Charles Lebrun master copy

One of my favorite drawings by Charles Lebrun. This was done using Prismacolor terra cotta Verithin pencil on Daler Rowney Ingres buff paper sized with amber shellac (1 part shellac to 5 parts denatured alcohol).

standing female back view

This was done using Prismacolor black Verithin pencil on white Hahnemuhle Ingres toned with raw umber watercolor and extra sizing added (1 part amber shellac to 5 parts denatured alcohol).

male swinging position back

This was done using Prismacolor black Verithin pencil on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper toned with raw umber and extra sizing (1 part amber shellac to 5 parts denatured alcohol).

female portrait study

This was a portrait study done with terra cotta Prismacolor Verithin pencil on rose colored Hahnemuhle Ingres paper.

male study standing leaning on column

This was done using black Prismacolor Verithin pencil on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper toned with a yellow ochre wash and after dry, an extra coat of sizing (part 1 amber shellac to part 5 water) was put on.

male study seated and reaching for skull

This was a 5 hour study using black Prismacolor Verithin pencil on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper with a wash of yellow ochre watercolor and after drying a wash of part 1-to-5 amber shellac to denatured alcohol to give extra sizing to the paper.

male study standing and reaching down

This was a 3 hour study using black Prismacolor Verithin pencil on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper with a wash of yellow ochre watercolor and after drying a wash of part 1-to-5 amber shellac to denatured alcohol to give extra sizing to the paper.

male study looking down at flower

This is a 3 hour study on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper treated with a wash of raw ochre watercolor and after having dried, with a wash of one part amber shellac to 5 parts denatured alcohol.

Robert Liberace's workshop

Well what is there to say about Robert Liberace other than he is one of the finest artists and teachers today. I was blessed to have a workshop from him and drank in as much as I could. Here is the result. The works were done on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper with a wash of yellow ocre and then some extra sizing put on after that. The sizing was one part amber shellac to five parts denatured alcohol. This isn't the paper Rob uses, but it is what I had laying around. He uses Twinrocker calligraphy cream. That paper is laid, like the various Ingres papers and it is also very hard. The wash treatments are what he does. The reason for the extra sizing is to make the paper even harder still. The drawings were done with Prismacolor Verithin colored pencils using colors terra cota and black. For highlights, you could erase out some of the wash. It created an affect very much like the old masters of past when they used red and black chalks. For the future, I'm going to be using the harder laid papers like Rob did as I found the watercolor paper to have too much padding and thus the colored pencils tended to sink into the paper too much. Rob used a text weight paper so there was no cushion. The thin paper coupled with so much sizing created a very hard surface so as to abrade the colored pencils, which created that beautiful frayed look the old masters had in their drawings. And the Verithin pencils had such a sharp point that you could get those delicate thin lines. These were all about 3 hour studies.