This web site and it’s contents are  COPYRIGHT to Peter Weatherill © 2009 : 2010 : 2011 : 2012

Other artist’s work is also copyright to the named artist            see site information for more.

There is a GOOGLE site search engine

available to help you find a topic containing your search word.  

This is located on the bottom of the Site Information Page

In the ‘Readers Gallery’ section of the site you will find a selection of images and links to artist’s web sites and blogs, You can join in - have a look at the opening page of the section and see how to have your picture included.

SITE NAVIGATION

MAIN SECTIONS

PETER WEATHERILL

Personal site link

This web site looks at Coloured Pencil Techniques. It provides a guide for the new and intermediate Coloured Pencil user and, hopefully, a free basis for learning and for discussion.

This is probably the largest existing free Internet resource of information on techniques and products for the new Coloured Pencil user,

with over 200 pages ( some of them long ones ) covering a multitude of individual topics and tutorials.

The site has been running since January 2009 and has no financial sponsorship from any manufacturer.  All the information and tutorials are available to you at no cost.   However, because the site produces no financial benefit, updates and additional entries are made only when time permits.  You may therefore find some topics in the early stages of completion, still in need of more data or a final edit.

These incomplete topics will usually carry a note to that effect.

The site was originally based on teaching notes for students attending my Coloured Pencil courses and set out to cover some specific topics which were discussed during the course sessions - the earliest data was composed around the start of 2007.  

Since being set up in January 2009 this Internet site has become generally accessible and used Internationally from over 90 countries, most months.   

If you are outside the UK, please remember that the site was designed for UK use and the information given here is very UK based.  

However, feedback from the USA  and elsewhere in the World indicates the information is very helpful to all who start out to learn about Coloured Pencils and the ways to use them.  Further contributions from Readers for adding to the site are welcomed, as are ideas for further content.

Be aware that the site does not set out to be exhaustive, it is a personal view and is not sponsored.

All images are subject to Copyright and copying is not permitted without approval.  Most images are Copyright © Peter Weatherill and others are copyrighted as indicated on the page they are seen on ( such as those in the Readers Gallery )

You are free to use the Pencil Topics Tutorials to work your own versions but those completed versions may not be sold for profit without direct approval from the copyright owner

BELOW -  on this page

You will find some simple guides for those new to the site to help you get started

Diary Notes which record some recent events on the Site ......and possibly the reasons for them !

Site Statistics and Information on the most ‘referred to’ pages.

Following this HOME page

The contents page lists all the main areas of interest and provides internal links to take you to the items

Above this frame (Top left) is a section list which are visible on most main pages like this one,

and sub headings are also revealed if you hover your mouse over the main title.

You can always navigate back to here .... or to the Contents page wherever you are on the site

If you would like a quick check on what is new please see the following page

Following on from these pages

There are pages describing how the site works in more detail - in site information

A glossary of Pencil Terms,  a list of PDF files included

and a running detailed record of major content  updates as they are made.

ARE YOU NEW TO USING COLOURED PENCILS ?

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE VERY BASIC TECHNIQUES ?

THESE PAGES COULD BE THE BEST PLACES TO START ............

If you are going to BUY pencils -

look at the brands page and also the page on price and content

There is also an individual page for each of the main pencil brands available in the UK

You might also be interested in the section on colour comparisons.

HOW TO USE COLOURED PENCILS?

See the page on dry point 1 for information on basic techniques for wax type pencils

A whole range of pages follow on with a selection of techniques and  ways of using.

The page on aquarelles 1 for basic information on water soluble coloured pencils is also followed by a number of separate sections - including the 8 basic ways the watercolour pencils can be used

There are sections on pastel pencils

and mixed media

as well as pages about the most suitable paper to use.

A look at the contents page will also give you more idea what the site contains.

With over 150 pages of information, the site is a gold mine of data that you need to explore,

and with around 5,000 individual visitors a month, you are in good company.

Don’t worry, you won’t need a compass, and if you do get lost, just click on a contents link and find your way back to the core of the site

October 2011

HAVE YOU SOME EXPERIENCE OF USING  CP ?

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MORE TECHNICAL INFORMATION ?

HAVE A LOOK AT THE ‘CONTENTS’ PAGE

Most of the information on Techniques for using Coloured Pencils and the different surfaces appears in the early sections of the index to the left hand side of the Welcome Panel.

More specialised information on Coloured Pencils appears in the ‘General CP Techniques’ section and in the ‘Landscape Techniques’ section

Also there is a wide selection of items in the section on  ‘Art Points’ that covers things like Perspective, Composition, The Golden Section, Using a camera, Drawing from life and scanning and printing out copies of your masterworks

Finally there is the Gallery of images from artists who work in Pencil and who have web sites where you can find even more pictures and information.

October 2011

Month of January 2012

Average number of visitors to site each day 183   Last full month ( Dec 2011) 177

Total visitors to site during January 2012 -  5791      Last month 5517

Average number of pages viewed per visitor   2.5  

Total visitors checked into site since January 2009  - 107,533

The top 18 Home Countries of Visitors to site during January 2012 .... out of 94 countries

UK  1211 - USA  2099 - Australia 105 - Canada 84 - Spain 35 - Germany 230 - Malaysia 21 -  Italy 34

Sweden 52 -  Greece 17 - Netherlands 41  - India 25 -  France 45  -  Philippines 18

Japan  78 - Israel 4 - Hong Kong 9 - Switzerland 10

and a selection of guests from around the World

( the list ORDER relates to the total TIME spent on the site rather than the actual number of visits recorded )

Visitor numbers relate to the number of people who log on to the site and then progress through several pages.

If a visitor logs off and returns after a short time, the statistics count them as a new visitor.

I am omitting the statistics for China and Russian Federation which are distorted

because a large number of visits are by automated search engines from those two countries

Those statistics are probably not a true indication of actual site readers

I get regular readership statistics from www.One.com, my Internet Provider.  These help me adjust the content to what readers require. The site shows steady growth over the years. Statistics are posted here each month on the previous period.  

I don’t know WHO has visited, but I do have an idea what you have looked for and where you come from. This helps tailor the site to reader’s needs

WHAT DO MOST READERS OF THIS SITE LOOK FOR ?

The list below gives a few of the pages most accessed   

(JANUARY 2012 - out of 5791 visitors)

NOW IN OUR  

FOURTH YEAR

‘TOPICS’ sees steady growth again in January 2012

It is pleasing to see so many readers returning time and again to the site

with approaching 6000 visitors in January.

Please pass on your requests for pages which you feel could be

refreshed or extended.  It helps to be working to what readers require.

SO WHERE DO I START ?

The contents have been assembled over several years and have come from many sources.  

All sources are acknowledged where I know them and I am happy to add further useful information which readers of the site wish to contribute.

There is an introduction to the site below and more information about  how the site works.

©  PETER WEATHERILL 2009:2010:2011:2012

I would like to alert anyone interested in the lightfastness of Coloured Pencils to an excellent article published on the web site of the Coloured Pencil Society of Canada.

Manon Leclerc has researched a very comprehensive survey on the Topic which is well worth reading.

Entries are logged in date order - Check out the contribution under January 9th 2012

MIXED MEDIA

‘The Cottage Entrance’   

from an old black and white photograph

Coloured Pencil over Pastel pencil on a black background

See the step by step illustration of this picture being worked

In the Mixed Media section

LAUNCH OF NEW PRODUCT

Caran d’Ache will be launching their new

Pastel Pencils and matching Pastel ‘Cubes’ to the Art Materials trade at the Frankfurt Show  this coming weekend  ( 28 -31st Jan )

and follow that up in April with a Public Launch in Paris.

The Pencils have been tested by us during production and the results are shown in the detailed step by step exercise of

Annecy Reflections

In the Pastel Pencil section.  More information will follow on the products later this Spring

ANNECY REFLECTIONS  © Peter Weatherill 2011

PASTEL PENCIL

A detailed Step by Step Exercise based on the testing of new Pastel Pencils being launched by Caran d’Ache of Geneva this Spring.  The Company have given permission for the artwork and commentary to be published here.  

More information will be given when the product is launched.

I have learned of a series of day courses being run in Suffolk ( UK ) by Malcolm Cudmore, editor of the UKCPS Talking Point Magazine, and also a demonstrator for several years on the UKCPS stand at the Art Materials Live Show at Birmingham.

These are a trial set of sessions to see what the demand might be, and will cover - later in the year, Portraiture, Still Life - but on March 24th,  Landscape with buildings.  Malcolm has an interesting approach to Coloured Pencil, and I am sure the courses will be good.  For more info, see the ‘Other Tuition’ section

Fixative for Coloured Pencil

and Pastel

A recent introduction into the UK art materials market has been the arrival of SPECTRAFIX from the USA . This is now marketed into Europe By Jacksons Art Supplies of London.

The fixative is casein based and contains only the natural casein, denatured alcohol and water.  It is sold in a non pressurised, pump action bottle and has been on sale in the USA for some time with reported good results. It is said not to change the hue of fixed materials, give little change in value ( light to dark) and have no smell.

The finished surface is matte.

I have a bottle here and will be testing it on pastel and wax pencil shortly and will report the results in the fixatives section of this site.  Anyone who has already tried this product - please let me have your views on it’s efficiency.

Thank you