All About the Smile

Pencils: Prismacolor
Paper: 14x11" Strathmore Bristol 500 Plate 2 ply
Reference: Terricks Noah, Unsplash

Well, blow me down with a feather if this cheeky little chappie doesn’t have the most adorable smile. The kind that can set the World to rights before breakfast on a Monday, and a feel good factor that will see you through to Friday with change to spare.

I found this photo on Unsplash and he seemed the perfect companion to while away a few hours drawing with a swishy new set of Prismacolor.

I have very little prior experience with Prismacolor, having only tried a few back when I started, so it was a nice to have a go with them now that I have a few more pencil shavings behind me. And I can absolutely see why so many are smitten. Easy to blend and a dazzling eye candy array of colours, they are a bit of alright!

So, on to this piece… I have to thank Vera Curnow at the CPSA for giving me permission to post this ahead of publication, as this portrait forms part of an article that will appear in the November edition of the fabulous CPSA magazine, To The Point.

The article is aimed at helping beginners in particular choose colours for portraits, whatever the skin tone may be. And this little lad is smiling through a Step by Step tutorial that is covered within that. I usually say a bit about my process when posting work, but this time I can say nothing. Nada. And anyone who knows me will know how difficult that is for me, because I just love talking art!

But all will be revealed in To The Point for all CPSA members in good time, and I hope you can bask in his happiness just a little in the meantime. He certainly did cheer me up no end whilst drawing him, our subject matter can certainly rub off on us can’t it. Perhaps I should try drawing a lottery clean sweep next!

I have always maintained lists of pencils across all brands for skin tones, and one serendipitous side effect of researching this article has been that I have expanded that and got myself organised with cross pencil brand spreadsheets by skin type and all! A little slice of OCD heaven for me

Enjoy your weekend and keep creating all 😊