Monterey Bay Study

Monterey Bay in Colored Pencils

I’ve been wanting to give colored pencils more attention, and also try something i don’t usually do… landscapes. something about this scene from Monterey bay felt calm enough to experiment with, but still challenging in the right ways.

I used Faber Castell Polychromos and Prismacolors for this. I started really light, almost barely there, and just slowly built it up layer by layer. I think that’s what I’m starting to enjoy about colored pencils… it feels forgiving. You’re not committing all at once, you’re kind of easing int

The hardest part for me was letting go of detail. I tend to zoom in too much and get stuck, but with this one I tried to focus more on the overall shapes and color transitions, especially in the water and sky. The soft gradient in the sky was actually really satisfying to build up, and the ocean forced me to think less about precision and more about movement.

I think I’m starting to understand how to “layer with intention” instead of just layering for the sake of it. Each pass had a purpose, whether it was to shift the color, deepen the value, or soften an edge.

Definitely want to do more landscapes with colored pencils. It feels like a good balance between control and letting go.