
If I were to introduce you to a brand new, never-before-seen art supply called a colored pencil, how would I teach you to use it? Let’s erase your memory cache, clear your cookies, and reboot your brain.įorget all the failed colored pencil attempts you’ve had before. It takes time, patience, and a heck of a lot of experimentation to make colored pencils work the way you want them to. This isn’t an art supply you can master in a day, a month, or a dozen projects. We’re normal and we’re okay.īut “colored pencils are a slow medium” also applies to the learning curve. We’re reminding each other that yes, it takes forever to complete the latest project, but that’s normal and it’s okay. We say it in solidarity and commiseration. It’s always prefaced with a sigh and punctuated with a gigantic eye-roll. We never say the slow medium thing with a smile. “Colored pencils are a slow medium” is something colored pencil people tell each other all the time. Or how you’ve eaten french fries since you were a kid, so you’re interviewing for the head chef position at a nearby bistro tomorrow?īut that doesn’t mean they are super-duper easy.
