Tip for Drawing Feathers/Fur in Pastel Pencils

Back in Podcast 27 we talked about "Paper Sparkle" - this occurs, for example, when doing animal fur and you have speckled white areas in the picture then correcting it by applying more pastel.To avoid this, the first application (white, ivory or light grey) is put in quite strong.  It is important to fill all the gaps.  Do not at this stage use the colour shaper however tempting it is.  After this put the next colours on, say 182 or pink etc. These are the intermediary colours and it makes the base firmer and stronger.  The darker colours should then follow. A good example of this is the European Goldfinch sneak peek on our YouTube Channel (watch below). It’s the same technique for both feathers and fur.To watch the full European Goldfinch in pastel pencils along with more animal tutorials, sign up to become a member.