DRAWINGS BY JEAN VINCENT

CONTE CRAYON COMMENTS BOARD

CONTE CRAYONS - TERMINOLOGY

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DEFINITIONS OF WORDS AND TERMS

CRAYONS - "The word crayons is a generic term that refers to a drawing medium in stick form, including chalk, charcoal, conté crayon, grease crayon, litho crayon, wax crayon, and pastel." (Source: WiseGeek.com)

Crayola Crayons for Children
Photo by George Hernandez for
Wikipedia article on Crayons

WHAT ARE CONTE CRAYONS?

I have called Conté crayons "a kind of hard pastel." But below are links to a couple of web pages where they give a more detailed answer -- though I'd still like to hear from someone who can give a better one, especially with regard to the "colorful" Conté crayons. I'd like to know what they're made out of and how they're made and how their ingredients and the process of making them is different (colorful kind versus "sketching" kind). If you know a good source for this information, please write to me or mention it on the new Conté Comments Board (see the link near the top of each page in these Conté crayons pages). Thanks! - Jean

TRY THESE WEB PAGES FOR DEFINITIONS OF CONTE CRAYONS:

Here is a Wikipedia article on Conté crayons, but it only tells about the original kind (the "sketching" crayons, sometimes called "traditional" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cont%C3%A9), not the newer ones that are made in many colors.

The wiseGEEK tells about Conté crayons on this page.

Some of my Conte crayons

Drawing or Painting? Some of Brian McGurgan's thoughts on the difference between "drawing" and "painting."

Definitions I've read recently for the terms "drawing" and "painting" suggest that a drawing is a picture in which form is defined by line, whereas a painting is a picture where form is indicated using planes of color in varying hues and values. These definitions seem somewhat unintuitive. For example, one could use paint and a brush to create a picture composed mostly of line, and this would meet the definition of a drawing despite the use of paint. Or you could use colored pencils or some other drawing medium to block in planes of color, which would then suggest that your work should be called painting. There is an element of status and valuation involved as well, since the term “painting” can suggest something grander than a “drawing” that perhaps took more time to create, and traditionally drawings are sold for smaller sums of money and displayed less frequently in galleries and museums.

Add to this potential confusion the term “sketch”. The definitions I’ve read suggest that this is a drawing or painting that is done more quickly and usually doesn’t cover the full page. Sketches are usually thought of as practice done prior to starting a final piece, or as exercises completed in the field or in the studio to develop skills or capture ideas for future work.

Fortunately, Conté crayons can be utilized in all of these manners. In future posts, I hope to describe some of the techniques I use when working with Conté crayons in the hope that others will add to the suggestions I provide. In this way, I hope to share what I’ve learned and in turn benefit from the exploration and learning that other artists have achieved. I’m still very much in the early stages of learning, though, and will probably return to revise or add to these posts over time, as I learn more. When referring to the work I do with Conté crayon, I tend to use the term “drawing”, although this doesn’t sound exactly right when referring to pictures where form has been suggested using planes of color. The term “painting” doesn’t seem quite right either so maybe the English language is missing a word that would be helpful here.

Much work that we see produced in Conté crayon falls into the drawing category – especially work produced using sketching crayons with sanguine, bistre, black, gray, or white tones (the traditional Conté sketching crayon colors). My own work tends to fall more into the “painting” category, as does the work of many artists in soft and hard pastels. Actually, the majority of work is probably most accurately described as some combination of drawing and painting, and this is certainly true of my own efforts. Most of the approaches I’ll describe in future posts will speak more of the “painting” techniques since use of Conté crayons for drawings is fairly straightforward. You can either sharpen the crayon using a file or sandpaper, or work with the end of the crayon as-is to produce lines. Applying greater pressure results in thicker, darker line. Techniques used for drawing with pencil work well, including cross-hatching and shading with varying weight to produce tones and shadow.

Brian


THIS PAGE - TERMINOLOGY

TIPS

FIRST PAGE OF TIPS - CONTE CRAYONS & DRAWINGS

SECOND PAGE OF TIPS - CONTE CRAYONS & DRAWINGS

YET MORE TIPS

MORE CONTE PAGE LINKS BELOW

WHERE TO BUY CONTE CRAYONS

WHERE TO BUY INDIVIDUAL CONTE CRAYONS

CONTE CRAYON COLORS AND SETS

PAPER

THE RUMOR ABOUT NOT MAKING
CONTE CRAYONS ANYMORE

NICOLAS CONTE AND
THE INVENTION OF CONTE CRAYONS

CONTE CRAYONS WITH DIFFERENT NAMES
ARE THEY ALL THE SAME PRODUCT?

CONTE CRAYON MISCELLANY

LINKS TO WEBSITES WITH CONTE DRAWINGS

CONTE CRAYON COMMENTS BOARD

CONTE VIDEOS - SAMPLES OF CONTE
CRAYON DRAWINGS BY JEAN VINCENT

OTHER PASTELS VIDEOS

CRETACOLORS

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DRAWINGS BY JEAN VINCENT



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