Drawing in Color with Julie Tyslicky

Drawing in Color with instructor Julie Tyslicky

Instructor: Julie Tyslicky
Wednesdays 6:00-9:00pm
Classes run 6-weeks September 18th – October 23rd
$115 for members, $130 for non-members

A basic to Intermediate drawing skills with knowledge of values and shading in black and white are extremely helpful skills to have before learning to draw with colored pencils. This class is not designed to teach you how to draw. We will be using your existing drawing skills and applying color to them. We will cover different papers, layering techniques, blending techniques, learning to use complimentary colors to enhance your drawings.

Skills covered in class:

-How to use your colored pencils

-Different types of pencils, wax base versus oil base, hard pencils and soft

-Different papers to use

-Surfaces you can create to draw on

-learning to layer colored pencil

-Different blending techniques including solvents,

-Color theory used to create better color drawings

-Practice creating shadows with complimentary colors

-Starting you toward developing your own style

Supplies:

*Set of colored pencils

(12 is fine, 24 would offer you better options in color blending)

If you are purchasing pencils other than regular prismacolor…. in general, if the wood around the lead is round, the pencils are softer and easier to learn with and pencils that have sides like a regular writing pencil have a harder lead and can cause issues with learning to layer.

*colorless blending pencil

*Pad of drawing paper

*pearl eraser (black, pink or white)

Optional supplies:

*pad of black or colored paper

*battery operated eraser

*colored pencil paper

*small bottle of Gamsol (oderless mineral spirits) found near oil painting supplies

A little about Julie…

Julie was born in Historic Marshall Michigan and has lived and created art of one kind or another in Michigan the majority of her life. In 1981, during the last half of her junior year of high school, Julie spent 6 months in Tlacotepec, Michoacan, Mexico as an exchange student.

Julie has demonstrated her various skills over the years at living history events, county fairs, Michigan Week activities in Marshall, for schools and individuals, and the Art Fairs for Midland Center for the Arts. She has taught art for over 30 years for private schools, some special drawing classes for public schools, homeschool students, 4-H groups, and adults. Most recently serving as an assistant to Armin Mersmann in his Masters of Drawing classes at Midland Center for the Arts. She has also taught colored pencil, begining drawing, and woodburning classes at Art Reach in Mt Pleasant.
In the past she has served as a juror for art competitions for private schools and 4H competition’s. Julie competes in various juried art shows and over the years has earned awards, and recognition for her pieces.

She attended Kellogg Community College with a concentration in CAD drawing, general studies, and drawing, completing 90+ credit hours but had to leave because of health reasons.

In the fall of 2012, she moved to Coleman Michigan with her husband Jon and registered for classes at Midland Center for the Arts, to strengthen her art skills and to meet other area artists. She studied with internationally recognized graphic artist Armin Mersmann, whom she now views as her mentor, guide, and friend. She has studied with other working artists at the Center, including Ruth Howell and Kathy Jones. After taking a colored pencil class with Ruth Howell, her interest and skill in colored pencil drawing grew and resulted in drawing one of her favorite subjects – the rocks she collects.

Julie has participated in exhibitions at Midland Center for the Arts every year since she moved to the area including the Greater Michigan Art Exhibition, the student show, the Spring and Winter Art Fairs, (demonstrating her colored pencil and drawing skills with Ruth for the Center), Art Flair and Art Walk Central in Mt Pleasent , (placing in the top 5 for public votes in 2017), and participating in the Art Battle.

Julie has many interests and skills besides drawing and painting. She enjoys nature, reading, wood burning, finding edible wild plants, living history re-enacting, hand sewing many historical garments, moccasins, and handsewing special outfits for her new grandchildren, shearing sheep, processing, spinning, dyeing and weaving the wool, horses, gardening, and of course collecting rocks.

Julie has a good work ethic and is constantly seeking to do better with the next piece. She feels the more work you put into learning and doing, the more you learn and do. The interest that ties all of that together is her love of learning to do new things, experimenting with those new things and the act of creating something, just because she can.