Where: Live on Zoom. Recordings will be available for each session.
When: 5 sessions of 2 hours each, Wednesdays January 27th, February 3, 10, 24th; (no session 18th Feb); 3rd March 2027. 7-9pm London time (Check your time zone here).
YOU CAN DRAW!
Live demonstrations ~Small Group~ Encouraging and supportive atmosphere~ Learn about drawing with coloured pencils ~ experiment and develop your own voice – join from anywhere.
10 hours of live teaching with lots of individual attention plus class recordings for only £160
Dates and Time:
6-9 pm London time (Check your time zone here).
Who’s it for?
“Caroline is the art teacher I wish I’d had at school” Emma B, adult learner.
Drawing doesn’t only have to be in shades of grey. If you love colour, and want to improve your drawing skills, this live online course is for you. A little drawing experience will be helpful: in seeing basic shapes, negative spaces and being able to check proportions. This course in colour is designed as a follow-on from my course Drawing for Beginners, which gives nine hours of learning in all the drawing basics. Consider taking that course first if you’d like a systematic grounding. Check dates here.
Coloured pencils are a versatile medium, capable of strong saturated colour, dense oil-painting-like effects or free watercolour-like fluid sketches, and are very convenient, cheap and portable. The principle of colour mixing explored through them applies to other coloured media, so they’re a great way to understand how colour works before moving to other more costly or slower to work media.
You don’t need a huge range of coloured pencils to create lots of colours. For this course, just 12 will be plenty. They could be water-soluble or not; we’ll discuss the different types available and how they can be altered with water, solvents, blenders or other tools.
We’ll start with playing with colour: exploring marks shapes and textures.
just three colours: the primaries. But which three colours are those exactly? we’ll explore all the options and try different combinations, and then complete a drawing using just three colours.
There’s the option to make your own colour wheel and explore colour mixing in depth, and learn how to create shadows and pale colours.
You’ll learn the four ways of modifying colour, and how to make subtle colour mixes.
We’ll do lots of drawing from observation, entirely in colour, learning how to choose pencils, blend them and modify the colours to create the effects you want.
Delivered in 3 sessions of 3 hours each on Zoom online platform, each session is supported by examples from other artists, notes and suggestions for practice sessions, and lots of opportunity for personal feedback and support. Sessions are recorded, so if you can’t make it, you wont miss out.
Never used Zoom? I’ll take you through it, and I’ll help you use our online noticeboards as well, no prior experience needed.
About the Teacher
Caroline has a background as a designer maker, and is passionate about exploring drawing. She is an experienced teacher of adults, and has taught for the Royal School of Needlework and the Embroiderers Guild UK. She is committed to creating a gentle, encouraging and positive atmosphere for learning.
Online Private Class Gallery
What one student valued most:
“How safe it feels online, and how quickly it becomes safe to share.”
We will use Padlet online noticeboard, which is an easy and free way to share your work and see class resources. There will be a gallery for you to post your work, private to the group, and a page of class resources. Further help will be given to use this.
What You’ll Learn
- How to draw working entirely in coloured pencil
- Draw with only three colours
- Learn about the colour wheel and how to create one, with choices for primary colours
- Creating shadows with colour
- Colour temperature and how it creates mood
- Subtle colour blending
- Drawing expressively in colour
- How to use solvents (water or other) with coloured pencils
- Blender pencils, glazing pencils, paper stumps and other techniques
- The variety of papers that can be used for coloured pencil.
There will be drawing games and experiments, with encouragement to be childlike in trying things out and discovering what’s possible, to develop your intuitive responses and a sense of play.
You will have plenty of opportunity to ask questions, get feedback on your drawings and share your learning with a small (max class size 10) group.
Materials
You’ll need to buy the following:
- A4 Sketchbook, or pad of cartridge or drawing paper.
- A set of good quality coloured pencils. Start with a tin of 12.
- Good quality pencil sharpener.
- A plastic eraser and some BluTak, white tack or an artist’s putty rubber.
- Optional: Grey and black papers, tracing paper (not shown)
Session Breakdown
Provisional plan
Session 1: Marks, Lines, and Shapes. Get to know your coloured pencils. Warm up with coloured pencils, practising shapes, doodling and playing with different colours. Some drawing games: continuous line and negative space.
Session 2: Drawing Light and Dark. Using browns, ochres and dark blues, draw and shade using coloured pencils.
Session 3: Three Colours. What primary colours are. Playing with limited selections of colours, and drawing an apple with just three.
Session 4: Colour Changes. How to modify them to neutralise, darken and lighten.
Session 5: Glazing with Colour. Adding colour in layers over a shaded drawing.
You’ll need some objects to draw. I’ll be using fruit, leaves and flowers to demonstrate colour mixing, but other coloured objects will be suitable.
Before the course starts, you’ll receive:
- a list of materials and recommendations for setting up your space for the Drawing sessions
- a community noticeboard link
- joining instructions for the Live Online session on Zoom.
Join here.
Drawing in Colour
£160
Want to build your painting skills too? Check out the Watercolour Course
FAQs
1. Do I need any drawing experience to join?
This course is designed as a follow-on from my course Drawing for Beginners, which gives nine hours of learning in all the drawing basics. A little drawing experience will be helpful: in seeing basic shapes, negative spaces and being able to check proportions. This course will build on those principles as you learn about working in colour. If you have never drawn before, consider taking my Drawing for Beginners live online course first. Dates are repeated through the year.
2. What if I can’t make one of the live sessions?
No problem — every session is recorded, so you can catch up in your own time if you miss one live. Post your work on the gallery and get tutor feedback even if you miss the session. That said, joining live gives you the most benefit, since you’ll get direct feedback and can ask questions as you go.
3. Is this course suitable for embroiderers and other textile artists?
Many of my students come from an embroidery or textile art background. Learning to draw strengthens your eye for shape, proportion and shading, which feeds directly into stronger, more confident design work in any craft.
4. What materials do I need before the course starts?
You’ll need a set of good quality coloured pencils, a minimum of 12. These usually include a choice of reds, blues, yellows, green, purple, orange, brown, black and white. Add a pencil sharpener, and an eraser. A full materials list and shopping guidance is sent to you before Session One, so there’s no guesswork.
5. How do I choose coloured pencils?
Price is a good guide: good quality coloured pencils are more pricey because they have more of the expensive colour-giving pigment in. Choose between aquarelle, or watersoluble, pencils, or oil based pencils which are water resistant. Well-known brands are Derwent, Faber Castell, Caran d’Ache. Choose a brand from which you can buy single pencils when you want to increase your colour range.
