Blue Tit – Preclass

Before we start…a little housekeeping

I retain the copyright to the content you are learning in class. That means…

1. Do not sell or give away the concepts from my classes – you may not re-teach my instruction contained or created within these lessons.
2. Do not post a video tutorial or step by step photo tutorial of your own redraw of class content.
3. Do not repost any handouts you receive in class.

However…I love to see students making strides and taking this teaching and personalizing it with your own skills.

1. DO make your own designs and develop your own style! I love that!
2. DO gift your creations made with these techniques, of course!

At the bottom of each lesson you’ll see some ways to share your homework and ask questions, so that’ll be handy for you.

Colored Pencils

1. Polychromos Colored pencils:
   1. Full set
   2. Single colors:
      1. Light yellow glaze 104
      2. Cadmium yellow 107
      3. Purple violet 136
      4. Black 199
      5. White 101
2. Prismacolor colored pencils
   1. Full set
   2. Single colors:
      1. Lemon yellow 915
      2. Canary yellow 916
      3. Violet 932
      4. Black 935
      5. White 938

Drawing Papers

I highly recommend trying Pastelmat but others are included here too. To complete both the Nuthatch and Bluetit courses here, either select Palette No 2, or purchase by the sheet.

1. 1. Clairefontaine Pastelmat by the pad;
      1. Palette No 1 Maize, Buttercup, Dark Grey, Light Grey  BLICK • AMZ 
      2. Palette No 2 Sienna,White, Brown, Charcoal Grey   BLICK • AMZ 
      3. Palette No 4 Dark Blue, Light Blue, Wine, Sand  BLICK • AMZ
      4. Palette No 5 Dark Green, Light Green, White, Dark Blue BLICK • AMZ
      5. Palette No 7 BLICK
      6. Charcoal grey only Pad BLICK
      7. White only Pad BLICK
   2. Clairefontaine Pastelmat by the sheet:
      1. Charcoal grey Sheet BLICK (for Bluetit)
      2. White Sheet BLICK (for Nuthatch)

Other white papers may be used, however you will need to use more layers and patience as well as wet blending to get similar results.

1. Stonehenge BLICK •  AMZ  
2. Daler Rowney AMZ
3. Strathmore Bristol BLICK • AMZ

For tracing and transferring

You’ll also want to have some tracing paper on hand, or if you’d like the lightweight vellum you might use for other projects, try this one. You may not be able to see through heavyweight vellum enough.)

When using Pastelmat, know that it can be difficult to erase stray marks, especially on light colors! Graphite transfer paper can be hard to remove – that means if an image has a white glow to it, you can’t just erase those dark pencil marks. But for some portions the graphite will work great, and we’ll talk about that during class. 

When working on a dark pastelmat paper, it’s hard to see the graphite transfer marks – so white transfer paper is also a big help for the bluetit.

Other materials

1. Sofft blending tool set 
2. Nail files for creating powdered pencil; the file is a nice hard surface to do this with. Or use a Tea Strainer to make a pile of pigment on scrap paper
3. Kneaded Eraser
4. A few sharpener options:
   1. Afmat Long Point Pencil Sharpener I start with this one for a long point, then get it really sharp when needed with a handheld sharpener.
   2. Dahle Chubby Pencil Sharpener
   3. Quietsharp Pencil Sharpener:  BLICK  • AMZ 
5. White artist tape, 3/4”

Wet Blending: while not used much at all for working on pastelmat, you might need some if using a different paper.

1. Gamsol Blending solution   OR another favorite.  
2. Blending stumps: Blick • AMZ
3. Blending stump sanding block 
4. Jars for solvents   
5. Cotton balls, qtips

Video 2: paper comparisons