In Living Color
As creative a person I consider myself to be, I don't go outside of the box very much for my artwork. For years, I stuck to only colored pencil. I tried marker for maybe a week or two before converting back to colored pencil. I learned how to use acrylic and watercolor paints only to return to colored pencil.
And then?
I stopped using colored pencil. Yup, you heard it from me. I lost my $80 set of colored pencils from Blick's, and didn't pick them up again until this afternoon. At least three years have gone by since I feel I've made a worthwhile piece of artwork in color with the exception of a couple of watercolor paintings I did a few months ago (possibly to be shared sometime in the near future--or the far future, depending on how I'm feeling). My beloved medium--my precious colored pencils--I betrayed for so long that my fingers and hands have seemed to forgotten the delicate art of colored pencil-ing. So, keep that in mind when I share this sketch with you. The shading isn't great--I'd give it a 6 for 10, and that's being generous--and the colors aren't exactly how I wanted them.
Alas...I'm still proud of myself.
This sketch--I'll call her Mahogany--isn't the best one I've done in a while, but it's one I've spent the most time on in a while. It's the most colorful piece I've done since December, and for that, I'll give myself a pat on the back for branching out--or rather, branching in?--going back to my roots, and giving colored pencils another go.
My advice to you would be to not forsake your craft. It took years--YEARS--of paper cuts, practice and hand cramps to get to the level I'm currently at, and I got too comfortable with the skill I dared to believe I'd mastered. I try not to stay stagnant, but rather make improvements upon improvements. This stagnant stage in my art skills was only a minor setback, but still! Don't leave your talents behind in the dust. Ever. Never. Not even once. Learn from me, folks. Go pick up your colored pencils!
Reina
(PS sorry for the low quality photo and the low quality floor...that's college living for ya, folks!)
