s01 sunny blue

SUNNY BLUE Brenda Hoddinott

S-01 INTERMEDIATE: CARTOONS IN COLOR In this project you use colored pencils to draw a fun cartoon of a flower. The curriculum demonstrates basic color theory, and the skills of shading, overlapping colors, and burnishing.

Colored pencils are ideal for adding color to cartoons, which usually require a bolder, more colorful approach than traditional drawing subjects. When outlined with a thin black marker, colored pencil cartoons can look very illustrative and professional.

This lesson is divided into three parts:

PLANNING AND DRAWING: You plan your drawing, and then use a yellow colored pencil to draw the outline and base color of Sunny Blue within your drawing space in preparation for adding shading.

ADDING SHADING WITH COLORS: In addition to yellow, you need an orange (you may call this red) for the petals, and both a light and medium blue for the center.

ADDING FINAL TOUCHES: You need purple, yellow, and medium blue colored pencils for the background, and a fine tip permanent black marker to give Sunny Blue some final details and her sunny personality.

10 PAGES – 15 ILLUSTRATIONS Recommended for artists and aspiring artists of all levels and abilities from age 10 to adult, as well as

home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators.

Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada (Revised 2006)

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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PLANNING AND DRAWING Throughout this section you plan your drawing, and draw an outline of Sunny Blue within your drawing space in preparation for adding shading. Drawing space (sometimes called a drawing format) refers to the area of a drawing surface within a specific perimeter.

Choose white drawing paper with some texture, as opposed to being smooth, so the colored pencils will easily adhere to your drawing surface. Texture refers to the surface detail of the paper, and is also referred to as the tooth. The word tooth refers to its surface texture, which can range from silky smooth to very coarse. The more tooth a paper has, the rougher it feels.

Stay away from paper with a glossy surface! If a paper’s surface is too smooth, the pigment in the colored pencils simply won’t stick, because there’s no tooth for it to grab hold of. Hence, it’s darn near impossible to render medium and dark colors.

You need only five colored pencils for this project, similar to the colors shown below:

ILLUSTRATION 01-01

YELLOW ORANGE / RED MEDIUM BLUE LIGHT BLUE PURPLE

Put the cat out, take the phone off the hook, sharpen your yellow pencil and get ready to draw!

ILLUSTRATION 01-02

1. Use a ruler to outline a square drawing space. Mine is 4 inches by 4 inches, but you may choose any size you wish.

2. Draw a circle in the center of your drawing space, as the center of the flower. Choose a yellow, close in color to Illustration 01-01. Take note that the distances between the perimeter of the circle and each side of the square are almost identical.


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3. Draw three petals with spaces in between each. Each petal isn’t an oval, but rather a U-shape.

4. Add three more petals in between the first three.

ILLUSTRATION 01-03 ILLUSTRATION 01-04

ILLUSTRATION 01-05

5. Color each petal with a yellow pencil. Don’t press too hard with your pencils or you’ll destroy the paper’s tooth.

Yellow is one of the three primary colors; the other two are red and blue.

Secondary colors are orange, green, and purple and are created by combining any two primary colors. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple.


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ADDING SHADING WITH COLORS In this section you add shading to Sunny Blue. Shading (noun) refers to the various values and colors in a drawing that make images appear three-dimensional.

You need an orange (you may call this red) for the petals, and both a light and medium blue for the center. Before you begin, find a piece of scrap paper and practice drawing graduated values with your orange (red) pencil.

ILLUSTRATION 01-06 Graduated shading (also known as a graduation or graduated values) is a continuous progression of graduated values from dark to light or from light to dark.

Press lightly on your pencil for light values and a little harder for darker values.

ILLUSTRATION 01-07

6. Use your orange (red) pencil to add graduated shading to each petal. Take note that the dark end of each graduation is close to the center section of the flower.


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ILLUSTRATION 01-08

7. Pressing fairly hard with your yellow pencil, completely color in each petal, including the orange sections (called burnishing). Burnishing is the application of a layer(s) of color (or white) over another color, by pressing hard with a pencil to blend colors together. Burnishing of colored pencils can also be done with a tortillon or a firm plastic eraser.

When you add yellow to the orange sections the colors appear to be brighter.

ILLUSTRATION 01-09

8. Outline the center of the flower with a freshly sharpened medium blue.

9. Use the medium blue to add a little shading around the edge of the center section, graduating it a little lighter towards the center.


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ILLUSTRATION 01-10

10. Switch to a light blue pencil and continue adding graduations of blue until you get close to the center. Leave a white area in the middle of the center.

ADDING FINAL TOUCHES You need purple, yellow, and medium blue colored pencils for the background, and a fine tip permanent black marker to give Sunny Blue some final details and her sunny personality.

ILLUSTRATION 01-11

You mix (or overlap) several colors together to create a peaceful background for this brightly colored flower.

Overlapping refers to a colored pencil technique for dry mixing colors, by layering different colors over one another.

11. Outline the perimeter of the flower very lightly with your purple pencil.

Be careful not to press too hard or the purple will become too dark.


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ILLUSTRATION 01-12

12. Lightly shade the entire background with purple. Take note that I have used very light diagonal hatching lines.

ILLUSTRATION 01-13

13. Add yellow shading on top of the purple in the background. Keep your shading light by pressing lightly with your pencil.


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14. Use purple and blue to graduate darker shading towards the upper right. The background is very light in the lower left and graduates to dark in the upper right hand corner. Leave the lower left section with only the light purple and yellow mix.

ILLUSTRATION 01-14

15. Use a fine tip permanent black marker (or a very sharp, dark, colored pencil) to outline Sunny Blue’s petals and draw in her happy face. Refer to the completed drawing on the next page. Test a marker on some scrap paper before you begin, and make sure that it doesn’t smudge, or your drawing may be ruined! Take your time and draw your outlines slowly and carefully.


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Check over your drawing and touch up any areas that you are not completely happy with. Sign your name and put today’s date on the back of your drawing!

ILLUSTRATION 01-15

The three best ways to improve your drawing skills are practice, practice and more practice! So grab another piece of paper,

choose another lesson and draw some more!


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BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda Hoddinott utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter,

the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”.

Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites.

Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is

available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

s01 sunny blue

Education

drawing surface

drawing class

drawing space inpreparation

white drawing paper

yellowand blue

blue make purple

medium blue colored

base color of sunny