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I've only recently begun using my Prismacolor colored pencils and am wondering how useful the blender pencil is? I've found that the white pencil is great for shading, especially on dark card stock, but should I also get a blender pencil? Does anyone have experience with colored pencils, and what is your experience?
Thanks.
Karen
I have one and abandoned it after a few tries. Others may like it, but I kind of didn't see the point. I like layering and/or blending with Gamsol/baby oil/Zest it/Goo Gone (all of them work)
When I say sometimes, it doesn't mean that I only kinda like it and so only pull it out once in a while.
It means there are certain times...like when I follow blending instructions in my favorite colored pencil learning book...that the blending pencil is absolutely essential. Then sometimes I want to achieve the less blended look and I don't use it.
If you prefer to blend with solvents, like Sue does, then you don't need the blending pencil. It is for blending dry.
Somehow, I don't think I gave you a definite answer. ;) It really does depend on the look you want to achieve and the way you want to use the pencils.
Jumping back in to say that Diane's is probably the better answer - I don't have any "learning books" and have never investigated beyond my own trial and error, so mine is definitely not an "informed" answer, lol...
I have one, and use it sometimes. It is great at what it does, helping to blend colours together,or fade them out, but do be aware that it's almost impossible to add colour over the top of it, if you decided you wanted to deepen the colour.
I have one, and I hardly every use it anymore. ( if you use it enough to blend you will also need a brush to brush away the wax and you will see wax bloom on the coloring )
what I found that i like better is to use a prisma colorless blender marker over the first layer of pigments to melt them, its much easier to add the second layer of color and you do not have that flaky mess of wax brushings either.
you can find this pen sold by it self and use a coupon for it at Micheals.
I have one and abandoned it after a few tries. Others may like it, but I kind of didn't see the point. I like layering and/or blending with Gamsol/baby oil/Zest it/Goo Gone (all of them work)
Well I have baby oil, but didn't even know you could use Goo Gone!
It sounds like I just need to experiment a little before I decide as I've only used the colored pencils dry in the past. I know I bought a bottle of some solvent years ago to try with the pencils, but not sure what it was (or where it is anymore!)
Thanks for the tips everyone.
Karen
Most of my colouring is done with Prismacolour pencils and I don't know how I could colour effectively without the blending pencil. I don't use it to blend different colours together, I use it to make one pencil look like 3 or 4 shades of the same colour.
If you scribble on a piece of paper or cardstock, very, very firmly go over the top with the blending pencil, the wax in the pencil will develop and give an intensity that wasn't there before.
__________________ Susie
Please don't take your organs to heaven - heaven knows we need them here.
I started off as a pencil shader so when I heard about all these blending tools, especially Gamsol I was like "Huh?" ROFL.
I do have the blender pencil. It is useful for some things. I don't think it's a need. I think it's more of a curiosity. I love my curiosity items. Would I buy one again if I needed too. Probably not.
To be honest I haven't seen a lot of professional colored pencil artists use the blender pencils. They pencil shade, use white pencils or tortillions for their shading. That is how I learned.
The pencil does even out lines. It can even out your lines so much you lose your detail even if you are being careful. It can be a bit rough on your paper. If you have an apple you are coloring, for example, the pencil is good for smoothing out the colors. If you are coloring a bear it can take out the details on the bears fur.
If you are working with your own coloring then it's a nice accessory in your color toolbox. Not a needed accessory but nice. If you are stamping it is a bit different. Stamps already have the areas you need to shade. If you start blending that area you lost your detail. If that makes sense. I am tired, long shopping day in the heat. Brain fog when it comes to explanations, lol.
Thanks for all the tips and advice everyone! Looks like I can skip buying a blender pencil because it's not needed and I would have to learn how to use it anyway! I went ahead and bought two extra white pencils instead, to help with highlighting. I first bought Prismacolor pencils for my son when he was in high school, and found the old set about 4 years ago. I've only dabbled in color pencils since then but thought I would give it another try. We'll see how that goes!
Karen
This is not my video. This lady explained the blender pencil and pencil shading I think a lot better than I did. Ok, she explains it a lot better than I did, ROFL-
Prismacolor Blender pencil
