I have always enjoyed coloring with pencils but I’ve never really been happy with the results. I’ve longed for the talent of Terry Maderis. I’ve never expected that I could be as good as he is but I’ve always hoped to at least move in his direction.

Terry recently taught a class in my area and while I wasn’t able to attend a good friend of mine made it to the class. One of my first trips out since the big pet the cat and break your back event was to pay a visit to my friend and learn from her a few of Terry’s secrets.

Arlynne told me to bring my Prismacolor pencils and she would show me how to shade and blend like a pro. It is important to note here that I only have seven or eight different Prismacolor pencils. I have lots of other brands of pencils but very few Prismacolors. Since Prismacolor is the only thing Terry uses, Prismacolor was the only thing I brought with me.

Arlynne told me to select three colors that were very close to each other and I knew I was in big trouble. The best I could do was the purpley reds you see to the left. Maybe that isn’t so bad… I mean, it does provide a built in excuse for why my blending doesn’t look as fabulous as Terry’s blending.

Arlynne showed me two different ways to blend the colors but the most enlightening thing for me was learning that Terry pressed really hard with his pencils. All these years I’ve been pressing lightly and trying to build up color with lots and lots of layers. Terry teaches people to press really hard to make sure you get the pigment down into the fibers of the paper. DUH! That makes total sense and once again I’m feeling like a fool in the dark.

So here is my first practice image. It isn’t great but it was a good learning experience. I could really see how the extra pressure added richness and depth to the colors. Although it doesn’t really look like it I also was able to see how his techniques helped to blend two adjoining colors (trust me, it looked a lot worse when I first started). Now if I can just get better at learning where to highlight and where to shadow I might actually come up with something lovely. Oh.. and it would also be super if I could develop his sense of color. He really is an amazing artist.