 |
| Image by Google Gemini |
The Roman goddess Proserpine, known in Greek mythology as Persephone, embodies the delicate balance between the vibrancy of spring and the solemn mystery of the underworld. Capturing her essence requires a medium that allows for both fine detail and rich, blended color.
Colored pencils, when used effectively, provide the perfect tool for rendering her ethereal beauty with photorealistic depth. This guide details the four essential steps to drawing a stunning colored pencil portrait of Proserpine, focusing on techniques for layering, blending, and achieving realistic skin tones.
Section 1: Preparation—Essential Materials for the Divine Portrait
Before beginning this artistic journey, gather the right colored pencil supplies. The quality of your materials significantly impacts the final result, especially when aiming for smooth, lifelike blending.
Pencil Choice: Invest in artist-grade wax- or oil-based pencils (such as Prismacolor, Faber-Castell Polychromos, or Caran d’Ache Luminance). These pencils contain higher pigment concentration and a softer binder, allowing for seamless layering and blending.
Surface Selection: Opt for a paper with a smooth but slightly textured surface, often referred to as a "tooth." Bristol Vellum or a fine-grain drawing paper is ideal. The cloth holds many layers of pigment, which is crucial for achieving deep colors and complex skin tones without the paper rejecting the color prematurely.
Blending Tools: Essential blending aids include a colorless blender pencil, cotton swabs, or soft brushes for subtle blending, and—for advanced results—a solvent like odorless mineral spirits (OMS) to dissolve the wax/oil binder for a paint-like finish. Finally, keep kneaded and vinyl erasers on hand for lifting color and creating sharp highlights.
Image by Google Gemini
Section 2: Step 1 – The Ethereal Sketch and Establishing Form
| Image by Google Gemini |
The foundation of any successful portrait lies in an accurate and light initial sketch. For Proserpine, we must establish both her classical proportions and her divine grace.
Proportional Symmetry: Start with basic shapes: an oval for the head and a centerline for symmetry.
Use light pressure with a hard graphite pencil (2H or 4H) or a very light gray colored pencil. Accurately place the features—eyes, nose, and mouth—using careful measurements. Proserpine's expression should be serene, balancing the innocence of spring with the wisdom of the queen of the underworld. Avoid harsh contour lines; you are merely mapping the landscape of her face.
The Classical Details: Pay close attention to her attributes: the flowing, wavy hair and the crown, often a laurel wreath or a circlet of grains/pomegranates. Lightly sketch the major masses of the hair and the placement of the wreath. The sketch should be comprehensive enough to guide your coloring but faint enough to disappear entirely beneath the layers of pencil. This ensures that the final result is painterly, not merely a colored-in drawing.
Establishing the Light Source: Even at this early stage, mentally commit to a single, strong light source. Understanding where the light hits and where the shadows will fall is paramount to building realistic dimension in the later steps.
Section 3: Step 2 – Building the Foundation with Base Colors
Once the sketch is complete, the coloring process begins. This stage involves applying the lightest colors to map out the general value areas. This is the base layer and should be applied with feather-light pressure, allowing the paper’s tooth to remain open for subsequent layers.
The Skin Tone Wash: Skin is never a single color. Begin by applying a uniform, pale base layer across all skin areas. Use the lightest peach, pink, or cream pencil. This initial wash should be so light it barely alters the paper color. This is the first of many layers that will eventually build realistic skin tones.
Mapping Shadows and Highlights: Using slightly deeper colors (e.g., a light taupe or lavender for cool shadows or a pale terracotta for warm shadows), gently reinforce the shadow areas you identified in Step 1: beneath the brow bone, along the sides of the nose, and below the lower lip and chin. Do not blend yet—these layers are simply tinting the paper. The lightest areas should remain untouched or covered only by the lightest cream or white pencil.
Hair and Wreath: For her hair, use a middle-value tone—a medium brown, or perhaps a golden blonde—to block in the major shapes. For the laurel wreath, use a pale yellow-green or light olive to establish the leaves. Always color following the direction of the hair and leaf growth to reinforce the texture.
|
| Image by Google Gemini |
Section 4: Step 3 – Mastering Depth, Form, and Blending
This is the most critical stage, where the illusion of three-dimensionality and the richness of color are achieved through layering colored pencils and controlled blending.
Creating Depth in Skin: Continue building the skin tones using a heavier, but still controlled, hand. Gradually introduce mid-tones like sienna, burnt ochre, and soft browns.
For shadows, begin to introduce subtle cool tones—a light blue or violet—into the recesses of the face. This contrasts beautifully with the warm base layers and prevents the skin from looking flat or muddy. Always layer from lightest to darkest, working in small, overlapping circular motions to fill the paper’s tooth.
Blending Techniques: Once you have three or four layers of pigment down, it’s time to blend. Use the colorless blender pencil or a stiff brush/cotton swab with a small amount of OMS to carefully dissolve the pigment and fuse the layers. The goal is to eliminate the graininess of the paper and achieve a smooth, porcelain-like texture befitting a goddess.
Defining Features: The eyes are the focal point. Layer the iris with deep blues, greens, or browns, adding the darkest shade right beneath the upper lid. Use a sharp, black or darkest brown pencil sparingly to define the outline of the eye and the shape of the pupils. Leave a tiny speck of paper untouched or apply a highly opaque white pencil for the highlight, which gives the portrait its sparkle and life. Refine the lips with rich reds and subtle shadows to enhance their volume.
Enriching the Hair: Layer the hair with darker shades, using long, deliberate strokes to mimic the flow of individual strands. Build up the shadows where the hair overlaps itself and catches the light. This adds mass and volume. Introduce subtle highlights using a lighter pencil over the dark base layers.
Section 5: Step 4 – Final Details, Refinement, and Burnishing
 |
| Image by Google Gemini |
The final stage is about adding the contrast and details that make the Proserpine portrait look finished and highly realistic.
Enhancing Contrast: Go back over the darkest areas—the pupils, the separation of the lips, the folds of fabric, and the deepest hair shadows—with your darkest pencils (black, indigo, or dark sepia). Pressing firmly at this point deepens the saturation and snaps the image into focus.
Adding Texture and Highlights: Use a finely sharpened, highly opaque white pencil to add the brightest highlights. This includes the catchlights in the eyes, sharp reflections on the lips, and the thinnest, flyaway strands of hair over the shoulders. For the laurel wreath, add fine details to the veins and edges of the leaves using sharp greens and yellows.
Burnishing for Smoothness: Burnishing is the act of using extreme pressure, often with a white or colorless blender pencil, to completely compress the pigment into the paper's tooth, creating a glassy, ultra-smooth finish. Burnish the skin areas that need the most seamless blending. Be judicious, as burnishing makes it impossible to add more layers.
Conclusion:
By following these four steps—from the light, accurate sketch to the final, detailed burnishing—you will transform simple colored pencils into a truly lifelike portrait. Drawing Proserpine is an exercise in contrast: balancing the lightness of the base layers with the final, dramatic details that define her divine character. This method of patient, consistent layering is the key to mastering any colored pencil portrait and capturing the mythological beauty of the Queen of the Underworld.
