Good Vibrations

Colored pencil artist Karen Dimaio shares the layering and blending techniques behind Good Vibrations, including how she used odorless mineral spirits, preserved fine white lines and created rich dark values without using a black pencil.

This colored pencil drawing is very different from anything I have created or captured in my artistic journey, both in subject matter and composition. I continue to be inspired by the beauty of nature and wildlife while looking for inspiration to expand my knowledge and skill to create something fresh and new. Thirteen years of drawing commissioned pet portraits allowed me to study and focus on drawing eyes that could speak to the viewer and fur that they might imagine how it felt to touch. I love drawing feathers and drawing birds provided the opportunity to create with colors that I otherwise seldom used. As a student of the craft, I have tried different types of pencils, papers and methods, resulting in the joy of trial and error.

STEP ONE

This drawing was first inspired by my love of music. I studied and played flute in high school and college while both my husband and son play guitar, and I often listen to music while drawing. There are guitars hanging on the walls of my living room and represent another form of art that I enjoy. Each month, I join my husband while he plays guitar in an old-time jam event in our local West Virginia community. I often draw while I listen to them play and recalled having a photo that my son took of his guitar. I love everything about it from the composition to the capture of light and shadows as well as the straight strings to the wavy wood grain. The vibrant color also would challenge me to maybe use some of those pencils that are neglected in my studio. The composition draws your eyes from light reflections to empty darkness in the sound hole with the strings leading the way. Drawing a complete guitar, including the neck and headstock, would require additional context to avoid the look of an instrument floating in air, and I loved how this example would fill the space perfectly.

STEP TWO

I chose Stonehenge Rising Paper for the foundation of this five-layer drawing. I set the strings in place with Prismacolor Premier, wax-based white pencil to hold a sharp line as I applied odorless mineral spirits with a brush after each of the first three layers. Prismacolor Verithin pencils were used to finish the detail of the strings, and a combination of Derwent Drawing, Derwent Lightfast and Caran D’Ache pencils were used on everything else. I keep my pencils very sharp and use a whisper touch to apply pencil to paper. This avoids paper damage and allows additional layers to be added. It may come as a surprise to know that no black pencil was used to create this drawing.

“This drawing was first inspired
by my love of music.”

Finished

My greatest challenge was to define the different parts of the instrument, knowing that the viewer would likely understand the anatomy of a guitar and quickly observe any irregularities in my creation. I asked questions about what I was drawing such as why the saddle looks broken or in two parts. I learned that Takamine guitars are one of the few brands that design their saddles to provide a proper intonation of the fifth and sixth strings. This guitar also shows the ends of each string that are often hidden inside the body of most other acoustic guitars. I thought that this drawing might inspire conversation by other artists as well as musicians. The actual guitar was not available to reference while drawing, so I had to understand what I saw in the reference photo to recreate it faithfully. This very old cedar top instrument had aged, and I was challenged to detail the visual result of time and use that a guitar endures.

I found great joy in expanding my subject matter from feathers and fur to wood and steel. I hope this might inspire other artists to give something new a try.

Colored Pencil Blending Techniques Used in Good Vibrations

• Build color gradually across five layers.
• Apply odorless mineral spirits after the first three layers.
• Keep pencils sharp for precise details.
• Use a light touch to preserve the paper’s surface.
• Layer colors to create natural darks instead of relying on black.

Want to keep practicing? Explore our colored pencil tutorials, start with beginner colored pencil lessons, or discover another layered blending approach in A Portrait With a Dappled Background.

Karen Dimaio

About the artist: Karen was born and raised in Maryland and earned a Finance degree from Towson University. In 2013, she happened upon a “How to draw birds” book and thought, “Why not give it a try?” After drawing every bird, she drew her Pembroke Welsh Corgis and found that she was able to capture their likeness and spirit as her skill increased. She drew pet portraits until she retired to West Virginia in 2020. She now draws wildlife seen on her homestead, enjoys gardening and listening to music and audiobooks.

Ready to explore color more deeply? Visit the Mastering Colors series