Colored Pencil Drawings

Thursday evening we started working with colored pencils.  In the first example shown, the drawing was initiated in red.  Next, I went over all the red with blue.  And lastly I went over the red and blue areas excluding the contours with yellow.  Notice that the yellow doesn't cover the entire skull.  Some areas utilize the tone of the paper for highlights.  In the scribble gesture drawing, again I started with red, switching to blue and then yellow.  At that point, I began to alternate more rapidly between the colors.  Being a gestural approach to drawing, I tried to maintain the energy and spontaneity not only with the mark-making but with the color handling as well.  As I approached completion of the drawing, I added the black with yellow on top.  Finishing a drawing with a warm color like yellow is a great way to add a sense of luminosity and depth, not unlike "glazing" in painting.  In Arianna Preston's drawing (cow skull), she has separated the warm and cool colors which gives the drawing a sense  of time and place.  As in the last glowing rays of the sun as it sets.