blue pencil???

[Twitch.]

I've seen a lot of preliminary sketches done with a blue pencil.. is this some special kind of pencil??? why is it done in blue??? am I fine with my normal cheap ass bic?? lol

[Mr. A]

Taking a stab in the dark here, but if this pencil happens to be a very light blue in color and isn't mechanical, then there is a good chance that these are non-photo blue pencils that you are talking about. What makes non-photo blue pencils favorable is that anything drawn with one won't be picked up when photocopied under most circumstances, making it pretty good for stuff you are going to ink later.
While certainly not necessary, it wouldn't hurt to pick up one or two just to give it a try to see if you'll like it. Although I haven't been using them nearly as much as of late, they are pretty useful when starting out on something, and unless they shouldn't cost much more than your "cheap ass bic" you are currently brandishing.

[Elwell]

Yes, the use of non-photo blue pencils is a carryover form the days before scanning, when black and white lineart was reproduced with a high contrast stat camera.

[Maiku Jaguar]

Non repro blue is a good thing to play with, to at least become familiar with it. I have a friend who likes to use them though I do not personally prefer them myself. From what I've seen though they are mostly used in producing comic book art, though these days i've noticed most scanners will pick up the color, but a simple adjustment with the levels in photoshop will clear it right up.

[mambo]

Just a quick note on the use of blue pencils... many people who use blue aren't using non-repro blue... many (myself included) use Col-erase navy blue or other colors... for me it was a habit I picked up when I was working in LA... where I had a senior who would take a look several times a day at my work and then correct it in red... the red standing out from the blue so it was easy to see corrections. I've kept the habit even though these days unfortunately I don't have someone to correct my drawings anymore... sure was a great way to improve on a daily basis. Often times these days I'll work in blue and then ink right over it... makes it very easy to clearly see what is being inked.

mambo

[Twitch.]

=) thanks guys this is all really valuable information
I love this place

[dirtydiesel]

i just like how they look in my sketchbook.

i stumbled across these at my local art supply one day, and i think they rule.

[Favila]

they are good to ink on top of them because you haven't to guess where you have and havent inked already.

[tensai]

and when you ink on top of them and scan it to get your inked lines nice and clean - you can go into the blue channel in ps and copy that to a new layer. the blue channel will not show the blue so you got super clean linework almost instantly.

or, if you want to stay with a pencil sketch and work with that - you can go into the blue channel and copy that to a new layer (or file). if you apply curves or levels on that you can get super deep darks lines/tones almost like carbon pencil. this way of applying curves is cool cause it leaves most of the paper texture alone so you don't get crazy contrast on your paper - just your sketch lines.

wait, i better show it instead of trying to describe it - left rgb; right red channel with auto levels.

for line work


or for tonal work

[Stoat]

Also, the classic ones we used back in the day were waxy and sensitive to that nasty solvent we used to clean photos. So if you didn't like a chunk of what you were doing, you could sort of melt it away, into the paper. Repeatedly, if necessary. It left a very cool blue halo around the line work. Didn't reproduce under the stat camera, but it looked neat.

If you go to exhibitions of originals by older illustrators, you'll see not only their blue-line sketches, but also little notes they left for the printer in the margins. I'm thinking of a show of Arthur Rackham's I saw, where it was fascinating to read his notations.

[resonanteye]

I'm bumping this thread to add that I really like using the non-photot blue to lay out the flow and focal point or blocking of a drawing, then use red to refine the larger shapes, before beginning with ink or pencils.

I learned this from my uncle; he used to critique my drawings in red pencil after I'd done a sketch in blue, then I'd draw over the top with my ink.

My uncle is a very talented artist, he was my first instructor when I was a kid.

By the way this is my first post, I've been lurking for a while and have learned a lot already. Thanks for having such a great amount of resources here!

[Thunderrobot]

I just like the way they look, It's hard for me to draw with anything other than my blue col-erase.

[resonanteye]

The blue almost disappears under the red, which does the same under black. I use prismacolor nonphoto blue pencils and markers; I don't know if they show up in a scan or not but they disappear entirely when I photocopy my sketch to re-size it.

I also like to use yellow ochre then reddish purple on top of that when blocking out a sketch. Then the pencil or ink on top. The yellows will show up on the copier though so I use those for stuff that has a more sketchy or loose feeling- where the linework needn't be so tight.

[Stoat]

I'm fascinated to see how many here use blueline for the underdrawing. Is anything still being printed photographically -- some comics, maybe? -- where blueline is technically appropriate? Or is it just something handed down from one generation to the next, now completely estranged from its original purpose?

[resonanteye]

I'm fascinated to see how many here use blueline for the underdrawing. Is anything still being printed photographically -- some comics, maybe? -- where blueline is technically appropriate? Or is it just something handed down from one generation to the next, now completely estranged from its original purpose?

I work very very low-tech. So for me it is actually of the same use it always was; when I use a copier to shift sizes those lines disappear.

I wish photo printing was still in current use. I have a hard time using any digital media, and the reproductions done digitally all feel cold to me; the difference between listening to a 78 record and an mp3 file.