Covid #6: Red continued...

 From KMcD a delightful observational drawing of red and green leaves observed on her daily walk. Rather than rewrite her details I will quote her:

'I added the green for some contrast but built up both colors with different colors.  For the red leaves, the subject leaves had a high orange color so I used middle chrome and orange chrome as the under colors.  I then used a combination of scarlet lake, crimson lake and rose madder lake, all Derwent pencils.  The shadow on the leaves was dark violet.  The green leaf was yellow and blue combined for base and then grass green and juniper green.  The branch was a combination of light to darker browns but I did wonder if I should have combined red and blue to make a brown.  It was really enjoyable to use the combinations as it really gave depth and tone.'  

This is a very good example of building up your tone and hues with layering different color pencils. Regarding the brown, I always do recommend you start with something other than a brown pencil, perhaps a gold ochre or the like. Most browns have a lot of black in them and can be a dead color to use but starting with yellows or red layers underneath can liven them up. Then some blues or violet over the brown layer in the shadows to make them pop.

'Red and Green Leaves' by KMcD