful but at the same time I don't know how to respond to it at all. Keep at it though, we all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and using something like gasmol takes some practice too so don't beat yourself up about it!

@@AlexisCassandraArt Forgive me (or don't); self-destructive, indulgent wailing like that truculent treatise I wrote is the result of what happens I lose control of my life-long, insatiable, seemingly interminable inferiority complexes. When feelings of failure and worthlessness overwhelm me, I have a terrible habit of looking at the beautiful, breath-taking works of others, and using them as a mere, crude cudgel to assault myself with, cursing myself, asking questions I cannot answer, like why I can't make something as gorgeous, or why it takes me so unforgivably long to make something that someone with actual talent could do twice as resplendent in only half the time. Just writing this is making that door that my demons dwell behind creak. I know that it's been said that comparing yourself to others is an eternal enemy of finding peace with yourself; even Jesus Christ's Parable of the Talents implicitly condemns such behavior, but knowing, feeling, and doing are all vastly different actions. I struggle trying to disprove my own dark as deep space thoughts of existential nihilism, which are based on the belief that the soul itself has no intrinsic value and that it is only deeds that give it some pittance of vicarious worth. So when I feel I have egregiously failed, coupled with my horrific self-loathing, well, things can get ugly; _I_ get ugly. I thought I was gaining control of it. I thought wrong. I'm sorry for darkening your doorstep and day with my despair, though perhaps you could take it as a macabre, schadenfreude compliment; your art is so astounding that it inspires that much internalized hatred for myself that I can't be as good as you. So, now that I don't sound as much like a dog kennel during that time of the month, perhaps I could steer this conversation in a more productive direction. So how is one supposed to get a flat wash with colored pencils and gamsol? I've been using Prismacolors on Strathmore Series 400 colored pencil paper (100lb, acid free, medium weight, white), and either I'm doing something wrong in the coloring process, or the paper has gained sentience and is actively working against my efforts to color it in with the level of contempt and disdain I usually reserve for myself. Layering doesn't work, blending sticks don't work, burnishing doesn't work, even the mighty white colored pencil cannot conquer it. When I have tried using gamsol, the graphite on the paper either streaks with the brush strokes, or it just stains the paper, effectively making it so that instead of the spots being white, they're just colored now. Are uniform, flat mattes even possible with those mediums, or do I just suck too much to do them properly? (Oh, there it goes again...)

thanks so much!

Thank you! The solvent really helps to smooth out backgrounds:)

thank you! I'm so happy you're inspired to create💙

Thank you so much:) your comment was very kind! To this day, this snake is one of my favorite colored pencil works!

thank you:)

thank you:)

Shah w thank you so much that means a lot that it was helpful to you! I’ll be making more soon:)

So glad the vid was helpful, I know its a bit old now! Thanks for watching!

thank you so much!

Aww thank you so much for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you enjoy watching my videos and I really appreciate your support😊💙

Absolutely perfect. I very never put gamsol or the like on my polystyrene, perhaps I will try it. Well done indeed. Marilyn Handley

Well that was a load of tosh I just messed up, a heart felt comment , see that's what happens when you start a new hobby, at 77 I hope you will ignore my blunders and again perfect thanks Marilyn Handley not knackered just yet!!!

Thank you, so glad its useful to you!

I'm so glad you like this one and the macaw! Thank you so much

thank you:)

im so glad you found it helpful! thank you

Jen’s Wild about art aw thanks so much:) I hope I explained it ok I was just getting used to voiceovers at this point

You did brilliantly , I’m new to pencils and I learnt a lot 😊

Jen’s Wild about art That’s great to hear:) I’ll be making more colored pencil videos soon!

thanks so much:)

glad they helped:)

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching

I’m so happy to hear that😊 thanks for watching

Thank you, and thanks for watching:)

thank you so much💙 I will have to draw another snake again someday

Glad you liked it:)

thank you for watching:)

Thank you!💜

Oil paint to colored pencils is definitely a big change up! I am still figuring out for myself the paper dilemma as colored pencil acts so differently on different paper. some paper it seems to work well on is strathmore bristol vellum 500 series, hot pressed watercolor paper (I used Arches), and some Mixed Media paper if you prefer a texture. If you prefer less texture, the paper I used in this video (Legion Stonehenge) worked as well. Thank you for the video ideas as well- the mixed media one could be interesting!

thank you:)

Aw thank you:) it’s still one of my favorite artworks to date

I'm not sure of the exact colors anymore sadly:( I had a color chart for this drawing at one point. If I come across it again, I will list them for you! it looks like I used venetian red and sanguine for some of the shadows though.

thank you so much for watching!

@@AlexisCassandraArt your welcome dear 🙏🤝🤗😊

thank you!

JM Designe o Desenhista thank you so much!!

So many scales! I actually haven't used solvent in a while now. I am wondering if Zest-It pencil blend is non toxic! I see some artists using that!

Bahuuba thank you!!

Thank you I am glad you find this interesting! I have recently done a macaw, and currently working on an iguana! There is both a feathers and a new scales tutorial up:)

thank you:) I usually use Signo uni-ball white gel pen!

Im glad this video was helpful:) you definitely wouldn’t want to use thin paper that “flops” a lot when you hold it up by the edge. This paper did fine, it’s the Stonehenge colored paper and it’s only about 90lb/250gsm. Mixed media paper also works as well as watercolor paper(they’re more around 140lb) . Bristol paper should work too. And thank you, this snake is one of my favorites to this day💜

Thank you!

Daniel Gilkarov thank you!! Well if you’re working with watercolor I’d definitely recommend you use the wet-on-wet method for the background, to get the blurry effect.

@@AlexisCassandraArt but the amount of detail that would go into the actual scales, how would I accomplish that wet on wet?, I figured that would all just be detailed work wet on dry

Daniel Gilkarov yes that would be wet on dry and quite time consuming ! But would turn out beautiful

Solvent should be ok with mixed media toned tan paper! The strathmore one is about 184 lb or 300gsm. If you have thinner paper I’d recommend experimenting with solvent on them and if it doesn’t work switch to mixed media or even a hot pressed watercolor paper if you have some of that!

@@AlexisCassandraArt Many thanks for your kind reply

thanks so much:)

I would probably designate one or two brushes only for the solvent, because it is hard to wash out once you started using! I think I used a brush before that was too soft and wouldn’t blend the solvent so I switched to a slightly firmer brush. Maybe even just buy a super cheap set of brushes (the ones that come in packs) and experiment with those! I think synthetic material brushes are safe to use with it. I know that oil painters use something similar to thin their paints, so I’m sure it’s ok:)

Haider’s Art thanks you😊😊 ooh I have heard about that before. I actually don’t even have any baby oil so I haven’t tried it, but the effect should be similar to using a solvent probably ! Let me know if you try it

Oh I would try a thicker paper, but it doesn’t have to be crazy thick either maybe a regular mixed media?

@@AlexisCassandraArt Thanks! I thought of that, I will try it!

I think I bought it at hobby lobby, or michaels (i believe they both sell it). I’m sure if you don’t have those stores you could find it online!

Gamblin Gamsol! It is an odorless mineral spirit

She shows what she uses at the beginning of the video. It's the bottle of clear liquid with the white label that's says Gamsol. I can vouch for gamsol as well. A lot of professional artists use gamsol for this purpose

Also Hobby Lobby carries this brand of solvent

ah noo don't give up! If you saw my first few sketchbooks you wouldn't be saying that, trust me😂 I've been practicing art for like ten years now, and colored pencil was the hardest medium for me to learn for sure