Janie Gildow's drawing video workshops provide a firm foundation to the colored pencil artist. In this drawing instruction video, you learn about the basics of drawing, including how to choose your pencils, erasers and papers.

Janie Gildow's art emphasizes striking realism and dynamic lighting. Her teaching emphasizes clear presentation and practical examples. The combination of her artists' vision and instructor's mindset make her the perfect guide to her primary medium: the colored pencil.

In this workshop, Janie grounds you in the fundamentals of colored pencil art. She begins by sharing her favorite pencils and proves her expertise with a demonstration on pencil construction. She explains the textures you'll achieve and application methods you'll learn using different types of paper then sets you to work.

Janie has developed exercises to improve everything from blending and color selection to your grip on the pencil. She considers her color wheel one of her best friends, and she uses it to demonstrate the unique blending properties of colored pencils. You'll learn to use complementary colors without neutralizing pigment and to contrast them to create striking highlights.

Janie leads exercises to perfect even application of color, pressure changes and dynamic shading. She shares techniques for seamless blending and creating dimension.

Janie also introduces you to her magic pencil – the colorless blender that helps her burnish pigment into the tooth of her paper. Janie's smooth working surface and color transitions lead many people to mistake her colored pencil for enamel paint.

Finally, Janie reveals one of her signature techniques: the impressed line method that allows her to drive thin veins of light value into pools of rich darks. Using vellum and a hard graphite pencil, she traces her designs onto the paper then teases them out with a rubbing of color. Janie enjoys the impressed lines so much that she uses them to sign her work.

This film provides the skills and exercises you'll need to start your colored pencil career, and it serves as the perfect primer to the advanced techniques in Janie's second workshop. To build a foundation in a fast-growing medium, join Janie Gildow in The Colored Pencil: Getting Started Right.

Janie Gildow shows you the proper grip for pressure control, and exercises to improve variegated and smooth tones. She contrasts and demonstrates the major pencil techniques of layering and burnishing, and discusses the benefits of each. Janie describes important modifications when working on dark paper; shows you how to incise lines. She describes how blending contrasting colors is considerably different with colored pencil in contrast to liquid media. There is an important discussion about the color wheel. Janie demonstrates color layering and how she achieves her elegant hues.