Juno Kughler Carlson - Portraits, Art & Illustration

Painting With
Colored Pencils & Turpenoid

by Juno Kughler

What you will need:

Prismacolor pencils (make sure they are not the watercolor version)
A small bottle of odorless Turpenoid
Blending tools: I prefer nylon paint brushes, Q-tips and tissue paper. Tortillions can also be used for fine work.
2 sheets of Stonehenge paper – one with your basic drawing outline, the other for testing colors

How does Turpenoid work?

Odorless Turpenoid is basically the same thing as turpentine—only without the smell. You should always use it in a well ventilated area. I keep the patio door or a window open while I'm working. Because you really use very minuscule amounts of it with colored pencil, I suggest just getting a small bottle. I picked up a 4-ounce bottle at Aaron Brothers for about $5.

The beauty of Turpenoid is that it melts wax-based pencil. When you apply it to your drawing with something like a Q-tip, it melts and absorbs the wax, leaving only color behind. Imagine the intense colors of burnished pencil without the haze of wax bloom. Because Turpenoid dries quickly and does not damage your paper, you can easily continue to build up layers for added depth and richness.

The Turpenoid technique will change the look of a normal pencil drawing . The colors will be strikingly intense and smooth, and the resulting picture will sometimes more closely resemble a painting or photograph more than a pencil sketch. If this is not the look you want, I would suggest you instead use this method as an underpainting then add in your normal layers of pencil strokes over it

Tools - my art supplies.

This is my new favorite organizer:
a popover pan I picked up at
Michael's for about $10

Exploring techniques and textures

Skin – Normally I would build skin tones from light to dark. When using Turpenoid, you want to build your mid to dark tones first or the area will become blotchy. I generally start with some strong mid-tone layers as my base combined with the darkest shadow areas and lightest highlights. The shadow and light areas preserve the line and form while the mid-tone gives me the foundation color. You can use whites over darks without a problem when using Turpenoid. Be careful to gently use small strokes so that you blend without muddying up the light and dark areas.

Hair – A very light hand works best here. Your blending should just lightly smooth the lines of the hair, deepening the color and softening the edges slightly. Once the Turpenoid is dry, you can go back over the edges of the hair, adding tiny wisps to prevent it from looking too flat.


step one: colored pencil only	step two: turpenoid to blend

Line strokes – Turpenoid works beautifully with the line-based pencil strokes you would normally use for fur or grass. It allows you to be less exacting with your strokes, helps fill in any bare spots and softens hard lines. Always remember to blend in the same direction as your original strokes to preserve the form and integrity of your colors.

This is the final fur after multiple layers of pencil and Turpenoid.

Fabric and leather – This is my favorite area to play with because these textures are so free form and perfect for painting. I lay in the shadows and highlights first, then start filling in the mid tones. For a true “painting” effect, I deliberately scribble my strokes as I layer in the color.


colored pencil	cp & turpenoid	final - cp, turpenoid & cp again

Remember to use your practice paper to test your technique as you go. This will allow you to see how the Turpenoid works with different kinds of pencil pressures and strokes. Because the color value also increases dramatically with Turpenoid, it's always wise to see how it reacts to a particular color in advance.

I really like fabric folds and want to play more with that. Fur worked better when I stopped trying to be too precise and began defining shape and texture by suggesting highlights and shadows. This is the first hair attempt I've even came close to liking. I got a bit to "strokey" with the grass--should have blended more--but it actually doesn't look that harsh in person.

Have fun! You will find this technique allows you to be more playful and less exacting because you don't have to worry so much about coverage and evenness of strokes. If you don't like the effect you're getting, add another layer and try again. I found it to be very freeing in that I could focus more on blending, color and imagery and less on the technical aspects of pencil execution.