So after working with just coloured pencils, I decided to try a different method, this time combining them with water-based and pastel pencils.
Choosing a sturdy paper
Not all art papers are the same and as with most things in life you really do get what you pay for! Many of the great artists that I follow on social media work on a variety of papers and I'm always very eager to try them out for myself, in particular #clairefontainepastelmat. This paper can handle water-based pencils such as the #albrechtdurer range by #fabercastell without 'buckling' like some watercolour papers can.
Applying coloured pencils is also done very easily on this paper as the wax and oil-based compounds gently glide across the fine grain on the surface leaving a purposeful mark that can later be overlaid or blended with other colours. In the final stage of the process #pitpastelpencils were used for the background colours to create this beautifully smooth appearance! As pastels are precisely what this paper was created for it goes without saying that they are applied effortlessly and can easily be manipulated to give the desired outcome. I do find pastel pencils and #panpastels very messy to work with and had to completely cover all of my electronic equipment from the thin layer of green dust that gradually built up in my studio!