Strike strokes are fashioned by striking the paper with a heavy landing and a smooth takeoff, using a flicking motion. This results in a varied stroke and is excellent for rendering grass, feathers, or fur. Look closely at the sphere sample: the bottom of the stroke is darker than the top. You need a strong, sharp point for this stroke, so sharpening your pencil using the sanding block and getting a chisel point works best. I usually add regular back-and-forth shading to the strike stroke.
Materials
- Colored pencils
- Stamp
- Gray ink pad
- Permanent pen with a fine tip
- Drawing paper
Ideas and Samples
The samples on the page can teach you even more about creative options with the strike stroke. For the cowardly lion image, I used a complementary color scheme, adding a dark blue with brown and yellow tones. This added excitement to the finished look. The extra strike strokes around the head, following the contour, make it look like the lion is quivering, adding movement and personality. The owl was colored entirely with the strike stroke, again with the strokes breaking free of the original stamping to give him a real fluffy look. With the owl, note the unconventional layered colors used to make him really interesting. I left the branch uncolored to make sure the owl was the main focus.
- Stamp your image onto drawing paper using a light gray inkpad.
2. Make sure your strike strokes follow the contour of the drawing. Lightly use the strike stroke to block in the color and show the direction and size of the strokes. I used long strokes for the fox’s tail and shorter strokes for the body and face.
3. Continue to layer the different strokes and colors. Do some regular shading to color in the shadows.
4. Go back into the image with a fine-tipped permanent pen to bring out certain details. When coloring in the eyes, leave a tiny highlight, which makes them sparkle.
