The Colored Pencil Course: Reflection and Transparency

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This course features:
5 Hours of Instruction
22 Videos
21 eBooks
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Lesson Description

A look creating the illusion of reflection and transparency in a colored pencil drawing. In this lesson, we complete our still life drawing of glasses and grapes with colored pencils.

Lesson Materials

Colored Pencils (Prismacolor pencils are used but any brand is fine), Bristol paper, Turpeniod, nylon brushes, and a colorless blender.

Lesson Resources

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Reference Image

Course Curriculum

Lesson 1: Introduction and Materials (4:12)Lesson 2: Colored Pencil Basics (15:44)Lesson 3: The Magic of Burnishing (19:20)Lesson 4: Value and Underpainting (17:11)Lesson 5: Color Theory (21:53)Lesson 6: Composition and Still Life (23:08)Lesson 7: Reflection and Transparency (15:56)Lesson 8: Transferring Images (9:03)Lesson 9: Creating Texture - Part 1 (17:13)Lesson 10: Creating Texture - Part 2 (15:55)Lesson 11: Landscape Drawing - Part 1 (14:42)Lesson 12: Landscape Drawing - Part 2 (16:05)Lesson 13: Portrait Drawing - Part 1 (15:55)Lesson 14: Portrait Drawing - Part 2 (11:29)Lesson 15: Portrait Drawing - Part 3 (12:13)Lesson 16: Portrait Drawing - Part 4 (13:03)Lesson 17: Portrait Drawing - Part 5 (9:37)Lesson 18: Watercolor and Colored Pencils - Part 1 (15:03)Lesson 19: Watercolor and Colored Pencils - Part 2 (10:48)Lesson 20: Watercolor Pencils - Part 1 (13:07)Lesson 21: Watercolor Pencils - Part 2 (11:07)Lesson 22: Conclusion (4:32)

Lesson Discussion

  2. I am very pleased with how my picture turned out. The reflections look great. Thanks for the consistent reminders about looking at shapes. I especially like the background– that was a lot of work, but well worth it. Thanks for the great instruction!

  4. Another great, fully comprehensive lesson. I’ve never been a fan of still life, but as an excercise in ‘ drawing what you see’ this is invaluable – I think I need to practse lots of these before trying colour pencil portraits.
    Could you give an indication of the size of paper you used, also the actual image size. As you explained different brands have different binders, will it cause problems if I mix brands in one drawing? I have quite a range of colours, but some are Derwent Coloursoft and some are Faber Castell Polychromos.

  5. Your step by step instructions and the logical progression of the lesson plan gives the student an excellent opportunity to succeed. There is plenty of useful information to focus on, i found myself pausing and re-running the video over again and again. But the most important thing I learned was:
    The repetition of the brain seeing what you you’re attempting to draw and then the brain drawing what you see, is a concept that I never thought of that way before but, now I understand it! This understanding has made me a better artist.Thank you for that!

  7. Yes Mr.Matt….The wine bottles and the glass transp. I had to practise on a separate drawing rough of the glass before I was laying down the shadows so they were gentle and not pasted on….great eye-hand workout really slowed me down…but rewarded myself with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon out of Chile. thumbs up for the direction. thx.

  8. good morning matt,
    wow!….i couldn’t believe the availability & range of warm & cool grays(prisma colors). 90%-70%-50%-30%-20%
    1.do one simply understand warm and cool grays via practice ? ie. which gray to use (warm/cool)
    2.are there any fast-rules as to when to use either?
    3.then you get into the %%….how does this work….how do you decide on the %? ie.in this study,using 20% WG for grape c cast shadow & 70% WG

    thanks,raquel

    • Dear Matt,
      I am enjoying very much the the couse. I am in the process of completing the Still life of this lesson, and giving it some final touches for completion.
      On question comes to mind: How do you select the colors from the photo reference? Or a still life in front of you? Perhaps the answer to my question is in another lesson in anothe location of your site? I will value very much your guidance. Still lifes is one of my favorite themes.

  9. Thanks so much! I was not confident of my ability to even begin this. But with your careful attention to the details & lots of hard work & patience, my still life surprised me. The reflections in my glass were too obvious & dark to be pleasing. I was able to save it with lots of eraser & a white firm pastel. Thank you for the tremendous effort you put into these lessons.

  10. Dear Matt,
    I am enjoying very much the the couse. I am in the process of completing the Still life of this lesson, and giving it some final touches for completion.
    On question comes to mind: How do you select the colors from the photo reference? Or a still life in front of you? Perhaps the answer to my question is in another lesson in anothe location of your site? I will value very much your guidance. Still lifes is one of my favorite themes.

  12. I am using Strathmore paper, 100 lb – the tooth of the paper shows through when I finish – How many layers are you applying? Should I be doing more layers or blending? Pat

  13. Matt – it would also be very helpful if the reference was shown as you add the values – so that you can point out what values you are seeing. I have trouble seeing what you are seeing from the photo reference – all in all, really a great course – pat

  15. Hi Matt, how do you get bright highlights with polychromes please, as I am finding that reserving the paper and going over with the white pencil does not create very sharp highlights

    • Hi Christine,

      Polychromos colored pencils aren’t the brightest pencils, however there are two things you can try. The first is to work on toned paper. The contrast alone will make the highlights appear stronger and lighter – value is relative. The second is to consider going over your highlights with a little gouache (opaque watercolor) to make them stronger.

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