When is a Crayon Not a Crayon?

The history of Conte Crayon is interesting. During the French Revolution, when Paris was under siege, much needed supplies of English graphite were permanently embargoed, creating a problem for the French pencil-maker, artist and scientist Nicholas-Jacques Conté. Conté had opened his pencil factory with his brother, Louis in 1793. For his business to survive, he had to find another way to produce a workable writing medium with a minimal amount of graphite that could be manufactured in France.

In 1795 Conté developed a method that involved mixing powdered local graphite with clay, waxes and water, firing the mixture in a kiln and forcing it into wooden casings. This process allowed the French to produce their own pencils and control the hardness of the leads, which in turn controlled the darkness of the mark made by the pencil. The process was so successful that Conté became synonymous with pencil, and Conté still manufactures high grade writing and drawing tools.

To this day Conte is still a major supplier of fine drawing and writing pencils and crayons which come in a vast range of rich, vivid colors. Conté crayons traditionally were black, red, and brown. The reddish sepia tone of Conté crayons is sometimes called sanguine, and was used by many eighteenth century artists in sketches and preliminary drawings. Modern Conté crayons come in an assortment of vibrant colors, including blues, aquas, greens, violets, pinks and reds. Although some artists prefer using the traditional colors, focusing on nuances of shading and design rather than bold coloration. Regardless of color use, a skilled artist is able to achieve very subtle shading, creating almost photorealistic work with Conté crayons.

Most often, Conte Crayons are used on rough-textured or high-grained paper that holds pigment well, permitting rich textures and wide ranges of tonality. Conte crayons work well on prepared primed canvases as well, for the purpose of underdrawing for a painting. The Conte Crayon stick, being square and small in size, is suitable for detailed work, especially if the tip is beveled to a point by rubbing it on a sandpaper pad.

Conté crayons are waxier and firmer than soft pastels, so they produce little dust and are easy to control. The sticks, which are 2 1/2" x 1/4" square, can be broken into shorter sections for ease of use for detail and shading. Today, Conte Crayons come in small sets of earth toned colors or larger color sets which include tans, violets, blues, reds, greens and yellows in rich, vibrant shades. The purity of the pigments used in Conte Crayons assures their permanence and longevity in art work. Some artists choose to use colored paper for their work with Conté crayons because the density of pigmentation in the crayon holds up well on a dark or colored paper surface.

Conté crayons are often compared to pastels. Granted, both are an artistic medium stick of solid pigment applied directly to the paper. However, Conté crayons are much harder than pastels or charcoals, yielding crisp, tight lines, rather than the more softer, less defined lines characteristic of pastels. Using Conté crayons, an artist can achieve subtle variations of shading in clear, distinct drawings. Conte crayon is quite permanent and artwork produced with a Conte crayon is often treated with a sprayed fixative for added longevity.

As a Conte Crayon is used, the stick will slowly erode, and it should not require any sharpening unless detail is desired. Manufacturers also offer Conté crayons in varying degrees of hardness, allowing artists to use Conté crayons for softer lines and more delicate shading as well as strong, precise lines for delineation. Conte Crayons are sold both individually and in boxed sets, with many art supply stores carrying an abundance of individual black, brown, and red Conté crayons, since these colors are in high demand.

Conte Crayons are readily available online, as well. Perhaps you want to start using Conte Crayon and discovering this wonderful drawing medium. Lessons and videos are with information-rich, step by step instruction are available at my Free Online Art Classes website.

Lois's website offering free online art classes and many art resources, includes a gallery of her own paintings and pastels, as well as her videos demonstrating a wide variety of skills and techniques in the lessons: http://www.free-online-art-classes.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2015704

Some Tips on Using Conte Crayons

It is true that it is quite annoying whenever you are dealing with your artworks you find out that your crayons are broken quite easily. Whenever this condition happens over and over, it will ruin your mood and as the result, you will not be able to make good artworks. Therefore, what you need to choose is the crayons which are so great in fulfilling your desire. Conte crayons can become the greatest choice for you. Just continue reading this article until finished and you will find out about several tips that might be useful for you in using this kind of crayons so you can make sure that you can deal with your artworks perfectly. Well, here are the tips.  

       

  To overcome the fact that crayons are easy to be broken, you can make sure that you can put an end to such matter by considering the way you hold it properly. Perhaps, most of you are holding the Conte crayons the way you hold a short pencil. It is the condition when you hold the crayon and make the diagonal strokes at the same time. Well, actually, this kind of way to hold the crayon is not really good and the crayon can be easily broken. The best way to overcome this situation is to sharpen the crayon first. After that, you can hold Conte crayons and place it between your thumb, index finger, and also middle finger. Such way to hold the crayon will not only make the crayon become more persistent to be broken but it can also keep the angle of the crayon to be low on the paper or the other kinds of media.  

           What about the other tips on using Conte crayons? Well, one of the most interesting facts about this crayon is that you can easily deal with smoothing out the areas of your artwork. Yes, indeed, you can easily deal with this matter by using only your finger. Firstly, you need to color your area, and then, you can start using your finger to smooth the area. This method can also be applied when you want to have smooth mixture of two or more colors. The result of doing this method will be so great. The colors will be blended properly and smoothly. It is sure that you can find more satisfaction if you decide to make Conte crayons as your partners to deal with your artworks.  

          Another tip which might also be great is that you must not get the artwork become too wet. Perhaps, most of the artists want to make their artworks become so wet to make sure that they can find great mixture of the colors. However, whenever you are using Conte crayons, you only need to make it blot. When you make your papers wet too much, you can use another papers to reduce the wetness or you can also use a piece of towel. Well, by doing that, you can reduce the wetness without ruining the quality of your artwork.  

Knowing the Amazing Facts about Conte Crayons

The name of Conte crayons is not an unfamiliar name in the ears of the artists. In fact, this kind of crayons has become the most popular crayons due to the fact that these crayons can help the artists to have great artworks easily. Well, if you are interested in the field of art, you might be wondering about how this kind of crayons can become the most famous crayons. Basically, it is all thanks to the design and the materials which are used to make this kind of crayons. Conte crayons are made from a little light oil content. By considering such thing, you can find out that the pigment will not stick to the paper just like when you are using the crayons which are made from charcoal.  

          For the artists, to make or deal with the matter of shading is a must. It is because the shade will make the artworks look more artistic and realistic. For such matter, Conte crayons have proven its capability to help the artists to have great shading easily. Once you try to deal with this matter, you will find out that the quality of the shading that you make will be so amazing, wonderful, and deep. For addition, it is also possible for you to highlight your artworks by using an eraser when you use this kind of crayons first. With this kind of matter, you can definitely the perfect shade and highlight effects of your artworks. It is sure that you will be able to get high satisfaction from this kind of crayons.  

          Well, if you want to give Conte crayons a try in making a kind of artwork from your sketches or drawing, you should not have any hesitation. Here are the possible useful tips and facts that you can try and find out whenever you are using this kind of crayons. By considering that the crayons are small and totally simple to be handled, you can rub the crayons on some pieces of paper. If you want to make an expressive line which is also fine enough, you only need to bevel the end of the line to a point. If you want to make sure that you can use the crayons more easily, you can sharpen the Conte crayons first so you can have great grip on the crayons so they will not be broken easily and you can have great sketching or drawing.  

          Another fact that you need to know from Conte crayons is that this kind of crayons are made from pure pigments which are also permanent. It means that whenever you are using this kind of crayons in making your artworks, you will find that the colors are so good in its quality and its mixture in blending with the other colors. For addition, the colors will remain stunning although the time has gone by since the artworks are made. The pigments will stick on the paper so greatly. Yes, indeed, by considering the facts and great things which have been mentioned before about this kind of crayons, you must not have any doubt anymore to choose this kind of crayons to make your artworks.

Conte crayons for Your Drawing

Do you like drawing? If you like to draw something, you can use many media to make your drawing. You can use canvas, or paper to make your drawing. You can use pencil color, crayon, or conte crayons. Do you know conte? Conte is a kind of crayons which are usually used in a paper. Much artist use this crayons to make a great drawing. Many artists usually use this kind of crayon. They use it when they want to draw something with paper media. These crayons have the specialty in paper drawing. It just likes an ordinary crayons or pastels. However, the texture of the crayons is harder than the crayon or pastel.

          Conte crayons were invented in France by Nicolas-Jacques Conte. He invented this crayons in 1795, it was the condition were the time of Napoleonic Wars. He mixed the clay and graphite to produce a device to make a drawing. With this combination he got his own crayons. After that, many people developed the conte crayons based on their need. Many people created the various colors of conte. The natural colors of conte are black, red, and brown. However, nowadays, there are many colors of conte using the chemical essence, the color of these crayons now same with the color of pastels. With this crayons people will be able to produce the better drawing in paper. Many artists usually use a textured paper, not just ordinary paper. The textured paper can create the effect of the crayon. The paper will bring the stronger effect of the crayons.

          Although there are many colored conte crayons, many artists choose to have the traditional one. They like to use traditional color of conte, because they think that they like to have the soft colored of the drawing. The artists do not like to use the modern crayons with many colors because the nature of the picture itself. When they use the various color, the drawing will lose its characteristics. They will not able to produce the great drawing. Artists usually use conte crayons to produce the great effects of shading. They can produce the great shading effect with the natural color of conte. With this crayons also you can make the effect of realistic in the drawing. For example, you draw a bottle. You can make the bottle like the real bottle with the great shading effect of the conte.

          If you are interested in using conte crayons, you can get it many shops that provide a painting tools or drawing equipment. You can get the traditional color of conte or the various colors of the crayons. or you can get the sanguine colors of the crayons. if you do not have so much time to find the crayons you can get it from the internet. There are many online art shops which can help you to get the crayons. The price of the conte is variable. You can choose the quality, the content, and the color of conte crayons.

Conte crayons for Your Great Picture

 Do you like drawing? If you like drawing, you must know what conte crayons are. Conte is one of the media in drawing. Just like other media, these crayons can help you to create a great picture. There are many kinds of drawings. Let us see, there is abstract, tribal, realist, etc. The result of the drawing really depends on the drawer or painter. When the drawer or painter likes to have the abstract mode of drawing, they will produce abstract mode in almost all of his/her picture. Or if you like to have the realist mode, you will draw everything happened around us. They will draw the realistic picture, for example, they will draw a forest with the animals, or they will draw using the model. When they draw using the model, they will get the picture of the person.

          When you want to draw a realist picture, you will get the great picture using conte crayons. These crayons will give you a great effect in realist picture. If you draw in a canvas, you can use the conte before you apply the color. It just likes the preliminary work, or the framework of your picture. Prepare your canvas and your stand first. If you want to draw realist picture, you might need a framework. For example, you want to draw the condition of the forest with so many animals in it. However, you could not imagine the picture, so you can go to the forest to get your picture. You can get the real object and you can capture it with your drawing. However, you have to be quick if you want to have the great picture, do not be too long or you cannot get the moment.

          To make it quick, you might need to have a framework first. You will have to make the framework of your picture using the black color. If you finish with your framework, you can go to the color. You can add the real color of your object. Many artists using the conte crayons to create the framework or the canvas painting, they do the preliminary painting with these crayons. They choose to have the conte crayons because the texture of the crayons. The crayons are hard, so it will not easily break.  The conte is also easy to erase. So when the artist produces the wrong line, they do not need to worry about it. They can easily erase it.

          Conte crayons are also useful for they who want to learn about how to be a great painter. They can use the conte to make the great picture. When they want to learn about how to make great shading or lean how to produce a painting, they can use conte crayons. As explained before that conte is easily to erase, you can also apply it in your painting. It is common when people who are in progress of learning to paint produce a mistake. With conte crayons, you can make a great picture even you are still learning.

Conte crayons to Create Great Photo-like Picture

 Do you like a realist picture? Have you ever see a sketch of black and white photo? If we see the black and white photo, sometimes we see that the photo is like a drawing from a pencil.  There are the effects of shadings which make the photo looks like a drawing. Do you know that we can make the photo-like picture? We can produce the picture which seems like the black and white photo. There are many ways to make it. We can make it use by using the pencil, crayons. By using pencil, we will get the great result of the picture. We will get the effect of shading, since there are many levels of pencil. Different code might bring different effect. However, there is another media. It called conte crayons.

          Conte crayons are crayons which were invented by Nicolas-Jacques Conte. He invented the hard texture of crayons. This crayons usually used by many artists to produce great shading effects of a picture. As we know that to make a great photo-like picture, we have to make a great shading effect. With the shading effect produced by the artists who use conte crayons, you will see the great picture of photo-like picture. You can see the detail of the picture which reflects the model in the picture. There are many kinds of picture produced by famous artists using conte. Conte is usually used in the paper media. The crayon will bring the maximum effect in the paper. When you use the paper, you will be able to produce the great photo-like picture. The color that you use to make the photo-like picture usually is only black and grey. With those two colors you can produce the great result of photo-like picture. However, to make the great picture you have to pay attention more in the shading. Make sure that you make the correct shading. When you want to make the great shading, you can use the eraser to help you. Conte can be erased easily by the eraser, so you do not need to worry if you make the bold line and you make a mistake.

           With conte crayons you can also make the colored picture. You can make the color photo-like picture. You can play with the color shading of the conte. If you can make the shading, you will be able to get the great photo-like picture. We know that the painting could not be as good as camera picture, but we can maximize our picture by using the conte.

          You can get the conte crayons in the internet. Order it from the internet, and save your time. For you who still learning to use this crayons, you can get the video tutorial in the internet. There are many videos which can teach you about how to use the conte crayons. Does not need to worry about the way to produce the picture, internet will tell you bout this. You can learn many things from the videos. 

Create Your Masterpiece with Conte crayons

 Every artist has their own masterpiece. As we know the world’s famous artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, he has his masterpiece, almost all people know about this. His masterpiece is Monalisa, the great painting of a beautiful lady.  Leonardo Da Vinci is the great artist in this world. You can also make your masterpiece. If you like painting, you must know about the conte crayons. Conte is a kind of crayons which can help you to produce your own masterpiece. There are many medias in painting, such as, watercolor, pencil, crayons. You can choose the media that you like to use. You can produce your own picture with it.

          Conte crayons can help you to produce the great picture, especially in realist picture. You can produce a great realist picture. You can get the great realist picture with this, since the conte brings you the natural color. There are only three kinds of color in traditional conte, those are: black, red, and brown. However, you can get the new kind of conte for your painting. The new conte has many colors. You can get the great color picture with these crayons. These crayons are the great options for your realist picture. It brings more natural colors to the painting. You can apply these crayons in a paper. You are able to produce the picture in a paper as the main media for your drawing. With the conte crayons also you will be able to exercise your shading technique. If you want to have the great realist picture, you have to have a great skill in making a shading effect. Especially when you want to make a picture of a person, you have to create great shading effect. With conte crayons, you will be able to make a great picture. Your picture will looks like a classic picture or classic photo.

For you who still in progress of learning to be a good artist, you can use this conte as your tool for practicing your painting skill. You can create your own picture. Do not worry about the mistake. It is common when you make a mistake. You can delete your mistake using the eraser. Conte can be erased easily, that is the reason why it is kind of great partner in making the beginner artist into a great artist.

If you are interested in conte crayons, you can see the conte usually in a square shape. The texture of the crayons is hard. So do choose the wrong crayon. If you are afraid to take the wrong crayons, you can order the conte in the internet. There are many online shops which can help you to get the conte. You can choose whether the traditional one or the color conte crayons. Do not be afraid to do the exercise. Try as hard as you can, and you will be able to produce the great drawing using conte crayons. As we know that practice makes perfect. You can get the perfect picture and create your masterpiece by exercise.

Drawing with Conte Crayons

The word conte crayons would probably not much familiar in our ears since we usually notice only one kind of crayon which is pastel crayons which is common use in people and children for its varieties of colors.  Little that we know that actually there is other kind of crayon which gives different kind of effect to one’s art.  However, this shouldn’t stop us for trying to know and learn more about them if you find drawing as one of your hobbies or interests.  After all, developing your interest is a lot of fun and you probably will be able to gain lots of benefits from it too.  So, instead of being a person who only enjoys the result, why don’t you try being a person that creates fantastic art? 




          The result of drawing using conte crayons is much different than drawing using pastel crayons.  As a starter, you won’t be able to express as many colors as pastel crayon since conte crayons usually being used for natural art.  Of course, in its development, you’re not only able to draw something in black and white, but also other colors such as sepia and other earth colors.  The key is to be able to draw good shading for each of the drawing you made.  Of course, you can learn it by yourself or taking classes if you think is necessary.  After all, taking classes will teach you step by step on how to use the crayons in the right way to create the image of art that you want. 

           Of course, if you don’t have the time to take any classes at all, you can do it on your own.  Since drawing with conte crayons had attracts lots of attention, you’ll be able to find many articles and reviews that will give you tips on how to draw in the correct manners.  Occasionally, you’ll be able to have free lesson on drawing itself.  Of course, you need to spare some time in looking for the information, but comparing with taking classes, it certainly is a lot easy since you can do it at any time whenever you have free time to do it.  Just search in your search engine about conte crayons and you’ll be able to find many topics that are related to information that you want. 

          As for the crayon itself, since it is quite popular and have quite high demand, you’ll also be able to find many online stores that sell conte crayons from traditional color to a bolder color.  There is no need for you to travel to the nearest art store just to buy the crayon that you need.  It is all can be done simply by processing the payment online.  Certainly with the easy way to obtain the crayon, you’ll be able to channel your sense of art a lot easier at any time you feel like doing it.  After all, drawing is all about expressing your feeling.  So, enjoy your time and start creating many fine arts by it.  You might be able to become a professional artist someday.