Before you begin, make sure you pick up the extra graphite on your paper with a kneaded eraser, cleaning often, until you are left with an impression of your sketch. This step is important before you begin coloring to avoid your colors mixing with the graphite and looking dirty.
In order to begin you must have from left to right; Helix Electric Eraser, Colored Pencil Blender, (Woodless Colored Pencils shown above) Burnt Umber or Natural Sepia, Burnt Sienna or Brown, Terra-Cotta, Yellow Oxide or Light Ochre, Black Prisma Color, White Prisma Color, Light Gray, Sky Blue, Indigo, Blue, Light Teal, Tombov MONO Zero Eraser, Pencil Eraser, and a Brush (Not Shown) to carefully wipe away Eraser or Colored Pencil dust.
Step 1- We will begin coloring and shading the crevices and cracks in the background using a Black and White Prisma colored pencil. Trace the cracks extending from the crevices with the Black colored pencil. Look at where the walls of crevices protrude. *Make sure you do not outline the top of these with your Black colored pencil. Color the walls with your White colored pencil with vertical strokes going down. Color the inside of the crevices, where they make a V Shape inwards, with your Black colored pencil. Create shadows casting off the white walls by shading, not coloring, in vertical strokes, with a Black colored pencil, creating a Value Study. Blend with a colored pencil blender. Clean blender often to keep the dark, middle, and light values pure.
Step 2- Continue Coloring, Shading, and Blending the Cavern and crevices. Use the Gray colored pencil conservatively, adding hints of Gray. Notice how the Black begins at the bottom and cuts in through the rocks as it works its way up towards the top, but not all the way up. You can create this effect using a very sharp Black colored pencil and a very sharp Colored Pencil Blender. *Pay attention to the rough, not smooth, texture you are trying to achieve. You can correct any areas that look muddy, not crisp and clean, with a Tombov MONO Zero Eraser and the Helix Electric Eraser. Always hold up and view your drawing, at a distance, frequently. That is the “Truest Test” to accurately see and check if you are achieving the 3 Dimensional Depth and Texture of the Anamorphic Art you are creating and make accurate adjustments. **Art is not meant to be viewed “Up Close” so always keep that “in mind” whenever you are creating a piece of Art.
Step 3- Begin adding color to the Bridge. You will need both Browns, Terra-Cotta, Yellow, Gray, White, and Black Colored Pencils. Using the White colored pencil, color the highlights on the stones making a square U Shape on its side, beginning on the left side of each of the stones. The stones viewed on the side of the bridge will have highlights making a square shaped U, turned upside down.
Step 4- Adjust values until you have acheived the desired effect on the stones. *Notice I do not outline the top of the stones on the bridge.
Step 5- Shade in the shadow casted by the bridge. Make sure your value is darkest closest to the bridge. Begin the rest of the bridge by outlining and shading with black.
Step 6- Complete the bridge.
Step 7- Begin the water. It is important that you create movement and depth by coloring in a sharp horizontal zig zag pattern. Use 3 different degrees of blue. * Make sure you don’t outline the areas of water close to the rocks. Make feathery horizontal strokes pulling away from the rocks.
Step 8- Complete the water and the rock ledges, in the foreground.
Step 9- Create the foreground, middleground, and background. All of my students did a great job creating original landscapes for this project!
* In class, I taught this project, altering it to include more water in the background.