Virtual Illustrating Fishes Workshop—Wax-based Colored Pencil Techniques (2-day/8 hours total) 17-18 October

11am - 4pm US ET each day (with one-hour break each day)

During this two-day workshop, students will be introduced to working with professional-quality, wax-based colored pencils (e.g., Caran d'Ache, Prismacolor) to illustrate fishes. Please note that this class is different from my watercolor colored pencil classes. The colored pencils we will use in this class are not watercolor colored pencils and contain more pigment and wax than most beginner or student-grade pencils, meaning we can achieve deeper, richer colors. 

The class will begin with a brief overview of scientific illustration and specifically the history of illustrating fishes. We will NOT be using specimens in this workshop. Instead, I will be sending you photo references in advance. While I always prefer to work with specimens, sometimes it's not possible (like when I was commissioned by the Museum of Marine Biology in Taiwan to illustrate a large coelacanth), and I will discuss my process for working from photographs.

We will then move into basic techniques such as simple coloring, hatching and cross-hatching. From there, we will progress to more advanced techniques, including blending, layering, burnishing, and scraping. We'll also talk about techniques for adding reflection, texturing and other advanced techniques.

The second half of the workshop will be dedicated to guided illustration using the techniques we've learned and working with our reference photos.

Participants may select the Post Workshop Critique Option (+$50), which will allow them to send their finished illustration to Karen after the workshop for additional feedback and discussion (30 minutes via Zoom, phone, or in-person).

Recommended experience level: Since we will be working from reference photos and not specimens, a previous class (or commensurate experience) in illustrating fishes is desirable but not essential. 

Materials List:

We will be working primarily with professional-quality, wax-based colored pencils. I will be using Prismacolor watercolor pencils, but you’re more than welcome to use any professional-quality, wax-based colored pencils (e.g., Caran d'Ache, Prismacolor). This class does not focus on oil-based colored pencils like Faber-Castell Polychromos. Here’s a link to Blick’s selection. The Set of 24 Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils is a good choice if you need to purchase for this class.

For paper, heavyweight, fine-to-medium textured (vellum or cold-press) art papers are best. My preference personally would be cold-press watercolor paper or vellum Bristol paper. I will likely be using vellum Bristol paper for this workshop.

For tracing paper, any tracing paper or vellum will work.

In terms of pencils, it’s good to have at least one soft graphite pencil (B) and one hard graphite (F or H) for transferring the line drawing.

For a solvent, please have a small container of Gamsol on hand. 

X-Acto Blade