Several years ago I ran across a small set of Conté crayons at an art store and decided to give them another try. I’d remembered having to use them in my high school art class and not liking their square shape. It bugged me that I’d never gotten the hang of using them, so I began playing with them to see what they could do in mixed-media applications. I found that I love them! I’ve completed entire sketchbooks with them, and I especially love the technique you’ll learn in this project. These little crayons pack a lot of pigment punch, and the basic colors create lovely portrait work.
8" × 6" (20cm × 15cm) 140-lb. (300gsm) cold-pressed watercolor paper
Black, Brown, Sanguine, White
1-inch (25mm) flat
no. 8 round
gesso, lightbox or scanner/printer, pencil
Place watercolor paper over your sketch on a lightbox and trace lightly with pencil (see “The Real Hue” demo for further instruction) or scan and print the sketch on inkjet watercolor paper. (I used Strathmore inkjet paper for my print.)
Conté crayons were invented in 1795 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in France. Conté crayons were originally made from compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a wax or clay base. They are now manufactured using pigments such as iron oxide, carbon and titanium oxide combined with clay and a binder. They are usually square but are also available in pencil form.
Color the midtone areas with Sanguine Conté crayon (you can use blocks or pencils). You don’t need to be precise or use a heavy hand. Add color around the outside of the head, around the inside of the forehead area, down the cheekbone, the eye socket area, the side of the nose, under the nose, the upper lip, under the lower lip and under the chin.
Use gesso and a wet no. 8 round to mix the midtones directly on the paper. I used a low-viscosity gesso, but any gesso will work, though you will need to thin thicker gessos with water. Wet the brush frequently and add gesso as needed. Varying the amount of gesso will help you develop many tones. For the highlight areas, including the forehead, brow bone and nose, rinse your brush and go to straight gesso. Let dry.
Feel free to use different color palettes for this portrait. Here are some alternate palettes that you can try and an example of a grayscale portrait. You can trace the color wheel template at the end of the book to test your own palettes.
Use Brown Conté to deepen the shadows around the eye sockets, the inner corner of the eye, under the nose, the upper lip, under the lower lip and under the chin. If you’re concerned about how dark the color will be, start under the chin. Activate the color with gesso and a wet no. 8 round as in Step 3.
Add White and Black Conté to make things pop. Add White to all the highlight areas, including the brow bone, forehead, nose, above the upper lip, on the lower lip, the cheekbone, chin and jawline. Add tiny touches of Black to the inner eye, the upper eyelids, the irises, the inner ear, nostril and the midline of the lip. Activate all the new color with a wet no. 8 round and a very small amount of gesso. Rinse the brush frequently if it starts to get too dark.
Use Black Conté to establish the hairline. Activate the color with a wet no. 8 round and gesso, pulling the line out toward the hair. Color Sanguine (or whatever color you chose) onto the background. A block works well for the background. Use a 1-inch (25mm) flat to pull blocks of color to create the hair. Load with gesso as needed, making it lighter as you move out from the hairline. Continue painting the background with more Conté and gesso as desired.