My Side Quest
Learning to draw with coloured pencil.
Practically, I wanted something I could do at home without the mess. The downside is that laying down strong colour with pencil is hard. It takes AGES. However I've made my peace with that, I'm not in a hurry. It's my very slow-moving side quest alongside my ceramics, and I know it'll probably take years to get anywhere near where I'd like to be.
Where do I want to be? I'm aiming for some form of realism rather than photorealism. I'd like to develop a style over time, but I don't want the drawings to look like photographs. I'm thinking they might have to go though that phase for a bit then then I can come through the other side with something I like.
For some reason I really like to draw food and fish. I also like drawing little things a lot bigger than they are. When you spend hours looking at an object, you're gambling with your sanity, but there's great little details to keep frustration at bay. What I choose to draw is often dictated by colour. If I've been looking at greens day in, day out, I end up craving reds, oranges or something completely different.
All the photos/videos are just quick visual notes taken on my phone for reference while I draw.
Aubergine
Here's were I started, this is A3, so a modest size and more true to life scale than my future ambitions. You can see I'm still sketching or really committing to laying down the colour thickly.
297 x 420 mm
Teacake
I think I got a bit too big for my boots here. I used Polychromos pencils and quickly realised that these are not the best for laying down strong vibrant colour. However I did enjoy the torment that was trying to replicate a chrome looking reflective surface.
100 x 70 cm
Croissant
Next attempt, I'm a bit more confident here with applying the colour and I actually like the way it's a bit blocky and although I liked this style I couldn't quite get back to it in future attempts.
This is also where I switched to Caran d'Ache Luminance and Derwent Lightfast pencils. Up until this point I'd only been using Polychromos, and I still use them, but they're harder than the other two. Luminance and Lightfast go down much more easily and make building up colour a little less of a workout. The trade-off is the tips go blunt much faster and detail requires constant sharpening. This is also when I invested in an electric sharpener.
297 x 420 mm
Cabbage
I began to regret choosing a cabbage very quickly. There is a lot of green. However great practice for building up colour, although my blending still needs loads of work. The cabbage consumed nearly all the pencil. Was I going to have to get another one? No need, I finished with a tiny stub.
100 x 70 cm
Cap Roig
This is a Red Scorpionfish. I felt a bit odd over at the fish market buying a single tiny fish. I thought this time to show you my reference, he's so small so my reference images had to work hard. Also Red seemed like a good next colour to have a go at. This one was fun as it had a lot of pinks, browns, purples and even bits of blue. I've started using some Caran d'Ache Pablo pencils for this one. Firmer than Luminance, great for little tiny details. This one I had a crack at a few sketches to try out the colour before doing the bigger version. You can see that I'm using a grid, this was the only way I could find my place on the drawing against my reference photo, so many scales.
100 x 70 cm
Oyster
And that brings us up to where I'm at now. Still going with the sea creatures, and this oyster is a work in progress as of Summer 2026.
I had a similar calling to this as something interesting to draw. Lots of little details* good opportunity to see and add loads of colour tones. This one I also did a bit of a sketch to try out some colours so I used chalk pastel and good vibes.
* I've just realised right now as I write that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with super detailed subjects. More thoughts on that soon, once I have formed them properly.
100 x 70 cm
