Reading · The Art of Growth

I mainly work digitally and most of my illustration work for children’s books happens on my iPad and in Affinity. So you might wonder why I still care about colored pencils at all. The short answer is: even though my final artwork is digital (and mostly vector), my way of thinking and drawing is still very much hand-based.

I love drawing by hand and I always have! Traditional tools are not separate from my digital workflow, they are part of how I develop ideas, test colour combinations and explore textures before or alongside my digital work.

That’s why I wanted to test the Woomer colored pencils (72-colour set) [Werbung 7 advertisement] and see how they actually fit into a modern, mostly digital illustration process. I have a video about it, including some behind the scenes regarding my process for speculative client work:

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As a children’s book illustrator, the feeling of the pencil is extremely important to me. The one thing I care about most is that pencils are on the softer side. I don’t enjoy working with very hard, scratchy leads, especially when I sketch. Even when I do my pre-sketching in Procreate, I choose soft pencil-like brushes with a “smudged” quality.

So, I was looking for new colored pencils on a budget, because I mainly use them for my sketchbook and for journaling = they barely see the sunlight :) And Woomer reached out to me to test their set. Am I becoming a real influencer at the age of 40? Woweeeeee!

The Woomer pencils surprised me in a very positive way here. They feel smooth, they apply easily, and I don’t have to press hard to get visible, rich layers. They work in particular well with my own sketchbook, which is on the rougher paper side. Plus, who doesn’t like 72 delicious colors, including one called cinnamon? :))))

Even though I create most of my final illustrations digitally, I still:

sketch characters, parts of the environment and scenes by hand
test color moods on paper
need to test out the SCALE for my possible book projects on real paper! - this might be the most important one

For this hybrid way of working, colored pencils fit naturally into my process. They are not meant to replace my iPad, and I wouldn’t want them to. They are a very nice companion tool for idea development, color exploration and slower, more tactile drawing sessions.

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Yes, I would :) I think the Woomer 72-colour pencil set is a really nice choice, which won’t ruin your wallet - something that matters to poor artists like me haha :) So, they could work for you:

if you are a digital illustrator who still loves traditional drawing
if you prefer softer colored pencils
and if you want a widecolor range for your illustration work
if you are more on a budget

They are also a lovely option as a gift for someone who enjoys drawing, or as a small upgrade for your own creative tools. You can save 10% with the code WERONIKASALACH if you want to buy the set directly from their website:

WOOMER 72 COLORS

Are you working mostly digitally today, or do you still enjoy mixing traditional tools into your illustration process?

Colored pencils for digital illustration? My Woomer review

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