Color Pencil Basic Techniques with Shiny Gemstones in Zentangle Inspired Art Projects

1. Hello!: As a self-taught artist, I know how frustrating and overwhelming it can be to be fascinated with a new medium, but not knowing anything about the way it works. This is especially true for a medium like color pencils, whether there's so much variety available in terms of tools as well as techniques. It's safe to say that it took me a lot of research and a lot of failed attempts before I could start making professional artworks with color pencils. But through all my mistakes and some random discoveries, my love for this medium only kept growing with each passing day. And today, I'm here to share my love of color pencils with all of you. Hi everyone. My name is Ridhi Rajpal and I'm a filmmaker and a multi-disciplinary artist from India. I'm also a Certified Zentangle Teacher and a Certified Russian Sculpture Painting Artist. As a child, I was fascinated with the world of movies as well as art. So I ended up building a portfolio career in both of these industries where some days I'm working on a movie set or on a TV commercial, but other days I'm creating artworks in my studio, selling them as original paintings or licensing my designs through print on-demand websites like Society6 and Redbubble. I started my brand, TheColorBirdie in 2021 with the intention of expanding my services as a professional artist and working with more brands, agencies and curators. But more importantly, I wanted my brand to be recognized as one that helps beginner artists to level up their creativity in an experimental and fearless manner. Being a multi-disciplinary artist, I work with a lot of different mediums, such as watercolors, acrylics, gouache, texture pastes, you name it! But the primary reason why I gravitated towards color pencils is because they served as a natural extension to the highly detailed Zentangle artworks that I love to make. In fact, the reason why I have chosen gemstones as the core subject for this class is because they're used extensively in Zen-doodles as well as Zentangle Inspired Art. So basically, this class is a 2-for-1. If you're a beginner in color pencils, then not only will you learn the basics of this medium and how to create beautiful Shiny Gemstones with it. But I will also show you how to incorporate these gemstones in Zentangle Art Inspired projects. So if you're an existing student of mine, and have taken my previous classes on Zentangle, then this class on Color Pencil Gemstones, will be a great addition to your skill set. And if you're a beginner in color pencils, then you can always take the Zentangle class later on to add to your skills. So if this sounds like your jam, let's get this show on the road. And I'm going to see you in class! 2. Class Overview & Projects: Hi everyone, and welcome to the class. In this lesson, I'm gonna give you a quick overview of this class, and what you can expect to learn. First, we're going to start with talking about Supplies. I'll walk you through all the tools that I personally use. And I will also share tips on how you can look for good-quality supplies for yourself. Then we will talk about basic color pencil techniques and how we Layer, Blend and Burnish different colors. After that, we will move on to understanding the anatomy of a shiny translucent gemstones and how we can get creative with shapes and colors for our various projects. After that, we will move on to the most exciting part, where we will be working on three main class projects, which are Inspired by emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. For all of these three projects, we will follow six steps. We will start with a Base Layer, then add more color, move on to Blending and finally, Burnishing. After we're done with the first four steps, we will tangle on the background. And last but not the least, we will add color to the background. Now for projects 1 and 2, I will give you a real-time demonstration of steps one to six. But in project number three, I will show you a time-lapse version of steps one to four, but a real-time demonstration of steps 5 and 6. This is because by the time we reach the third project, I want to encourage you to draw independently and work at your own pace. I'm quite confident you'll be able to do that very easily. Once the three main projects are done, we will move on to three additional exercises where I will talk about unique scenarios, where we sometimes need to break the rules or alter the process to suit our creative needs. So we will learn how to create a Patterned Gemstone, a Cracked Gemstone, and a Gemstone with a Shadow. I've also included a bonus lesson for you where you can add a tangle to the background of your Patterned Gemstone. At the end of this class, you have the option to share your class projects with me and receive individual feedback. Upload a class project. All you need to do is scroll down to the bottom of the class page and click on the tab that says Projects and Resources. At any point during the class, if you feel like you have any questions or would like to discuss a topic more with me. You can do that by clicking on the discussions tab. Keep an eye over here for interesting discussions from fellow students as well. With that, we're ready to move on to our next lesson, where we will be talking about paper selection 3. Paper Selection : Color pencils are known to give extremely vibrant and smooth results for your drawings when they're paired with the right kind of paper. Paper Selection is perhaps as important as selecting the Pencils itself. But there is so much variety available in the market that it can become a little bit overwhelming for a beginner to make a choice. So I've tried to simplify that process for you in this lesson. Now generally speaking, there are three main categories of papers which are available in the market. These are rough, semi tooth, smooth. These terms basically refer to the surface texture of the paper. Rough papers usually have a bumpy texture and you can easily see the grain on the surface. Smooth papers, like the name suggests, have a very smooth surface and there is less visibility of the grain on the paper. And semi tooth paper is somewhere in the middle of both of these categories, and it has a medium grain. Now whenever you're making artworks where you need precision, such as with technical pens or mechanical pencils, then you will choose the smoothest paper possible to preserve the details. These papers are often used in architectural or technology-driven drawings. But wherever you want to make something more loose and abstract, where you want to emphasize the texture of the paper, such as in watercolor paintings, then rough papers are a great choice. Now for a medium like color pencils, semi tooth paper works very well. This is because the tooth of these papers will allow you to work in layers, which is very, very important for color pencils. But the final result will be absolutely smooth and polished, once we burnish the artwork. We will learn more about Burnishing and Layering in our upcoming lessons. Now you will notice that most types of mixed media paper available in the market are actually semi-tooth. They have light texture that support wet and dry media, both. Hence they're called "mixed media paper." For this particular class, mixed media paper is actually the ideal choice for us because we're working with two primary mediums. We're gonna be using color pencils as well as drawing pens. Now, drawing pens don't hold very well on rough paper because whenever the nib comes in contact with the bumpiness of the paper, the friction causes the nibs to break. And the ink doesn't come out smoothly. And on the other hand, color pencils don't work very well on smooth papers because there is not enough texture and tooth for us to layer them. So for us in today's class, the semi tooth paper is the answer to both of these mediums. It has just the right amount of texture to support drawing pens, as well as color pencils. Now, my preferred paper is the 400 series mixed media paper from Strathmore. This is 300 GSM thick, and is considered to be heavyweight paper. I use this a lot for all kinds of projects that I work on. But if you don't have this brand available with you, that's totally alright. You can use mixed media paper or any other good-quality semi tooth paper from literally any brand that is available to you. My pro tip is that instead of looking for brands, check out the characteristics of the paper. So make sure that the paper is at least 300 GSM thick so that we can apply multiple layers of color pencils as well as Ink. Now let's talk about the size of the paper. So I have actually cut down my papers into the size of an ATC, which is an Artist Trading Card that usually measures around two-and-a-half inches in width and three-and-a-half inches in height. And I have six of these ready for the six projects that we're gonna make. However, you're welcome to work on any size and shape that you'd like. There are no restrictions whatsoever. In fact, you can also draw some grids on a sketchbook and practice on that instead. Feel free to use whatever you have available with you. Now apart from the papers that you will need for your main projects, I also recommend keeping some spare sheets with you for the practice exercises. These should ideally be the same paper quality that you're using for the final class projects, so that you can warm up properly and get to know your paper and your tools beforehand. Again, you can use a sketchbook for this or you can also use loose papers, whatever you like. The only thing that I don't recommend is to do your practice exercises or your final projects on copy paper because it is extremely thin and the paper will not do enough justice to your hard work when it comes to adding multiple layers of color pencils as well as drawing pens. The paper will simply not hold these mediums. And apart from that, you're free to work on any heavyweight medium- grit paper of your choice. Once you've made your paper selections, meet me back in the next lesson where we will discuss all the other tools that you will require for this class. 4. Other Supplies: Once you've made your paper selection, the next thing that you will need is your color pencils. Now the techniques that I'm teaching in this class are with wax based color pencils. But if you have oil-based or watercolor pencils, then you can still adapt the process a little bit and achieve similar results. The theoretical knowledge of gemstones and the general layering process will remain the same for all kinds of color pencils. But please keep in mind that I will not be going into the details of oil-based and watercolor pencils in this class. If you want to use those instead, I'm assuming that you have working knowledge of these types of color pencils and are able to adapt the process on your own. And if you're working with wax based color pencils, then that's great. Because that's what I'll be focusing on and you'll be able to follow along just fine. Now when I'm looking for color pencils to buy, I usually prefer to buy soft core pencils because they are much easier to blend than the hardcore ones. Soft core pencils are buttery smooth and they require much less effort to blend well. But with hardcore pencils, you have to work harder to achieve smooth blends. So my preferred choice is prismacolor premier, which is a soft core colored pencil brand. And this is what I'll be using in today's class. But you're welcome to use any other brand that you'd like. Now along with the pencils, you will also need a pencil sharpener. And I recommend using a sharpener that is made specifically for color pencils. So if you're using the sharpeners that are designed for regular graphite pencils, then you will end up ruining the bonding of the color pencil and that'll lead to unnecessary wastage. So the best thing to do is to use a sharpener, which is designed and manufactured specifically for color pencils. I generally use the Prismacolor sharpener for the same. But you're welcome to use any other brand that is easily available to you. To blend the color pencils smoothly and to create a burnished effect, we will also need a colorless blender pencil. It's basically the same thing as a regular color pencil. But the difference is that the colorless blender pencil only has a wax core and no color. Hence, it's colorless. It is often used as a final layer on your color pencil drawings. And again, my colorless blender pencil is from Prismacolor. But you're welcome to use any other brand that is easily available to you. If you don't have a colorless blender, no problem at all. I'll be covering the basics of how to work without a colorless blender too. Next, we will need some drawing pens. I generally use these Sakura Pigma Micron pens in various different colors. But there are other brands as well in the market that are just as good. So feel free to use anything that you'd like. For adding white highlights to the gemstones, we will also need a White Jelly Roll pen. If you don't have this available with you, that's totally alright. You can use white acrylic paint or gouache, or even a white paint pen as a substitute. Sometimes, I also use colored Jelly Roll pens and other kinds of metallic pens to add little details to my drawings or to embellish them a little bit more. But using these is a matter of personal choice. And so these are optional. Now when we're working with multiple color pencil layers, they tend to leave a lot of flecks on the paper that we're working on. The best way to remove them is with a soft bristle brush, such as a paintbrush or a makeup brush. This doesn't need to be an expensive tool. And you can use anything that you probably already have lying around in your home with you, which is similar to a soft bristle paintbrush. I generally use the brush at the back of my precision eraser. So this is an eraser in the shape of a pencil. And I can use it to erase tiny mistakes on my drawings. And this is a great two-in-one tool that I found from a local brand over here. But you can totally use a regular eraser too. And the only thing that I would recommend is that you try and look for an eraser that is good for Colored Pencils specifically. I also recommend keeping a regular HB pencil and a regular eraser on standby, in case you want to pre-draw your gemstone shapes before you add the inky lines. So that's it for all the supplies. So take a few moments to gather all of these supplies. And I will see you in the next lesson where we will talk more about the basics of color pencils. 5. Color Pencil Basics: Generally speaking, basic color pencil concepts can be broken down into three commonly used terms. They are Layering, Blending, and Burnishing. And as we do some practice exercises ahead in this lesson, you will realize that all of these are actually interconnected. So first, let's start with Layering. So I'm gonna be using this Aquamarine color pencil over here. And I'm going to put the shade numbers on the screen at all times. So that in case you're using the same brand as me, you can cross-reference the colors and use the same ones. If you don't have the same brand, that's totally alright. You can use any colors that you like for these practice exercises. Now, starting off with this pencil that I'm holding right now, I'm going to hold this at a slight distance from the tip to draw loose strokes. And with very light and gentle pressure, I'm going to lay down some color over here on my paper. So you can see that with light pressure and light pencil strokes, we can achieve gentle application of the color. And the paper grain is actually visible to us. So all of these specks of white that we can see in the middle are actually the tooth of the paper, which is visible to us through the color pencil layer. Now, in contrast to this, let's try a single layer of color with high pressure. And for that, I'm going to hold my pencil closer to the tip. And I'm going to press down hard to create this beautiful, vibrant effect. It's still a single layer of color, but the difference is quite evident. With light pressure, a lot of the paper white is visible. Whereas with hard pressure, the result is much more opaque and you can hardly see any of the paper grain. This is simply because with hard pressure, the pencil flattens the tooth of the paper and all the pigment sinks into the grain of the paper, thereby creating a flat surface. So the bottom line is that when you need more opaque color in your drawing, then hard pressure will help you to achieve that. Whereas if your desired effect is to show the paper grain, then the light pressure will do the trick. Now, let's talk about multiple layers. So light pencil pressure and layering comes in handy when you need to gradually build up the layers. So let's say you're working on a drawing and you're not quite sure of the look that you want yet. So you can start working layer by layer and you can apply the color bit by bit to achieve the desired effect. So for example, over here, I'm gonna do one pass. And then I will go once again on top of this to apply a second layer. Then a third layer. And I can keep going on, so on and so forth till I get the result that I want. So we're currently doing this with a single color only. But more importantly, Light Pencil Pressure comes in very handy when you want to mix or overlap two colors. So let's say, I don't have a green pencil with me. And let's say, I've run out of it and I want to create a specific shade of green. So for that, I can use blue and yellow to achieve that. I can mix these two colors and I can keep layering them one after the other. After the blue layer, I'm applying a yellow layer. Then I can keep alternating. So once again, I'm going to apply blue. I can keep going on, so on and so forth. So if I want a more yellowish green, then I will apply more yellow layers. And if I want a more bluish green, then I will add more blue layers. With this gradually layering technique, we actually have a lot more control on the shade that we want to achieve. So let's say you have a small box of color pencils and you don't have a lot of variety in terms of colors. Then you can always create and achieve custom shades using the limited number of color pencils that you have. And you can simply use this technique to create any kind of shade that you want. Alright, so I'm quickly going to get rid of this dust. These are wax particles which have accumulated on the paper because we've been working with layers. And so we can get rid of them using a soft bristle brush. Alright, so now let's try multiple layers with hard pencil pressure. Now, over here, as you try this exercise along with me, you will realize that with hard pencil pressure, it's a little more difficult to keep layering continuously... because at some point your hand will start to feel tired. This is because with the first layer itself, the hard pencil pressure had done a good job of flattening the paper. So when we add additional layers on top of already flattened paper, then we have to work extra hard to achieve the shade that we want. In fact, after a point, the pigment simply slides off the paper, and the color does not hold very well to the Base Layer. That is very minimal effect with hard pencil pressure. And you don't get the opportunity and the freedom to control those layers as you would like. So it's a little difficult for us to achieve layering with hard pencil pressure. So whenever you're looking to layer color pencils specifically with the intention of achieving a new shade, it's ideal that you start working with Light Pencil Pressure and then build the layers gradually, little by little, so that you can achieve the desired effect and get the shade or the color of your choice. But as I mentioned earlier, if you're looking to fill up a section of your drawing with a solid color only without any kind of gradation, then you can use the Hard Pencil Pressure and get it done with just one or two passes of color. The bottom line is that you can keep Layering for as long as the paper isn't completely flat and burnished. Which brings us to understanding what exactly Burnishing is. Burnishing is the act of flattening the paper tooth by applying layers and layers of pencil over it. This produces a smooth surface of the colors that go deep into the grain of the paper. Each paper has a certain threshold for the number of layers that it can accept. Once you reach that limit, the paper will start to suffer under the pressure of the pencils and it might even get torn. This is the reason why it's recommended to work on heavyweight paper so that you have enough scope to Layer your color pencils. So for example, over here, I'm going to add a few more layers. You can see how the white paper grain is gradually disappearing. So we're basically Burnishing this area. This effect that you can see here with a smooth, shiny surface and no paper grain visible is what is called Burnishing. Now, you can achieve Burnishing with a single color or multiple colors. So we just saw an example of two colors over here. Now, let's try this with a single color as well. So for example, this patch over here with a single color can be burnished by going over it once or twice. And we can keep adding layers till no paper grain is visible to us. Now, let's try Burnishing this one over here as well. So I will keep adding layers till I achieve a burnished effect. With Light Pencil Pressure, I can keep adding these alternate colors and I'll gradually increase the intensity of the pressure when I think I'm close to the shade that I want. Of course, it's much easier and faster to get a burnished effect with single colors. Because you can simply apply hard pressure on the first couple of layers itself. And you can get done with it very quickly. But when it comes to multiple colors, the process is a little bit slower. Because not only are you trying to burnish the patch, but you're also trying to achieve a custom shade in the process. So as you go about Layering both those colors one-by-one, it's going to take you a little bit more time to achieve the desired effect. Now, another way to achieve Burnishing is with the Blending Pencil. So this is basically a colorless blender where there is no pigment inside. It's simply colorless wax. So to achieve a Burnished effect with this, we first have to lay down a couple of layers of the color that we want. Then we simply bring in the colorless blender and apply it with hard pencil pressure and go over it like so. As you can see, it creates this beautiful, shiny smooth effect. Now, the colorless blender is actually a cost-effective way to achieve Burnishing quickly. Because in the previous method, we were using a lot of the pigment, which means that we'll run out of the color pencils much faster when we keep applying them layer after layer. But with the colorless blender, you can create a burnished effect with just a couple of layers. So it won't change the color that you already have on the paper. And you can apply just maybe one or two layers of the color that you have in mind and then go with the colorless blender on top of it. Now, another advantage of the colorless blender is that when you've mixed two colors to achieve a shade of your choice, then you don't need to risk changing it by applying another layer of color. You can achieve the burnished look with a blender pencil instead. So for example, over here, I'm going to do alternate layers of the rose pink and the process red color. And I'm going to keep layering these till I get the color of my liking. Now once I'm satisfied with the shade, I don't want to risk the shade by going once more with either the pink or the process red. Because let's say I'm scared that I might not be able to achieve the same shade again. So instead of going over it once more with the pink or the process red and just trying to go down that rabbit hole in achieving that shade, I will stop right here; and I will bring in my colorless blender instead. And so over here right now, my colorless blender actually has a little bit of residue from the previous color that we were working with. The first thing that I want to do is clean my colorless blender over here like so. And we just twist it around and get rid of all of that color. And once the pencil is clean, then I will bring it over here on this patch and I will start to burnish this. So basically now I have that smooth look and I was able to achieve it much faster with the colorless blender, rather than going once more with the pink and then the process red and then the pink again and so on and so forth. So basically this is a great way to use your colorless blender. Once you're happy with the shade that you like, you can simply start to burnish it then and there. Alright, so as we were doing this, you also saw me clean my pencil. I just want to reiterate and emphasize on the fact that you have to keep cleaning your colorless blender whenever you're switching colors. So for example, if I do a yellow patch over here and I want to burnish this, then you can see that if I don't clean my blender, then the pink residue is actually overlapping on top of that yellow layer. And it's unnecessarily giving me another shade or another color. And so these residue marks tend to make your drawing look very shabby and sometimes they just really interfere with smooth blending. The best thing to do is to keep cleaning your colorless blender frequently, and especially when you're switching from one color to another. And that way you'll be able to maintain pure colors all across your drawing. Alright, now, with that out of the way, let's talk about Blending. Now, Blending is simply the act of mixing two colors to create a new color. And we actually did cover this concept of Blending when we were practicing the Layering over here. Layering and Blending and Burnishing are all interconnected as I was telling you earlier. And you cannot achieve one without doing the other. So over here, when we were layering the blue and the yellow to achieve a custom shade of green, we were also Blending them in the process. But Blending can also be used to create transitions. That is, when you're moving from one color to another in your drawing. So for example, we want to create a gradual shift going from this light purple to a dark purple. For this, I'm going to start applying my first color over here like so. And then I'm going to overlap my second color and overlap my third color. Now I want you to pay attention to these overlapping sections over here. So the key to Blending is to make sure that the colors are overlapping each other. And that is how you'll be able to create smooth transitions. So your first color should overlap a little bit into the second color. And your second color should overlap a little bit into the third color as well as the first color. So whenever you're working with two colors, you want to make sure that there is a small patch in the middle where the colors are overlapping each other. And you are gradually layering them with light Pencil Pressure to create these smooth blends. Once you're happy with the application of the color, then you can bring in your colorless blender. So once again, I'm just going to clean this and then we can burnish this. Overlapping the colors wherever they're meeting is the right way to blend them. And it's the right way to create the transitions. As opposed to that, I'm going to show you the wrong way of doing it. So for example, over here, I'm going to lay down my color and stop it over here like so. Then instead of overlapping my second color, I'm going to actually start it from the very edge of the first color. So now you can actually see a hard boundary or a hard line, which means that you're able to make out where the first color is starting and stopping, where the second color is starting and stopping and where the third color is starting and stopping. In other words, you're able to see these rigid boundaries or these harsh lines in the middle. And that's something that we want to avoid when we're trying to do gradual smooth blending and when we're trying to create smooth transitions in our drawing. So the best way to avoid that is by overlapping the Colors and to create a gradual shift or a gradual transition. And make sure that you're blending it all seamlessly and smoothly. So once again, we're going to look at the right way of blending two colors. So I'm gonna put in my pink over here, and then we're going to overlap it with the lilac. And so once again, we'll add a little bit of pink. And then a little bit more of the lilac. And with each pass or with each layer, you can see that I'm actually overlapping the colors a little bit in the middle. And that's how we're able to create this smooth transition. And we're able to get a beautiful blend of colors like so. So this is basically us Layering and Blending at the same time. And then since we're applying more and more color one after the other, we're also Burnishing this in the process because with each passing Layer, the tooth of the paper is flattening and we're getting a smooth surface on the top. Once again, I'm just going to clean my colorless blender and blend this going from one direction to the other. Alright, so let's get this dust out of the way. And now we're gonna deal with a very common question. What if you don't have a colorless blender to work with right away? Well, then you don't need to worry because the answer to that lies in Layering. So if you don't have a colorless blender, then you can achieve the exact same effect by just applying one or two more layers to your base layers. For example, over here, I'm going to use the same two colors. I'm going to keep going alternate between the pink and the lilac. With each passing layer. I'm just going to increase the pressure a little bit. Which means that in the process of layering and blending, I'm also Burnishing my paper along the way. So you can achieve the exact same result without a colorless blender too. The only difference or the only disadvantage to this would be that you run out of your color pencils a lot faster in this method, because you'll be applying more and more layers of the color instead of using the colorless blender. And so this is not exactly the most cost-effective way of burnishing a drawing. But at the same time, if you don't have a colorless blender, then this is your safest bet; because it guarantees good saturation of color without compromising on the details of your drawing. So if you don't have a colorless blender, that's totally alright! All you will need is maybe one or two extra layers of color. Now there is one other way of Burnishing, and that is to burnish with a white color pencil. So once again, I'm going to use these two colors as an example, and I'm going to overlap them to create a smooth transition. And once I have the desired effect, then I'm going to go in with my white color pencil from one end of the patch to the other. I'm going to use this with hard pencil pressure. Pretty much the same way as I would use my colorless blender. And I'm going to burnish this whole area with my white color pencil. Now this method comes with advantages and disadvantages, and those are actually subjective. So over here you can see that this entire patch has a milky cloudy residue on top of it. And that is the effect of the white color pencil because it lightens the color and the vibrancy of the color under it. So unless this is the effect that you're going for, the white is simply going to take away the beautiful vibrance and the beautiful saturation of the color that you have under it. But if you want to create a more pastel look and a more dreamy, soft look, then you can definitely burnish using your white color Pencil. And it'll help you achieve the lighter version of the color that you have under the white layer. Alright, so this has probably been a lot of information for you to consume in one go. But don't worry, because I've put all of this together in a document for you to download in the Projects and Resources section, which is right below this video. Once you have that document downloaded with you, I recommend that you practice all of these exercises. Then meet me in the next lesson. We're, we're gonna be talking about color pencil sharpening techniques. 6. Sharpening Techniques: Alright, so in this lesson, we're gonna be talking about how to sharpen your color pencils, as well as how to take care of them to avoid wastage as well as damage. Now, whenever you purchase a new box of color pencils that are soft core, you will notice that they usually don't have sharp points for all the pencils. Now, my box is pretty used up in general. So not all of my pencils are brand new right now. But this particular Pencil over here, for example, has not been used much. In fact, it's actually never been used. So it's brand new. And you can notice two things over here. The first thing is that the tip is not completely pointed and sharp, and that's how you get all the pencils in your box the first time you buy your box. And the second thing is that this little section on the top is pretty small. And this is because it's been designed to maintain this length more or less even after you sharpen it. So these two factors are actually interconnected and we'll understand this a little better right now. The thing with soft core pencils is that it doesn't make sense to sharpen them to an absolute point. And the reason is that they will actually never maintain that point. So for example, let's sharpen this one over here to an absolute point. And now if I start to color a small patch over here, you will notice that the point actually vanishes pretty quickly. So the core inside is very, very soft and it simply melts away because it doesn't have any rigidity to it. And so the pencil is just not able to maintain a sharp point. In fact, most of the time, the sharp point of a soft core pencil will simply just snap off or it will break away with pressure. So for example, now, this one has a sharp point. If I put even the tiniest bit of pressure on this, it's just going to break away. So basically it doesn't make sense to sharpen these soft core pencils to a sharp point because we're simply just wasting the pigment away. And instead of doing that, we should maintain a somewhat blunt point for easy Blending. Now, in contrast, if you were using a hardcore pencil, then this would not happen. Because hardcore pencils are able to maintain their sharp points for a very long time. This difference between the soft core pencils and the hardcore pencils is important for us to know for two primary reasons. The first one is that if we want to add fine details in our drawings, such as drawing very thin hair in portraits, or let's say we're drawing animal fur, for example, then we will need a very, very thin and sharp pencil for that. And in that case, if we are using a soft core pencil, then we will have to keep sharpening it over and over again to get to that sharp point frequently. So that means the process is going to be very time-consuming. But with hardcore pencils, the process won't be so time-consuming because the pencils will retain that sharp point for a very, very long time. And so you can keep using the pencil over and over again. And secondly, with so much sharpening of the soft core pencils, it would eventually lead to a lot of wastage as well. Because every time you sharpen with the intention of getting a fine point on a soft core pencil, you're actually wasting the pigment inside. This won't happen with a hardcore pencil though, because you don't need to sharpen it so much. And hardcore pencils are able to maintain a sharp point for a very long time. Now, keeping these aspects in mind, most people use a combination of soft core pencils and hardcore pencils. The soft core pencils are used for larger application of color and broader coverage, as well as for better blending. But the hardcore pencils are used for adding very fine details or to color in really small sections of your drawing. Now in today's class, since we're working on gemstones, which are generally very smooth and glass-like, we can work with soft core pencils only. We don't need two separate sets of color pencils for today. So prismacolor has designed this particular sharpener with two holes, one small and one large. And the smaller hole is meant for their Prismacolor soft core pencils. And the bigger hole has been designed for their Verithin range of pencils, which is their hardcore Pencil range. So when I put my pencil in the soft core one, it usually takes me a couple of turns to get to the desired point. Now remember these are soft core pencils, so there is absolutely no point in making them completely sharp. So something like this should be absolutely fine. And the bigger hole is for the Verithin pencils. But since we're not using those pencils in today's class, we don't need to worry about that right now. Now, there will be some occasions when you only have a soft core color Pencil set, but you need to add few sharp details in your drawings, such as the corners of your Gemstones when you're blending them for final touches. In that case, working with a blunt pencil might be a little tricky. What I usually do in that case is that just for the sake of a few tiny details, I use the bigger hole on my soft core colored pencils too. Now keep in mind, this is not an ideal recommended step, but when you only have one set of color pencils and that is soft core, then it makes perfect sense to sharpen them in the bigger hole, rather than buying two separate sets of color pencils. In fact, to be very honest, I only own a full set of soft core color pencils. For the hardcore ones, I just buy them as single color pencils as and when I require them. I don't own a full pack of the hardcore color pencils. So if I use the soft core Pencil on the big hole, just a little bit like so. I can achieve this fine point for a small section of my drawing. And I can continue to work with this rather than buying a new hardcore Pencil altogether. So that's how I use my prismacolor sharpener. And of course, if I don't need to add any fine details in my drawings, then I continue to use the small hole for all my pencils. And I maintain a blunt point on all of my soft core pencils. Now sharpening with a bigger hole also eats away more of the body of the Pencil, which means that this distance will become bigger or longer. And so that leads to a lot of unnecessary wastage. So the best thing to do is to keep sharpening on the small hole and use the larger hole only and only when required. Now, another thing to keep in mind is that using regular graphite pencil sharpeners is not a good idea at all. And that's again, for the same reason. They will eat away the body of the Pencil and it will lead to a lot of wastage. You will run out of your color pencils a lot faster. So it's best to use a sharpener, which is designed specifically for color pencils. And finally, soft core color pencils need to be treated with a lot of love and care. If you drop them, you will cause fractures on the inside and they will keep breaking off. So for example, this one over here has multiple fractures inside. And whatever I do, I just can't seem to make this pencil work because I dropped it once. And since then it's just been a wasted pencil for me. You want to make sure that you don't drop your pencils at any cost because the core inside will definitely break and then you won't be able to use your pencils again. Alright, so that's it for all the sharpening tips. And now I will see you in the next lesson where we will discuss the anatomy of a smooth, shiny gemstone 7. Anatomy of a Gemstone: Alright, so in this lesson, we're gonna be talking about the anatomy of a shiny translucent gemstone. Now, as you can see in this gemstone drawing over here, the transition from the dark to light colors is quite visible. The topmost area is the darkest, which basically indicates the shadows on the underside of the gemstone. So since these gemstones are almost glass-like, the underside is usually dark, while the top area catches most of the light. You can also see that the dark shadow effect becomes narrower as it comes down the edges of the gemstone. Then in the middle area, we can see the brightest color, which is sometimes either the lighter version of the color on the top, or it is completely different depending on the nature of the gemstone. So in this case, while the darkest area is almost like a brownish or a maroonish-red, the middle area is a brighter tomato-like red. But that's not going to be the case always. Sometimes you might have a really dark color on the top, let's say like a purple or deep violet. And then in the middle you might have something like a pink or blue or a completely different color altogether. So it all depends on the nature of the gemstone. Then we usually have the lightest color at the bottom, which is basically the area from where the light passes through. Pretty much like how light passes through a prism or through stained-glass windows. Even these glassy gemstones have a soft light which is passing through from the bottom. So the light simply travels through the other end. Now, this soft light, which is traveling through the gemstone at the bottom, is usually on the opposite side of the highlight on the top. And the highlight is the area where we can see a clear sharp reflection of the light source. The light source can be a natural one, such as the sun hitting the gemstone directly or light coming in through the windows in a room. And other times the light source can be artificial, such as the lights that we have in our house, which are run on electricity. And finally, this whole gemstone is placed inside a bezel. The outer bezel indicates the frame in which the gemstone is sitting. Very similar to how we see gemstones in real life jewelry, such as in pendants and earrings. And there are no rules when it comes to making these bezels. So you can make them as ornate and detailed as you like. Or you can keep them simple and minimal, like you see in the example over here. Now the bezel and the highlight are both optional, depending on how you plan to use the gemstone in your overall drawing or composition. So for example, over here, I have a gemstone where we clearly don't have a bezel on the outside. And we also don't have the highlight on the top. But now in this example, since there is no bezel, we can actually create an outer shadow for the gemstone itself. So imagine that this gemstone is placed on a plain white surface. Then it will cast a subtle gray shadow. And the shadow will be opposite to the light source. And somewhere in that shadow, we can also see a subtle colored glow. This is to show the light which is passing through the Gemstone. Then it's casting a glow on the surface on which it is kept. Another thing to note in this example is the light that is reflected from the surrounding objects, which is also often known as bounce light. This is also optional. And you can add one or two of these around the edges to enhance the overall appearance of your gem even further. So at the end of the day, it's really up to you on how you want to make your gemstones and which aspects of realism you want to keep or avoid in your drawings. As we work on our class projects later on, you will have plenty of options to customize your projects anyway you like. Alright, and with all that basic understanding out of the way, let's move on to our next lesson, where we will be discussing about gemstone colors and shapes 8. Gemstone Color Selection: Alright, so let's talk about a gemstone color selection. Now, to make a smooth, glassy gemstone, we will require six colors for each of our projects. A dark color, a medium color, a light color, black, white, and gray. To understand this better, we need to know how color value works. So very simply put, Value refers to the darkness or lightness of a color. You can change the value of a color by adding white, which means you're creating tints of a color. And you can also change the value of a color by adding black, which means you are creating shades of a color. Then you can also add gray to your color, which means you are creating tones of the same color. So in our color pencil box, we usually have a lot of these tints and shades already available to us. And these are basically the lighter or darker versions of the same color. So to understand this better, I will start by swatching out all the blues that I have with me in my color pencil set. Then I'm going to pick a dark color, a medium color, and a light color. Sometimes it's really easy to spot these colors. So we know that this one is a light color for sure, and this one is a dark color for sure. But there are other times when picking the right values of colors can be very confusing. So the easiest way to simplify this process is to click a picture of your swatches and convert them into black and white. Now, you can easily understand which ones are light, medium, or dark. And you can rearrange these swatches in different combinations to pick the right colors. So for example, I can use this one as my dark color, this one as medium, and this one as light. Or I can also do this combination. But now it's not only about the value. We also want colors that make the gemstone pop a little bit and make it seem vibrant. So for example, if I go with this color combination, then my gemstone is going to look a little bit dull. And that's because when I use a white color pencil in combination with these colors, it will flatten out my drawing completely. This blue is already so light that if I add more white to this, then it's going to become even lighter. And that's gonna make my gemstone really dull. So I prefer to use combinations where my lightest color is a bright, saturated color. Similarly here in this example, it's a great combination going from dark to light. But again, my lightest color is already so light that if I add any more white to this, then it's just going to make it even lighter. So my pro tip, is that when you're looking for colors for your gemstone projects, not only do you want your lightest color to be in complete contrast to the darkest color. But you also want to make sure that your lightest color is a bright hue. For that, you can also pick neon colors if you'd like. Now, both of these examples that I have shown you over here, are of a monochromatic color scheme. A monochromatic color scheme is a color palette that is made up of variations of a single color. This means that you can use shades, tints and tones of the same color to create a cohesive and harmonious look. Using a monochromatic color scheme can create a sense of simplicity and elegance in your artwork, as well as a sense of unity and harmony. Since all the colors are derived from the same hue, they naturally complement each other, making it easy to create a cohesive and balanced design. But keep in mind that while a monochromatic color scheme can be very effective, it can also be slightly limiting or boring. So depending on the mood and the atmosphere you want to create in your artwork, you can also try to make your gemstones with analogous colors. Now, analogous colors are colors that are located next to each other on the color wheel. They share a similar hue, and they too can create a harmonious and cohesive look when used together in an artwork. For example, the colors green, yellow-green, and yellow, are Analogous Colors because they are next to each other on the color wheel. Similarly, the colors blue, blue-green and green are also Analogous Colors. Now, using analogous colors in your artwork can create a sense of unity and balance as the colors naturally compliment each other. But again, the key here to make a gemstone successfully is to use Analogous Colors in decreasing value. For example, in one of the projects ahead, I'm gonna be using Poppy Red as my darkest color, Orange as my medium color, and Sunburst Yellow as my light color. Now, by looking at these colors, you can easily make out that red, orange, and yellow are Analogous Colors, but at the same time, they're also decreasing in their value. When I convert these colors into black and white, you can clearly see that the yellow is a lighter value as compared to the other two colors. The bottom line is that whether you use a monochromatic color scheme or an analogous color scheme, you need to pick the colors with decreasing value. Now, if you're planning to use your gemstones in a larger piece of artwork, then another important factor to consider is colors that will work together in terms of temperature. Warm colors such as red, orange, and yellow can create a sense of energy and warmth. While cool colors, such as blue, green, and purple, can create a sense of calmness and serenity. If you want to create a specific mood or atmosphere in your artwork, then consider using the colors that compliment that mood. And now, while we're talking about warm and cool colors, let's also understand the use of grey. So remember, a few minutes back, I said that we need six colors to make our gemstones. Now that we've talked about the dark, medium and light colors, let's also talk about the grey. To make gemstone shadows and color tones, we need to use gray. Now, most times your color pencil set will have different shades of grey in it. So you will have 50% greys, 30% greys, and so on. But you will notice that within these colors, you also have options of warm greys and cool greys. To pick the correct grey color, you will need to check whether your dark and medium colors in the project are warm colors or cool colors. For example, if I'm making a gemstone with shades and tints of blue, then I will pick a cool grey pencil, because blue is a cool color. But if I'm making orange or red gemstones, then I will pick a warm grey pencil because red and orange fall on the warmer side of the color wheel. Now, let's say you have a small color pencil box that does not have a lot of grey choices in it. Well, that's totally alright. Because most of the small color pencils sets will have at least 1 grey Pencil in them, which is almost always a neutral grey color, which means that you can use this grey in all your projects. Now, here is an exact list of colors that I will be using in all the projects for this class. If you're using the same brand as me, then feel free to follow along with these combinations. Of course, you're totally welcome to try other combinations too. Now, please keep in mind that the colors on a computer screen always look different to colors on paper. While I have done my best to match these colors on the screen to the original swatches, there might be slight discrepancies based on your screen settings and brightness. I also want to mention that the body of the color pencil is not the same color as the pigment inside. So when you're picking the colors for any project, you should always swatch out the color pencils and check the effect on paper rather than relying on the color of the outer body, because most of the times the outer body colors are not accurate. Another thing to note is that all brands have a different system for naming their colors. So for example, a color that is called Poppy Red from the Prismacolor brand might be called Red Orange or Tomato Red in a different brand. So when you're using color pencils from different brands, try and match them to the swatches of the pigment, rather than trying to match them with the names of the color pencils. Finally, it's also important to remember that working with color pencils is very intuitive. And something that might be working for me in my drawing might not necessarily work for you in your drawing, simply because each of us have a different way of holding the pencil, and each of us have a different style of applying pressure to the pencil. So depending on the brand that you're working with, as well as the colors that you're working with, you might have to go back and forth on your drawing several times. Sometimes you will be done much quicker as compared to me, especially if your pencils have more pigment inside of them, and then there are gonna be other times when you will probably need a couple of extra layers as compared to my artworks. And that will probably be because your pencils are with slightly less pigment inside or maybe they're not as saturated as my pencils are. Make sure that you practice a lot and feel free to customize the process depending on the brand of color pencils that you're working with. Here are some other practical tips that will come in handy when you start working on your color pencil projects. The first one is to keep sharpening your pencils as and when required. Now, depending on the brand of pencils that you're working with, the type of pencils that you're working with, and the pressure that you apply, you will have to sharpen your pencils more or less number of times as compared to me. So most of the times you will hear me giving you a reminder to sharpen your pencils, especially when you're getting into the small sections of your drawing. But you might be working at a different pace than me and you might have a different scale of the project as compared to me. So make sure that you're constantly aware of your color pencil needs and keep sharpening them as and when required. The second thing to keep in mind is that we never leave paper white on any of our drawings. Now you may have certain occasions in your drawings where you want to leave certain sections white. But to do that, we always need to cover the surface with the white pigment of the white color pencil rather than relying on the paper white. And that is simply because after a point your paper may start to discolor or it may start to gather dust on the surface. And in that case, we don't want to cause any inconsistencies in our artwork. And we don't want the paper white to take away all the vibrancy and all the beautiful saturation of our color pencil artwork. So to make sure that the whites are actually looking like white, the best way to secure them is by covering all the paper white with white color pencil. And we will actually see an example of this when we start working on our second project, where we will have a lot of paper white, but we will cover that up with the white color pencil. Finally, it's important to remember that every time you're switching your color pencils from dark to light sections in your drawings, you need to keep cleaning them. So just like we did with the colorless blender, every time you move from one section of your drawing to another, you need to check for the residue of the previous color on your color Pencil tips. So this way, we can maintain pure colors all across our drawing. So that's it. These are all the color pencil tips you will need to get started on your journey. And with this, we can move forward to our next lesson. 9. Gemstone Shape Selection: Smooth and glassy gemstones come in various shapes and sizes. But when it comes to art, you can push the boundaries even further and get really creative with the shapes. I use all kinds of everyday objects to make the outlines for my gemstones. So here I have some random bottle caps that I have taken from sanitizer bottles, shampoo bottles, moisturizer bottles, ketchup bottles, etcetera. These are really fun to play with. Then I also have these polymer clay cutters, which are used to make handmade jewelry. And these also come in really fun and interesting shapes. You can also use cookie cutters in the same way. I also have these random baubles from old jewelry making projects that I kept with me because I found the shapes to be interesting. So some of these resemble real gemstone shapes, while the others are a little bit more unique. But the point is that you can play with different kinds of objects and create some really fun and interesting shapes. Finally, I also use these washi tapes to draw simple round bezels. So I can make an outer circle. Then an inner circle. Then I can use this space in the middle over here to create a simple Bezel by adding a few small details. Of course, last but not the least, you can totally draw your gemstones freehand as well. So you can get creative with all kinds of polygonal shapes, curvy shapes, doodle-like shapes, floral shapes and so much more. Basically, just have dun making these outlines and don't overthink them. Now, I usually draw all my shapes directly with a pen. But if you like, you can always draw the shapes first with a pencil and then go back on the outlines with a pen. So feel free to do whatever seems easiest and most convenient for you. 10. Project 1: Base Layer : Alright, so we're all set to begin working on our first gemstone. For this project, I have chosen to go ahead with the abstract bauble shape that I had shown you earlier. But you're welcome to choose any other shape that you'd like. Now once we have the shape ready, we can start working with the color pencils. For this project, we're going to pretend that the light source is on the top-left corner. So using my black color pencil, I'm just going to create a small crescent moon shape on the top-left corner, like so. I'm gonna leave that empty. Then using very light pencil pressure, I'm going to create small strokes under that crescent moon, like so. I'm going to take it around the edges of the shape. Take it all the way down. Just leaving a little bit of gap empty towards the bottom. But covering most of the edges. Next, I'm going to move on to my grey pencil. And I'm going to start overlapping it a little bit on the black. But at the same time taking it a little lower than the crescent moon that I had made earlier. This pretty much covers the top half of the gemstone. And I'm also going to use a little bit of that grey around the edges, the same way we did with the black earlier. Next, I'm going to bring in my darkest green. And the darkest green is going to be laid down in exactly the same way we laid down the black. Which means I'm going to take it at exactly the same spots where I had put down my black pencil. And I'm also going to overlap that on the gray areas. Again, just like we did with the black. I'm also going to take my darkest green around the edges, leaving a little bit of space empty at the bottom, but covering most of the edges. Like so. This is us building the base layers and the shadows of the Gemstone. Now once we have that done, we're going to move on to our medium green, which in my case is the apple green. And we're gonna put that at exactly the same spots where we put the grey. Again, we want to make sure that we're overlapping a little bit of the medium green onto the dark green so that the blends are seamless and smooth. And we're gonna take it around the edges as well. Basically, the medium green plays the same role as the grey and the dark green plays the same role as the black. So we basically repeat the same steps. Alright, now we're going to move on to our lightest green. And we're going to leave a little bit of space empty towards the bottom. Pretty much in the shape of a kidney bean or like a smiley face. And this is gonna be the area where a light passes through from the gemstone. So this is exactly opposite the highlight. And we're going to blend this in a bit. But for now, we're just gonna go all around that white area applying the lightest green and just sort of covering the whole gemstone, making sure that the whole area is taken care of; that there are no huge white spots, except for the one that we have intentionally left in the middle. And we're just going to overlap that lightest green onto the medium green as well. Again, we just want to make sure that the layers are all blending nicely and that the transitions are happening smoothly. Alright, with that, we have completed our Base Layer. And in the next lesson, we're going to start with the transitions. 11. Project 1: Adding More Color: Now in our first layer, we worked from top to bottom. But in this next layer, we're going to work from bottom to top. So we're gonna start with adding a little bit of white around the area that we left empty. And you're going to instantly notice that the colors start blending. This is because white usually helps to blend and burnish the colors very well. So automatically you will start noticing that the green is sort of fading into the white. And it's going to create this little glow or halo effect. Then we're going to bring in our lightest green. And we're going to start adding a little bit more color. So we're going to place the lightest green at exactly the same spots that we did in the first layer. But at the same time, we're going to add a little bit more pressure and try to get rid of that paper grain that we can see right now. So we're again going to overlap it nicely into the medium green. Then we're going to bring in our medium green and again start to overlap it onto the light green as well as the dark green. By this second layer, you'll notice that most of your paper grain is starting to melt under the pressure of the pencils. And so all those white spots are gradually vanishing. And we are going to do the exact same thing with our darkest green. So we're basically placing the colors at exactly the same spots that we did in the first layer. Just that we're going to make sure that we're adding a little bit more pressure over here so that we have a little more saturation of the color, so to say. And so that our gemstone can look nice and bright. Now at this point, I have a lot of color pencil dust over here. So I'm gonna get rid of that using my soft brush. And the next thing I'm gonna do is take my grey pencil and go over the edge of the darkest green like so, leaving a little bit of space empty on the top. So I'm just going to blend that grey nicely into the green. It won't get completely blended in right now, and that's okay because we still have a couple more layers to go, but we just want to make sure that we're putting down the grey towards the edges a little bit; so that it does eventually get blended in properly when we work on the next layer. Then I'm quickly going to get a scrap piece of paper. Make sure that my white is absolutely clean because we just used it at the bottom with the lightest green. So with a clean white pencil, I am going to go on the top and overlap it a little bit on the grey like so. So we did have a little bit of paper white over there, which was absolutely clean. And then we had a little bit of grey. So the white is covering the empty spot as well as a little bit of the grey. And with that, we are done with our second layer. 12. Project 1: Blending: Now for our third layer, we're again going to start working from bottom to top. So I'm going to start by cleaning the white pencil on a scrap piece of paper because we just used it with the gray. Now we're going to use that white pencil to start blending in the area at the bottom. So we want to make sure that we're not compromising or sacrificing that little white spot. But at the same time, we want to blend it in nicely with the light green around it. Once you feel that all the hard lines have vanished and that the blend is looking smooth, we can move on to the lightest green color. And this time we're going to blend the lightest green, not only with the white at the bottom, but also with the medium green on the top. Again, we're trying to get rid of those harsh lines. Because in the previous layer, we could actually see exactly where each color was starting and ending. But now, with these blends, we want to take away those harsh lines and just sort of create a beautiful transition and a beautiful blended effect. So we're gonna do the same thing with the medium green as well. And not only are we going to blend it into the light green, but we're also going to blend it into the dark green on the top. Sometimes on this layer, you might have to go back and forth. So for example, over here, I feel I need a little bit more light green to blend in with the medium green. So I'm gonna go back to my light green pencil and just add that a little bit around the medium green to make sure that the blend is looking smooth. Once again, I'm gonna get rid of all that pencil dust. And now I'm going to bring in my darkest green. And not only am I going to blend it with the medium green at the bottom, but also with the gray at the top. So we don't want to cover up the gray completely, but we do want to blend it in nicely. So you can see that we can still make out that there's a little bit of a grey rim at the top, but it's fused with the green. So it's not standing as a gray line separately or independently. Once that is done, I'm quickly going to sharpen my darkest green pencil and bring it to a nice point. And that is because we want to go around the edges. And for this we need a little bit of precision. So we're just going to go around and add a little bit of shadows around the edge, like so. This is just going to help make the gemstone really pop on the paper. Now of course, we also want to blend that line. So we're going to bring in our medium green pencil and just go around the edges. Pretty much like we did in our first layer. But now we're just sort of Blending it a little bit more. And now, depending on how thick or how unnatural your outer border is looking, you may have to go back with your lightest green as well. So this is purely subjective and there's a chance that you might not need to do these steps. But for me, I feel like I need to go back to my lightest green once more and sort of blend out those edges a little bit better. And I also need to add a little bit more white to make sure that the edges are not looking harsh. So just sort of playing between white and light green; going back and forth to make sure that that little kidney bean shape that we have at the bottom, it's not looking so harsh as a kidney bean... and it should just be an abstract halo effect over there. So it should just be like a glowing area in your gemstone, but not necessarily in the shape of a kidney bean or a Smiley. I just want to blend that out and make it a little bit more abstract. Alright, and once again, I'm gonna get rid of all my pencil dust. And with that, we are done with this stage of our gemstone 13. Project 1: Burnishing: Alright, so we're all set to work on the final layer of our gemstone. For this we're gonna be using our colorless blender. So make sure that your blender pencil is nicely sharpened and that you have cleaned it nicely by taking away all the residue on a scrap piece of paper so that you don't have any other color interfering with your green gemstone. Once you have the pencil ready, we're gonna go once more on our gemstone from bottom to top. So we're going to start blending out the white and the light green. And then gradually we're going to move to the middle where we have the medium green. And then from there we are going to move on to our dark green. We also want to blend the green and the grey once more. But we wanna be a little bit careful while doing this so that we don't go overboard and we don't take too much of the green into the grey and the white area on the top. So we wanna do this a little bit carefully. And then we're going to clean our colorless blender. And we're just going to focus on the top white and grey area. And we're going to take that white and grey a little bit into the green, creating a smooth blend. So we don't need to apply more color over here because we already have plenty of color on paper. We just want to smoothen this out. And we also want to go around the bottom edges once more, just to make sure that the dark green is blending into the light green nicely. At this stage, if you see any harsh lines or any inconsistencies in your gem, then you can just sort of smoothen those out and blend those out a little bit more with your colorless blender. Alright, so I'm pretty happy and satisfied with my gemstone. So I'm just getting rid of all of this dust. So for my final step, I'm just going to bring in my precision eraser and I'm going to get rid of any spots that I have accidentally caused on the paper or if I have accidentally colored outside the lines. So just getting rid of those spots to make sure that the gemstone looks neat. And that's it. We have finally finished our first gemstone together. And in the next lesson, we're going to start tangling around this gemstone. 14. Project 1: Tangling: Now that we have a beautiful gemstone with us, let's try to incorporate this in a Zentangle Inspired Art project. For this project, I'm gonna be working with this black Sakura Pigma Micron pen. But you can work with any other drawing pen that's easily available to you. And the tangle that we're going to be working with is called "Diva Dance." So to start the tangle, we are going to make a bump somewhere on the outline of our gemstone. And if you have a different shape than mine, it's totally okay. You can make the bump literally anywhere on the edge or on the periphery of the gemstone. And I'm going to make another bump over here, like so. And I'm just going to color that in. So basically we just need a couple of bumps to start off with. But if you have a bigger shape or if you have a smaller shape, then you can totally increase or decrease the number of bumps. It doesn't have to be exact. So the beauty of this tangle pattern is that you can easily customize it. And at the same time, it's very forgiving. So you can actually never go wrong when it comes to drawing Diva Dance. Now, I'm just going around the edges of my gemstone and just giving it another outline, to just make it a little more prominent. So I'm redrawing at the exact same spot where the previous outline was. But just to give it a little more line weight and to just make it a little thicker. And I'm also sort of blending it in with those bumps. Now once we have that done, we are simply going to keep drawing auras. An aura in the Zentangle terminology is basically drawing around a given shape. So it's almost like giving an outline to an existing shape. But we're just going to leave a little bit of a gap and then make this outline. Now, once we have this outline, we are going to make a few more bumps on this new line. And the process remains the same. We're just going to make a tiny extension, almost like drawing a small hill. And then we're just gonna color that in. And by doing this step, we have changed the shape of the structure a little bit. So now when we draw the next aura or the next outline, it's going to be traced around this new shape that we have just created. So basically, with each new aura, we're gonna keep creating more bumps which are going to change the shape or the structure of the shape. And then the next line is just going to follow around that previously drawn shape. Almost like tracing the same steps or the same hand movements that you've done with the previous line. So we just keep on repeating this process. And with every new aura and every new outline, we keep adding the bumps. And then the next line is just going to follow the outline of the newly formed shape. Now there are many different ways to draw this tangle Diva Dance. And the version that we're currently working with is called the "Rock 'n' Roll" version. So in this one we're basically just making these concentric shapes and just going around each shape, giving it auras and outlines. But there are a couple of other variations as well for this tangle. So for example, we can do one with straight lines and that one is called the Waltz version of this tangle. And then there's another one in which we create triangular formations with these lines. And that one is called the Foxtrot version. So basically, as is the case with all tangle patterns from the Zentangle method, you can choose to draw them any way that you like. There are no rules when it comes to the Zentangle method. And there are no rules when it comes to drawing these tangles. So you can customize them and personalize them depending on the project, as well as your own preferences. There is no right or wrong way to draw this. Just that we try to do this mindfully and with a little bit more focus so that you can enjoy that Zen state of mind. And you can actually enjoy each stroke, which is the core philosophy behind the Zentangle method. So basically you just enjoy the process and draw this slowly and not in a hurry. And just basically have fun! Alright, so now that you've seen me draw a few of these auras, I'm just going to fast-forward the video a little bit for you to see the end result. And I encourage you to take your own time and do this at your own pace. Because depending on the scale of your project, you might need a little bit more time than me. And I would encourage you to really do this mindfully and enjoy the process and not go by the pace of these video lessons. Once you're finished, your end result is going to look something like this. And when you're ready, meet me back in the next lesson, where we're going to be adding some color into this background. 15. Project 1: Background Coloring: Welcome back. In the last lesson, we finished Tangling on our tile. And you tie looks extremely beautiful right now. So if you like, you can leave your tile the way it is right now. But if you'd like to practice your color pencils skills a little bit more and you want to enhance the overall look of your tile, then we can add a little bit of color in the background. So I'm going to start with my darkest green Pencil and go around the edges of client I'll like so putting very, very light pressure and making gentle strokes. So we're going to create a dark to light effect going from out to N. And it's going to create this fantasy doorway or a fantasy portal, a look. So we're going to start with the darkest color on the edges and then gradually make it lighter as we go inwards towards the gym. Now of course, if you've chosen to work on a bigger tile as compared to me, then you will need a little bit more time. So feel free to work at your own pace. And you can always pause the video and come back whenever you're ready to follow along the next steps. But for me right now, I have placed enough dark green on the edges. So I'm going to move on to why medium green. And as was the case with a Gemstone, we are going to overlap the medium green onto the dark green over here on the background as well. So anytime we are looking at blending two colors, we always make sure that we overlap them. And that just helps us to create a smooth transition. And it just makes the blend look a little bit more seamless. Again, I'm gonna go with my lightest green next. So I'm purposely making light strokes over here towards the inner edges so that I can overlap them later on with the lightest screen. We're just working with very light Pencil Pressure, making sure that we're keeping the base ready for the next set of layers. And so now I've got my lightest screen over here, which I'm going to overlap into the medium green. And I'm going to leave a little bit of space empty towards the middle, closer to the jam, where we're going to be bringing in the white color Pencil. So it's almost the same steps that we did inside the Gemstone. Just that we're now going around it with this new shape that we have created with the help of the dividends, tangle patterns. And we are simply just sort of creating a halo effect. Going around the shape with very, very light pencil pressure. I'm just going to add a smudge of this lightest green towards the edges of the Gemstone. So that when I bring in my white pencil, it can be blended in nicely and it's not completely white. So now that I moved on to the white, you can see that the lightest green over there is sort of blending it with a white really nicely. And it's creating this beautiful Halo like effect. This just goes to show how wonderful these pencils are there. Absolutely buttery smooth. And you can achieve such great results with the software pencils. So you can actually layer to your heart's content and feel super relaxed and super happy while doing this. And it's definitely great FUN to infuse it in Zentangle projects like this one. So now I'm just going back-and-forth with my white and my lightest green. Just like we did with the Gemstone, where we worked from top to bottom and then bottom to top. Similarly now we're going to work outwards. So in the previous layer we work inwards, going from out to end towards the gemstone. But now we're doing the opposite. And I'm just adding a little bit more white around this to illuminate it a little bit more. Now again, these kinds of steps are very subjective because they totally depend on the shape of your Gemstone as well as the scale of your project. So if you're working on a slightly larger tile than me, then you might have to go back and forth a few more times as compared to me. And really there are no rules over here. And you just have to eyeball this and go with your guard and make sure that the color application is happening smoothly. So even though you might be following the same steps as me, duration or the length of those steps, or the application of your color pencils will vary slightly depending on your project. So don't worry if you're taking a little bit more time as compared to me or even if you've done it a little bit sooner. Because maybe you've just drawn your Gemstone a little smaller and maybe your tile is a little smaller. So it's purely subjective in that sense I think for me the intersection looks pretty good right now. And I'm going to start focusing on the medium green and the dark green very soon. I'm just making sure that the light green is blending in nicely into the medium green as well as the white. And just making sure that all the white spots are going away and that wax is smoothening out the tooth of the paper. Now I have moved onto my medium green. And I'm just basically repeating the same steps, making sure it's all blending in nicely. And that all those white spots are going away so that you can't see the paper green. So after I have finished working with my medium green, I have switched to the dark green. And basically I have done the exact same steps, going all the way to the edges and making sure that the darkest green as Blending into the medium green nicely. So it's creating this beautiful fantasy portals look almost like one of those magical doorways and a forest. So something like that. Then once you're happy with the application of the color, then you can move on to Burnishing gate with the colorless blender. You again want to make sure that your blender is absolutely clean. And you want to work from white to darkest green. So you want to basically go from the lightest color to the darkest color so that you don't have any residue of the dark color when you're working on the intersections. And as is the case with color pencils, always, sometimes you have to go back and forth. So for example, over here, I'm just adding a little bit more white and just illuminating that area a little bit more. But probably this is something that you might not need to do depending on what your project is looking like. So just feel free to add a little bit of color here and there. If you feel that some areas are not blended and properly and then just continue to burnish it from into out. And basically just get rid of all that paper texture and the people green that is showing through the color pencils right now, smoothing it out a little bit more. And once this has done, then one of the things that I like to do is go back on the edges of my paper, like so. And I basically like to add a little bit of dark green or whatever the color is towards the edge of the paper. And just take it around the corners like so, so that you can't really see the paper white on the edges. And this is very similar to how we work on canvases, where we take the Painting towards the edges. You basically wrap it around the edges. So I like to do that with my color pencils as well. Just so that the edges are connected to the illustration or design that you have on your tile. So just an additional little step that I like to do to make my designs look a little bit more polished and professional. With that, we're done with our first style. So take a moment to congratulate yourself and pat yourself on the back and take a quick coffee or tea break. And I'm going to see you in the next lesson where we will start working on another exciting project. 16. Project 2: Base Layer: Alright, so we're now ready to start work on our second project. For this project, I have chosen to go ahead with a circle shape. And I've also given it an outline using my washi tape because we're going to be creating a Bezel in this project. So you can choose any other shape that you like as long as you give it an outline, because we're trying to make a Bezel. What I've also done is that I've placed it off center this time more towards the edge of the tile instead of keeping it exactly in the middle. So I have chosen to do this on the bottom right of my tile, but you can do this on any of the corners. So feel free to play around with the placement as well as the size of your Gemstone. For this project, we're going to pretend that the source of light is on the top right. We're again going to start with the black color pencil. And we're going to apply very light pencil pressure, making tiny little strokes. And then we'll go around the edges like so. So we're again basically making a crescent moon shape going around the edges. Just like we did with the previous gemstone, we're not going to take the black coloring or the black edges all the way till the bottom. So I've left a little bit of a gap in the middle, right opposite to the source of light. And now I am going to move on to my grey pencil and just overlap it on the black a little bit. And just creating some light strokes on the inside of that crescent moon shape so that we can overlap other colors. I am now going to bring in my darkest blue, which in my case is the Indigo Blue. And I'm going to overlap it on top of the black. So again, the darkest blue is going to play the same role as the black. And so we're going to put it at exactly the same spots where we had the black color pencil. So we're just going to take it around the edges. And again, I'm going to leave a little bit of gap empty over there in the middle, at the bottom. Then I'm going to bring in my medium blue and I'm going to overlap it on the gray as well as the dark blue that we had just laid down. This is the medium blue, which means it's going to play the same role as the gray. And once again, I'm going to take it around the edges. And finally, I'm going to bring in my lightest blue. And I'm going to leave a little bit of space empty at the bottom where we are going to add a little bit of a glow. So again, it's in the shape of a crescent moon or a kidney bean, or almost like a Smiley shape that we're leaving empty. And with that, we're done with the first layer on this gemstone. 17. Project 2: Adding More Color: Alright, so we're all set to add more color to our gemstone and make it a little bit more vibrant. So just like we did with the previous exercise, we're going to start from bottom to top. Which means we're going to take our white color Pencil and gently start to apply some color at the bottom. And this is directly opposite to where our highlight is going to be. So we gently blend that in with the lightest blue. And then I'm going to bring in my light blue pencil and start to blend that in with the medium blue as well as the white. So again, we're applying medium pressure right now and we don't want to burnish this completely right away. We move on to our next color. And then we're going to move on to the darkest blue and gently blend that in with the medium blue. Again, we do this very carefully so that we don't run into that empty space that we have left on the top, where we're going to bring in the gray Pencil later on. We do this very, very carefully and try to do this in a precise manner. And now I have a lot of wax dust over here, so I'm just going to get rid of that quickly. Some Colors time to leave a little bit more wax than the others. And that's just the difference in the manufacturing. So you will also probably have some colors in your box which tend to give a little bit more dust than the others. Okay, So now we move on to the grey pencil and we want to make sure that this is a sharp grey pencil, so that we can create this rim or an edge on top of this dark blue area. And next we also want to bring in a scrap piece of paper and make sure that our white pencil is absolutely clean because we just used it to blend the light blue. And so we're going to bring our clean white pencil and cover up that paper white on top, as well as blend it a little bit with the grey. Alright, and with that, we're done with the second layer of this gemstone. 18. Project 2: Blending: We're now ready for one final round of blending. And again, we're going to work from bottom to top. So I'm going to start with my white color pencil. And I'm just going to blend that area at the bottom, making sure that all the harsh lines are vanishing. And we're creating an abstract glow like effect or an abstract halo effect at the bottom. So next, I'm going to move on to my lightest blue. And I'm just going to lay down a little bit more color. But at the same time, I'm going to blend it a little bit more into my medium blue as well as my white. And so again, sometimes we have to go back and forth depending on the colors that we're working with. So I feel like I need to add a little bit more white over here. So I'm just going to bring that back here and add a little bit more white towards the edges. Again, this is subjective, so maybe you don't need to bring in white on your gemstone, and maybe your gemstone is looking fine the way it is right now. So just compare it to the way you see mine and just see whatever works best for your particular project, and then go back and forth if required. So feel free to customize the process depending on the colors that you're working with, and of course, the size of the gemstone that you're working with. So again, I'm just trying to get rid of any harsh lines that I can see over here. And just making everything look a little bit smoother. Same way, I'm going to bring in my darkest blue and blend that in nicely with the medium blue. I'm also going to take it around the edges. And if you feel that your pencil is not sharp for this step, then you can always take a quick break, sharpen it, and then go around the edges. So I'm just going to blend that in nicely into the grey. And just make sure that the grey rim is blending in nicely with the darkest blue and is not standing out or jutting out independently, so to say. And yeah, I think now this looks good. With this, we are done with this step of the gemstone. And in the next lesson, we're going to start burnishing it. 19. Project 2: Burnishing: Alright, so we're now all set to start burnishing our gemstone. And we want to make sure that our blender pencil is absolutely clean and that it's nicely sharpened. So I'm going to bring this in and first I'm going to start working on the edges. And I want to make sure that the dark blue pencil is touching the edges properly and that it's coming all the way to the bottom. So just refining that a little bit. Then I want to clean my blender pencil and also get rid of this dust. And with a clean pencil, I'm now going to start burnishing the bottom area. So I'm just working on the white and the light blue, and then gradually building my way up. Now, by now you've probably understood that the reason why I wanted to clean the pencil was because we first worked on the darker edges. And so I didn't want that color to come into the lighter area. So I cleaned that first before I moved into the white section, and then I gradually made my way upwards towards the darkest section. Now, once again, I'm going to clean my pencil before I work on this section over here. So I want to make sure that the grey is blending in nicely with the dark blue. And also at the same time, the white edge on the top is not compromised. So we want to do this with a little bit of precision. You can of course, keep cleaning your pencil if you accidentally touch the darker spots. But basically we just don't want to sacrifice the grey and the white area on the top. So if you feel like you need to clean the pencil a couple more times, go ahead and do that. Alright, so now I'm just blending out the middle area once again, just making sure that there are no harsh lines and also getting rid of the dust. So this looks good to me now. I think the only thing I need to do right now is bring in my precision eraser and just clean out the edges a little bit. There are a couple of spots over here where I've gone outside the lines. I just want to clean that up and make sure that this is looking like a proper circle and the shape has not been compromised because of me coloring outside the lines. So just cleaning that up and also cleaning some additional spots that I have caused on the paper tile. And with that, we're done with this gemstone. And in the next lesson, we're going to be adding a Bezel to this. 20. Project 2: Bezel Drawing: Alright, so the next step in our project is to add a bezel to the gemstone. And for this, I'm gonna be using my blue colored Sakura Pigma Micron pen in 05. But you can use any other pen that's available to you. You can even continue using the black pen that you had used for the outline earlier. So there are no rules over here when it comes to creating the bezel. I just happened to have a blue pen with me and I thought it might be nice to match it to the color of the gemstone. So that's why I'm using the blue one. So now I'm just going around this entire outline, adding small little circles. But you can do all kinds of designs when it comes to bezels. You can take inspiration from real bezels which are used in making jewelry. Or you can use imaginary designs and just basically be creative over here and use any kinds of patterns that you like. So there are no rules when it comes to making these bezels. And here are no rules when it comes to making Zentangle Inspired Art. So feel free to be creative over here; you can make the bezel thicker or thinner... with a different colored pen... with different patterns... And you can just play around with the placement of elements over here on this outline. Alright, now once I'm done adding these orbs, I'm just going to go around the outline once more, filling in all the empty gaps with my ink pen. And actually you can see that this is making a lot of difference because the gemstone is, sort of popping out a little bit more now. So every time we add a highly contrasting bezel or a thick outline to the gemstone, it really helps to lift up the entire stone and make it pop on the paper. So I'm just going to quickly add some color on all the remaining spaces. And again, you're free to work at your own pace. You can pause the video as many times as you like. And you can come back and resume whenever you're ready. Once the entire bezel is colored in, it's going to look something like this. And whenever you're ready with your bezel, meet me in the next lesson where we're going to be tangling on the background. 21. Project 2: Tangling: Alright everyone, so welcome back. We're now going to start working on the background. For this, we're gonna be using our drawing pens once again. So I'll be using the blue micron pen that I used for the bezel. But you're free to choose any other color that you like. And you can even continue using the black pen that you have used for the outline of the gemstone. Now the tangle that we're going to be working with in this particular project is called N'Zeppel. And this is again an original tangle introduced by the Zentangle headquarters because it was created by one of the founders of the Zentangle method, which is Maria Thomas. So the tangle basically starts off with these crisscrossing lines that you can see me drawing right now. We just keep rotating our tile and keep adding more lines in different, different directions. So they give this crisscrossing web or mesh kind of an effect. Once you have a few of these lines laid out, then we're gonna go back to each of those individual sections. And we're going to start adding roundings to each of those shapes. So rounding is again a technique from the Zentangle method. In this technique we basically go around polygonal shapes and try to remove the sharpness of those shapes by adding small arcs like so. Then we connect those arcs to the edges and create this little shape inside, which is almost like a pebble, which is encased or trapped inside that web or the mesh that we have created. In each of these sections, we're basically going to look for the points where the lines are meeting, basically the corners of these polygonal shapes. And then we're just going to add these small little curvy lines like arches and just blend them or merge them with the edges. It's basically a very simple tangle. There are not a lot of steps in this tangle, but the end result is very, very beautiful. And it is definitely one of the most relaxing tangles that I have come across in the Zentangle method. Because just the process of adding those little curves and those little arcs around the edges is so satisfying. You can get into those little corners and color those up. And it's a very, very satisfying and peaceful process. So I'm quite confident that you're going to like working on this tangle too. And now I'm just going to speed up the video a little bit for you to see the process in a time-lapse because the process is pretty repetitive. But I do want to mention that some other areas are going to be very, very small. And you might not have the scope to create a small orb or a small pebble inside those little shapes. So you can always merge two or three shapes together if they are very, very tiny. So feel free to color those areas which are very, very small and just blend them with the larger sections. I would definitely encourage you to pause the video at this point and make this tangle at your own pace, instead of trying to match up the speed to these time-lapse videos. And you will definitely enjoy the process a lot more and you will definitely get into a zen state of mind if your eyes are away from your screen for a little bit. You can pause the video, enjoy making this tangle. Have a cup of coffee or tea or some other refreshing beverage. Relax for a bit and then you can always come back and resume the video once you're done. Once you're done, the end result is gonna look something like this. Whenever you're ready, meet me back in the next lesson, where we're going to be adding some color pencil details to this background. 22. Project 2: Background Coloring: Welcome back. In this lesson, we're gonna be shading the tangle N'Zeppel that we just drew on the background. So to do this, we're gonna be following an abstract shading method where there is no specific light source for the background. This means that for each of these pebbles that we have created using the N'Zeppel tangle in the background, we're going to pretend that there is a different light source for each of them. So to give you an example of what I'm saying, I'm going to start with my medium blue, which is my Copenhagen blue. And I'm just going to make a small arc or an outline over here on one of the edges of the pebble. And then I'm going to bring in my lightest blue, which is the True Blue color, and just take that underneath the Copenhagen. Then I'm going to bring in my white color pencil. And I'm just going to lay that on top of these two colors and just blend it out like so. So if you see, I've left a little bit of a gap between the color and the outline of the pebble. And that is just to give it an abstract shading effect. As I mentioned, there is no specific light source over here that we're looking at. And we're doing an abstract shading over here on each of the pebbles. So I'm just using my white to color in the rest of the spots as well, and just blending that into the white space. Then once that's done, I'm just going to bring in back my medium blue once again and just darken that area a little bit. Just add hints of the medium blue. And then I'm just going to blend this out with my colorless blender and also burnish it at the same time. So basically, if we were doing this in the traditional Zentangle shading style, then we would be pretending that these are white pebbles or white stones that have a gray Shadow are a great cast on them. And so instead of using the gray color and instead of using the graphite pencils, we are actually using blue color pencils and creating that shadow effect over here. So it's an abstract shading style where we're gonna be just adding a certain amount of dimension to each of these pebbles and then Coloring in like so. I'm also gonna do another one over here as an example. So once again, I'll start with my medium blue. Then I will go in with my lightest blue. Then I will start blending it with the white. As I had mentioned earlier, we never leave paper white because after a point your paper may start to discolor. So it's best to have white color pencil covering the white spots of your paper so as to make sure that the discoloration of the paper doesn't show through later on. And so that everything is just looking of the same shade and of the same family. And you can cover up the entire tooth of the paper using a white color Pencil as well. So basically just repeating the same steps over here, going back and forth, adding a little blue wherever it's required and then blending it and Burnishing it as we go along. And if you feel that you want to go back on a couple of your previous stones that you have done and you feel like you want to add a little bit more blue or a little bit more white, you can always go a little bit back and forth till the time your paper is not entirely burnished. We're just adding little bit of dimension here and there. And at this point, I'm also just going to speed up the video a little bit so that you can see my progress. And if you'd like, you can actually do multiple stones at the same time. So you can apply medium blue at a lot of these stones together, then go back with your lightest blue and basically just do it in an assembly line manner, if you feel that's going to simplify the process for you. So feel free to take your time to do this exercise. Have fun while doing this. You can always come back and refer to this video over here to see how I've shaded specific shapes. Or if you just want to go back and revisit all the steps once again. So feel free to pause the video or rewatch it as many times as you like. But I would encourage you to take your eyes off the screen for a bit and try to really enjoy the process of coloring each of these pebbles mindfully. Because I guarantee it's definitely a very enjoyable and very relaxing process. Once you're done, this is what your end result is going to look like. And of course, if you've chosen different colors, then it's gonna be in a different color. But this is more or less what it's going to look like. Once you have this ready, meet me in the next lesson, where we're going to be adding some details to our bezel. 23. Project 2: Bezel Coloring: For the final step of this project, we're going to be adding tiny metallic details to the bezel. And for this, I'm going to be using this gold marker that I have, but you're welcome to use any other tool that you have available with you. So I'm gonna go inside these little orbs that we had created on the outline. And I'm just going to fill those in with this gold color. Now of course, there are no rules when it comes to creating these bezels. You can decorate them in any way that you like. And you're free to use as many tools in as many colors as you like. So feel free to have fun and play with your creativity over here and decorate the bezel in any way that you like. Alright, with that, we're done with this project. And in the next lesson, we're going to start work on a new gemstone. 24. Project 3: Gemstone Drawing: Alright, so in this lesson, we're gonna be working on the next gemstone, which is a Ruby Inspired Gemstone. And for this project, I have chosen to go ahead with an oval shape, which I have traced using the polymer clay cutter that I had shown you earlier. So by now you already know how to make a Gemstone. So we're gonna be treating this lesson as a quick summary and a recap for everything that we have learned so far. So to start off, we're gonna be working on the Base Layer, where we're going to be using the black color pencil to make the shadows. And we're gonna do this with light gentle strokes, making sure that we don't apply too much of pressure right away. We're also going to take the black color pencil around the edges a little bit. Then we're going to move on to our grey color pencil. And in this case, I'm using the 50% warm grey pencil instead of the cool grey one, because red falls on the warmer side of the color wheel. And so that is one small change that we always have to make note of whenever we're working on warm colors versus cool colors. Next, I'm moving on to my Crimson Lake, which is my darkest red color pencil. And I'm going to overlap it on top of the black. So the darkest color always plays the same role as the black color pencil. Then we're going to bring in our medium red, which is the Crimson Red in this case, and overlap it on top of the darkest red as well as the grey. And finally, we bring in the lightest red, which is going to cover up most of the remaining space, except for a little crescent moon or kidney bean shape that we're going to leave at the bottom right. So by looking at this, I'm sure you can make out that the source of light is on the top-left corner, which is why the light is going to pass through from the bottom right. With that, we're done with the first layer. Now, moving on to the second layer, we always go from bottom to top. So with the white color pencil, we'll just blend in that little area at the bottom and take it a little bit into the lightest red. Then I'm just bringing in my Crimson Lake, which is my darkest red color pencil once more, to just extend the shadows a little bit because I feel like I missed out on that in the first step. So just accentuating that a little bit more. Then I'm just going back and forth between the different shades of red and just adding them one-by-one and blending them at the same time, making sure that there is another nice even layer on the paper. Then as one of the final steps for this layer, we're going to add the grey rim on top. And that's going to be directly above your darkest color, which is the darkest red in this case. Plus, I'm going to add a little bit of the white. And that instantly makes it seem as if there's a light source on the top-left. So that's been blended in very nicely already. Now, moving on to the third layer, we're again going to go from bottom to top. So starting with the white, I'm just going to refine the space at the bottom and then move on to my lightest red. As is the case with color pencils, you have to go back and forth sometimes. So just going back and forth between the white and the lightest red to make sure that the area at the bottom is nicely defined. And at the same time it's all blended with no harsh lines. Then we gradually move on to the medium red and start to blend in the area in the middle. And make sure that we remove all the harsh lines that we can see. Just going in light, gentle strokes in circular motion, and doing the same thing with the darkest red as well. So as always, if you still feel that there are some harsh lines here and there or, if you feel like there is some scope to add more color, you can always go back and forth and keep on increasing the number of layers. And just keep doing it with light pressure so that you don't flatten the tooth of the paper altogether at once. Alright, and then after all your color application is done, the final step, of course, is to burnish it. So make sure that you have a clean, colorless blender for this. And then again, we go from bottom to top. So starting from the white area at the bottom, we gradually make our way up and start to blend out all the colors. At this stage too, if you feel like you need to add a little bit of color here and there, you can totally do that. Just make sure that you keep applying pressure a little by little, and only apply the hardest amount of pressure right in the end. So if there are certain spots where you feel that you could use a little bit more color, you can totally go ahead and add that. And once you are satisfied with your burnishing, that finishes up your gemstone. So once you're ready with this, meet me in the next lesson where we're going to be tangling on the background of this gemstone. 25. Project 3: Tangling: Alright, so we're now all set to start Tangling on the background of this beautiful Gemstone that we have created. So the first thing that I'm going to do is bring in my eraser. And I'm gonna get rid of all of these extra spots on the paper. All of these pencil marks and little tiny specks of wax that I can see around over here. So we are, of course, going to be tangling on the entire background over here. And most of it will get covered with the color pencils eventually. But it's always a good idea to get rid of these spots in the beginning because you never know, you might just be Layering it with a lighter color later on. And so these might interfere with smooth blending. So it's always a good idea to get rid of all of these extra spots in the beginning and have a clean slate for you to start Tangling. Alright, so once I'm done cleaning all of these spots, I'm going to bring in my micron pen. And the tangle that we're gonna be working with is called crescent moon. This is again a very simple and beautiful and elegant tangle introduced by the Zentangle headquarters. And it's very easy to draw. But the result is again, absolutely stunning. And there are many different variations and versions of the crescent moon tangle. But the version that we're going to be working with today is a stackable version. And so in this, we are basically just going to start with these little arcs or semi-circles around the edge or the border of our tile. And once we have one such row done or once we have the border completely finished, then we're going to start working inwards and start stacking them one after the other, all facing towards the Gemstone. Now of course, there are no rules when it comes to the size and scale of these crescent moons, as well as the number of crescent moons that you want to draw. So each artist will draw it based on the proportions that they are comfortable with. And I have a tiny tile over here and I'm still drawing pretty big moons. But maybe you have a similar sized tile and you're drawing very, very small ones. And that's totally okay. So it totally depends on what kind of repetition and what kind of scale you like working with. So feel free to customize the design. And now I'm just going to fit in a few more of these over here on the inside. And with that, we are done with the arcs. Now we're going to come back inside the first row and we're going to start making these dark semi-circles inside. So these are gonna be like the inner orb or the inner semicircle. Then we are going to start creating auras around these, which I described previously as outlines to a given shape. So in this case, however, we're leaving a little bit of gap in the middle of those outlines. This little effect that I'm creating is called a "sparkle." I do talk a lot about aura and sparkles and other Zentangle Techniques in the primer classes that I have done over here on Skillshare. So you can always go back and refer to those classes if you want to know more about the Zentangle method. But for the purpose of this class, I definitely want to give you a quick summary of what sparkle is. So sparkle is basically a drawing technique in the Zentangle method, in which we intentionally break a stroke to give the effect of a light beam falling over there. Or for it to look like there is a highlight or a sparkle over there. So just like we see sunrays creating a sparkly effect on ocean water. Similarly, we can create that effect by breaking strokes and making it seem as if there is a little light beam or a little highlight over there. This will get even more accentuated once we get into the coloring process. But for now, we're just going to try and maintain the sparkle somewhere in the middle of that crescent moon. And we're just going to create that empty space as we go along in all the other crescent moon shapes over here as well. So now that you've seen me draw a few of these, I'm going to speed up the video for you to see my progress and the steps are pretty repetitive. So once again, I encourage you to pause the video and work at your own pace and really enjoy the process of making these auras and sparkles. Because it is a very meditative exercise when it's done mindfully. And this will also serve as a great opportunity for you to take your eyes away from your screen for a little bit and focus more on your sketchbook or your tile instead. Once you're done adding all the auras and sparkles inside your crescent moon, your tile will look something like this. And whenever you're ready, meet me in the next lesson where we'll start coloring this tangle. 26. Project 3: Background Coloring: Alright, so we're all set to start coloring the crescent moon tangle that we have just created on the background of this Gemstone. And for this, I'm going to start with the medium red color Pencil that I have. And I'm just going to add a little bit of that on the edges of this crescent moon over here. And I'm going to use very gentle strokes because we're gonna be Blending this with the lightest red pencil. Once I have a little bit of this color laid down, I'm going to bring in my lightest red and just going to add a little bit of that on the inside like so, leaving that little sparkle in the middle empty. And then I'm just going to bring in my white color pencil and cover up that paper white. But at the same time blend it a little bit into the light red. Then I'm going to bring in my colorless blender. And I'm just going to flatten the tooth and get rid of all the white spots. For something as small as this tangle, we don't need a lot of color pencil layers. We can actually work with a single layer, or probably just two layers. And we'd be good with that because we can always use the colorless blender to flatten the tooth and create that beautiful burnished effect. And we can still maintain the vibrancy. And the same way now, we're going to continue adding color to the rest of the crescent moons as well. Now of course, if you've drawn the tangle very, very small, then you will need to sharpen your pencil regularly so that you can get into those small corners and really nicely cover up the details and get into those tiny, tiny sections that we have created with the tangle. A sharp pencil is definitely recommended when working on tricky shapes like these. And apart from that, the steps are pretty repetitive. We just keep on adding the medium red on the edges and the lightest red on the inside sections, leaving the sparkle white in the middle. You can see me doing these on the other crescent moons as well. So with this demonstration, now, I think the concept of sparkle is probably a lot more clear because we intentionally left out those little gaps and we intentionally broke our strokes so that we could have paper white, which we're now covering with the white color pencil. And that is the beauty of sparkles because it can make any objects seem shiny and metallic. And it can really create a lot of interest and drama in your drawing. So this is a very easy, but a very effective technique to create drama and visual interest in any tangle that you're working with. Alright, so now that you've seen me color a few of these, I'm going to fast-forward the video a little bit because the steps are fairly repetitive. As always, I would encourage you to take your eyes away from your screen for a little bit and work at your own pace. And really enjoy the process of coloring this tangle mindfully and in a relaxed state of mind. Whenever you feel like you can always come back and enjoy this little time-lapse and see my progress little by little. Towards the end of this video, you can actually see my final result. So you also have the option to skip ahead and watch that instead. But if you're someone who enjoys watching these satisfying time-lapse videos, then, well, there are a few minutes of that as well over here. I've recorded most of it for you to see. Alright, so once you're done coloring, your end result is going to look something like this. And with this, we are done with our three main class projects. In the next lesson, we're gonna be starting with our additional practice exercises. 27. Additional Exercise 1: Patterned Gemstone: Alright everyone, so welcome back. In this lesson, we're gonna be talking about patterned gemstones. Now, if you've come across Zentangle Inspired Art with beautiful Shiny Gemstones, then you've probably seen a few examples of patterned gemstones already. So patterned gemstones, very simply put are gemstones with a smooth, shiny surface where it appears as if there is a pattern or a design which is trapped inside the Gemstone. To give you an example of this, I'm going to start off with the base layer over here. And this is gonna be our first layer where we make a design or a pattern inside the Gemstone. So I am doing Printemps over here, which is a tangle from the Zentangle method. And these are basically just simple spirals of various different sizes. Now, if you feel like you wanna do a different pattern instead of this, you're totally free to do so. There is no limitation or restriction when it comes to drawing designs and patterns for these gemstones. Now unlike the previous gemstones that we have drawn so far, the patterned gemstone usually starts with the design itself. So that becomes the first layer for us, instead of adding the shadows. Once we have the Base Layer completed with the pattern, we can move on to the second layer, which is all about color application. So once again, we're going to skip the shadows for now. And we're straight away going to go for the darkest color that we have with us, which is the Poppy Red in my case. And we're going to apply it in pretty much the same way as we did it for the other examples previously. So the darkest color always goes on the top, like so, making a crescent moon and then around the edges. And so for the purpose of this example, I'm assuming that the source of light is on the top-left corner. Once you have the darkest color laid down, then we can move on to the medium color, which is orange in my case. So we overlap it with the darkest color, and at the same time, we leave a little bit of space emoty for the lightest color to come in. Then we bring in the lightest color, which is the Sunburst Yellow in my case. And again, we're going to leave a little bit of space empty at the bottom, where we're going to bring in the white later on. Now for our third layer, we're going to start working from bottom to top. And so we're going to bring in the white, then gradually start to blend it in with the lightest yellow. And we're going to pretty much follow the same process. So after the white is done, we're going to do the same thing with the lightest yellow that I have over here. The sunburst yellow, and gradually blend that into the orange. Then I'm going to bring in the orange and blend that into the yellow as well as the poppy red on top. Then of course finally we bring in the poppy red, which is the darkest color. And we start to apply more color over here and get rid of the paper grain. Now once this is done, we bring in the grey pencil. I'm using the 50% warm gray because once again, red falls on the warmer side of the color wheel. So using this grey, I'm actually going to now create the shadows. And at the same time I'm creating this grey rim on the top, which we used to do earlier with all our gemstones. Then I'm going to bring in my poppy red once again and just sort of blend that gray into the red. So basically, we're not really looking at a lot of gray color over here simply because we don't want the shadows to be extremely dense or extremely dark. Because if we make a very, very dark shadow, that the entire pattern on the top is going to get hidden. And the idea behind a Patterned Gemstone is that the pattern should show at all times. So we're actually skipping the black over here completely and we're only going to work with different shades of gray. Now, I'm going to bring in my 20% warm gray pencil. And I'm going to use that to go around the edges. Basically whatever we did with the black and the dark gray in the previous exercises is exactly what we're doing with the dark gray and the light gray in this exercise. So we're replacing the black with the 50% warm gray. And we're replacing the 50% gray with the 20% gray. So now I'm just basically bringing the Poppy Red once again and blending that gray in nicely, making sure that it's going all around the edges. And it's blending in with the other colors as well. I'm gonna do the same thing with the medium color, which is the orange in my case. And you can actually see the subtle shadow which is happening around the edges, which is just the right amount of shadow that we need to make sure that the pattern shows through; and it's not stark. It's not very dense, it's not very deep. And it's not hiding the pattern for us in any way. So I'm gonna do the same thing with the yellow as well. And if at any point you feel that you need to add just a little bit more of the shadows, you can always bring in your grey pencil. And so over here I'm just adding a little bit more of the 20% gray and then blending it in with the orange once more. Then at the bottom, I'm just polishing and fine-tuning this area with a little bit more white and getting rid of all the harsh lines that I can see. And maybe I just need to extend that shadow a little bit more and then blend it back once again. Let's get rid of this dust. Then I'm quickly going to clean my white color Pencil so that we can work on the rim on the top. And this process is pretty much the same as what we've been doing with all the other gemstones so far. So as always, once the rim is done, you can bring in one more layer of color, if required. So if you want to build up a little bit more saturation, you can add one more layer, but it totally depends on what your gemstone is looking like right now. Maybe your gemstone is already quite bright and vibrant and so you don't need another layer. But if you feel that it's looking a little bit dull or if you feel that there are a few more harsh lines that you can get rid of, then you can bring in one more layer and blend all the colors nicely. Once you're satisfied with the application of color on your Gemstone, you can bring in the blender pencil and you can then start Burnishing the Gemstone. Alright, so with that, we're done with this exercise, and that's how we create a Patterned Gemstone. There's literally no limit when it comes to making creative variations to these gemstones. So it's just a slight deviation from what we've been doing with the regular Gemstone so far. But as you can see, the result is absolutely stunning and beautiful. And there is literally no limit when it comes to using these gemstones creatively in your projects. So go ahead, give this a try and I'd love to see what you all come up with. 28. Additional Exercise 2: Cracked Gemstone: Alright, so in this lesson, we're going to be making a Gemstone with cracks. Now, if you observe real gemstones, you will notice that they all have small imperfections and defects in them. And we can try to replicate that effect by creating small cracks on the first layer of our gemstone. Here, I'm using my micron pen to make these abstract cracks randomly across the Gemstone. And you can use a black pen or a really dark color that matches your Gemstone. The pen that I'm using right now is a really dark blue pen. But you can totally do this with a black pen as well. Now when you're making these cracks, you can make some of them a little thinner, while the others can be a little bit more bold. And once we put in our color Pencil layers on top of these cracks, they will only be partially visible. But that's exactly how we want it to be. We don't want the cracks to overpower the color pencil layers. Now the rest of the steps for making a Cracked Gemstone are pretty much the same as making a Patterned Gemstone, which we did in the earlier exercise. So I have increased the speed of the video over here for you to enjoy the time-lapse and then work at your own pace. Throughout the video, I have put the color pencil numbers on the screen, in case you're using the same brand as me and want to follow along with the same colors. Just remember to take your time and enjoy the process. Working with color pencils can be extremely relaxing, especially when you're building those layers gradually. So take your time. Maybe enjoy a nice beverage on the side, and enjoy the video. Alright, so once you're done adding all the layers, this is what the end result will look like. So you can see all of these beautiful cracks showing through the color pencil layers. And they're not exactly in your face. They look like they're submerged or encased inside the G=gemstone. And that's exactly how we want them to be. Once you're done with this exercise, don't forget to share a picture with me in the Projects and Resources section down below. Once you've done that, meet me in the next lesson where we'll be working on another fun project. 29. Additional Exercise 3: Ring Shadow: Alright, so in this lesson, we're gonna be working on the Ring Shadow. So when we were discussing the anatomy of a Gemstone, I'd shown you this image with a Ring Shadow at the bottom of the Gemstone. And that is basically the shadow that is cast by the Gemstone, assuming that light is passing through it, and the gemstone is kept on a flat white surface. Now this is a great way to enhance the overall look of a smooth, glassy looking gem. And it makes the drawing look a little bit more realistic. You might not necessarily use this technique in all of your Zentangle or Zen-Doodle projects. But at the same time, it's definitely good to know about this technique so that you can apply it creatively in at least some of your projects in the future. So for this exercise, you'll need to have a Gemstone Drawing ready and completed with you. So I've used the colors Dark Purple, Mulberry, and Process Red for this one over here. But you're totally welcome to make the Gemstone in any other color combination that you like. And once you have that gemstone ready, then we can begin our exercise. So to make this Ring Shadow, we need to start off with either the lightest color on our Gemstone or the medium color. Basically we want to pick a color that helps to describe the Gemstone easily. So for example, if I show this Gemstone to someone, they might not necessarily call it a purple gemstone, but they would definitely lean more towards calling it a magenta or a reddish magenta Gemstone. So basically, we're looking at a color that represents the essence of the Gemstone. That can sometimes be your lightest color or it can be your medium color. Now, another thing to note over here is that my darkest color as well as my medium color are very similar. There is not a lot of difference between the dark purple and the Mulberry, Which is why the majority of the color pop that you'll see on my Gemstone is because of the process red. So basically, this is the color that is representing the essence of my Gemstone. So I'm gonna go with Process Red over here. And I'm going to make a small crescent moon here at the bottom, right, opposite the highlight. And just under the little white hazy area that we always leave at the bottom of the Gemstone. So it's gonna be a small light crescent moon like so. Then we don't want it to pop. So we're just going to burnish this using our white color pencil. Exactly the same way in which we did the pastel burnishing effect during one of our practice exercises. Once we have that done, we're going to bring in our 20% grey pencil. So in this case, I'm using my 20% cool grey pencil because I've used cool greys inside the Gemstone as well. So I'm just going around the shadow, like so. Then I'm going to bring in my 50% grey pencil. And I'm just going to darken the areas which are touching the gemstone. So just the edges of the shadows which are touching the gemstone. And we're just going to darken them up a little bit. Once that's done, we're going to bring in our white color pencil once again. And we're just going to blend out the edges going towards the paper white. So we don't want to see any harsh lines over here because shadows are usually very soft. And we're trying to create a very soft look over here. And we'll just burnish out the section in the middle as well. And if you feel like you require a few touch ups here and there, you can always bring in your light grey pencil once more and just increase the intensity of the color in the middle. You can always go back and forth. So I'm just adding a little bit of white once again. And again, I'm darkening the edges. So this will require a couple of layers going back-and-forth till the time you are fully satisfied with it. You just want to make sure that the shadows are blending into the outline of the Gemstone properly. So you don't want the shadow to seem disconnected or not attached to the body of the Gemstone. Because then that just simply tends to take away the illusion that we're trying to create. So that's something that we need to pay attention to. Now sometimes it does happen that your grey pencil tends to go inside the body of your gemstone. And that's totally okay because you can fix it quickly by taking your darkest color or you medium color and just going around the shadows on the body of the Gemstone and Burnishing them once again. So a little bit of my grey had crept inside the body of the gemstone. So I can fix that quickly over here like so. Once again, I'm just going to fix the section on the outside because I can see some harsh lines. And I also think I need to accentuate the pink a little bit more. The colored ring shadow should almost be the same as the white section inside. Now once again, I'm just going to bring in my grey pencil. And I'm just going to do a few touch-ups here and there. And I'm just going to refine the shape of the shadow a little bit. So again, we'll just go back and forth between our greys and our white pencil. Now this is fairly subjective. If you're happy with the way the shadow has turned out, then you can stop over here. But otherwise, you can just take a moment to observe your drawing and then do some fixes. For example, over here, I feel like I need to just take away the harsh lines over here. On the bottom left. Sometimes these irregularities are not so much visible on camera as they are to the naked eye. So maybe it's not making a lot of difference on the video right now. But I can definitely spot some harsh lines here which I want to improve. So I'm just going back-and-forth and observing my shadow very closely just to make sure that everything is looking fine. Alright, with that, we've completed this exercise. And this is what the end result looks like. 30. Adding Highlights: Alright, so now that we've completed all our projects, we can add highlights to them. And as I had explained with this image earlier, the highlight is the section on the Gemstone where the light source hits the hardest. So it can be natural light, which is coming directly from the sun or through the windows in a room. Or it can be an artificial light source, such as ceiling lights or desk lamps or studio lights, etc. which are reflecting on the Gemstone. So in order to add these Highlights, you will need something similar to a white Jelly Roll pen. So for example, I also have another one over here from a different brand. This is the Signo from uni-ball. So you can use any white gel pen that you have, or you can also use white acrylic paint or white gouache or a paint pen, acrylic marker, basically anything that is white and opaque and can be used to add highlights on the gemstones. Now, with the white gel pens, we usually need to do a couple of strokes on a scrap piece of paper first before we take the pen on our final project. And that is just to make sure that the ink is running smoothly and that the nib is clean and smooth for us to lay down the color. So for example, over here, you can see that the ink is not flowing well right now. And that just means that I need to take it back on the scrap piece of paper and warm up the nib a little bit. The friction will cause the ink to flow properly. And once I have that, I can come back on my project and add the little highlight. Now when it comes to the shapes of these Highlights, there are many different ways to approach it. One of the easiest ways to add a highlight is to make a sort of elongated teardrop shape. And then make like a small rectangle or squarish element next to it, which pretty much resembles the kind of light we get from a window. We can also add another small square next to it. Now, the only thing that we need to make sure is that the highlight is not going all the way down towards the edges. We want it to stay at the top exactly where we had marked the light source in the beginning. And it has to be opposite to the little white area that we have left at the bottom, which is basically the section from where the light is traveling through are passing through. So we just want to make sure that the highlight stays on the top and doesn't go all the way around the edges. Then similarly for this one, I'm going to add the highlight over here, like so. You'll notice that I'm making sure that my highlight doesn't really touch the edges. And that's because we had made this little contour or that edge bounce light on the top, which I want to retain. So I am putting my highlight just a little bit under it. And at the same time, it should not be very much inside the Gemstone as well, because we don't want the highlight to seem misplaced. So it should basically be at the area where the transition of the dark to medium color starts to happen. So just at the periphery or just at the edge of that transition. And then if we want, we can also extend the highlight a little bit in case you're feeling it's a little too short. And then in this one over here, I'm going to do a slightly thinner highlight and I'm going to have broken little streaks or sections. This just basically gives it a slightly more naturalistic or realistic effect, imagining that there is some kind of dappled light which is falling on the gemstone. So it's not very hard and it's slightly different from the one that we have done previously. So this is also an approach that you can try. Now, it totally depends on you whether you want to add highlights to all your projects or just do a few of them, or you want to skip them altogether. So this is completely optional and it's completely based on your preference. And another thing that you can do to make your gemstones dazzle and shine a little bit more, is to add these little specks of white all over the gemstone as well. Again, these are artistic choices that you can make depending on the project that you're working on. With these little white spots, we can imagine that there are these little glinting, sparkling light sources all around the gemstone, which are causing these tiny little highlights. So that's also another effect that you can try. And yeah, with that, we're done with highlights. Feel free to add them to a few of your projects or to all of them, depending on your preferences. 31. Closing Thoughts: Alright, so congratulations on making it to the end of the class. I truly hope that this class was useful for you in building your confidence with color pencils. Going forward, I recommend that you continue to practice these exercises learned in the class. And I promise, you will continue to see improvement in your work. For your convenience, I've also compiled a document for you to download in the Projects and Resources section, where I've included supply recommendations along with some additional color palettes that you can try. I also invite you to leave a review for this class, as it's super helpful for me as a teacher, as well as for other students looking for quality classes here on the platform. If you'd like to keep the conversations flowing, then I'd love to be connected with you on social media. I've created a small hashtag community on Instagram where you can find students from all my classes posting their wonderful work. This way, we can all give and receive endless inspiration. So thank you so much for joining me in today's class. Until next time, keep creating!