Summer Loving
COLOUR PENCIL
Strathmore 300 series Bristol Smooth 9x12 inch
Faber-Castell Polychromos
Reference: licensed DepositPhotos
I do absolutely adore automotive design classics from earlier eras. With their flowing lines and gleaming chrome, they were bling before bling was a thing! Such cars are well out of my price range, but with our beloved colour pencils we can go wherever we so wish and own a fleet of such beauties if so desired, n’est-ce pas? A pencil wax and shine and guaranteed to be maintenance and trouble free for many years to come. If only our real life cars could be so economical.
And so it was, with high aspirations and many visits to reference photo show rooms, that I chose this beautiful Jaguar XK150 as the subject of my pencil passion. An exhilarating, toupee liberating sports tourer to drive I am sure, undoubtedly elegant, sophisticated and refined. In short, everything I am not!
For the sky, I broke out the OMS solvent… not something I tend to use often, partially on account of an unfortunate Zest-It lemon-scented solvent spillage of many moons ago that has left me traumatised by all things citrus. On the plus side, no mosquito dares come within a hundred miles of my drawing area now. OMS was used safely and responsibly this time, with the lid swiftly replaced immediately after every use and then it was on to sand and surf.
I am fortunate to live by the sea, so the sand and sea felt like a little touch of home… so with a gentle breeze and a swishing of pencils, sand and sea were swiftly despatched. A deep breath, as I knew I was dealing with a car that deserved the utmost respect, and then it was time to move on to lovingly recreate in pigment the sweeping curves and spotless surfaces that the Jaguar team had conjured up so many years ago.
Such highly pigmented, highly reflective surfaces are just a blast to break down for colour pencil. The Polychromos pencils purred, their transparent nature allowing a gradual and controlled build up of rich and vibrant bodywork - I loved building in such deep colours as that was one of the attributes that attracted me to colour pencils originally. And that chrome! Chrome is just plain fun to work on, much more fun to draw than polish in real life, and the gleaming end results make it all the sweeter.
And so, in many blinks of the eyes, it was time to sit back and enjoy the ride… hope you enjoy this one as much as I did drawing it.
For any who are interested, this was made in to a tutorial too. More details can be found here:
https://beginnersandbeyond.com/learn/tutorials/summer-loving 😊

