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Choosing Still Life Objects for Coloured Pencil Storytelling

To me, still life felt like a classroom exercise. I’d dutifully line up a few waxy apples, stressing over 'correct' perspective rather than connecting with what I saw.

The problem was… fruit didn’t really mean anything to me. The pleasure was in eating it, not drawing it.

That changed the day I set up a still life with seashells and natural objects I’d collected on holidays over the years. Suddenly, I wasn’t just drawing objects anymore. I was drawing memories.

There was the ammonite I bought in a little gift shop in Devon, just before walking down to the base of the glen to find the secret waterfall. As I drew its curves and shadows, I felt myself slipping back to that moment — the cool air, the sound of water, the excitement of discovering something hidden. Every shell and stone on the page pulled me back to a different place and time.


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The Emotional Impact of Still Life Objects

Start with the things that hold your most treasured memories. In my case...

My Nanna stitched a toy tiger for my second birthday. What's left of the light gold fur has mellowed over the intervening 63 years to caramel. His tail has been stitched back on more times than I can remember. The most recent repair was stitching together his belly, this time using green thread.

My emotional attachment is one thing, but how could I make that obvious in a drawing? Well it's certainly not about the outline or shape, there's not a lot there to go on.

The main job here is to portray the texture and variation in colour. How he would feel to the touch.

I imagine the colours I would pick up to capture his worn and faded fur. A cream base, layered with brown ochre, raw sienna, a touch of terracotta and of course dark sepia for his stripes.

old-teddy-bear-in-trunk

Keeping Rajah company is Harry. He was an extra surprise after winning a luxury trip to London in my twenties. On arriving at the hotel he was sitting on my bed waiting to be loved. Now he sits beside my bed, where I can admire his thick, dark brown fur and maroon bow. That single word, Harrods, on his paw. No worn fur here, if you didn't know better you'd think he was made yesterday.

Drawing Harry would be a totally different challenge, He would take careful side lighting to empahsize the depth of that fur, to catch the sheen of the ribbon around his neck, the detail in those embroidered letters.

Or the tiny cardi in pale blue and white stripes that lies folded carefully in my bedside cabinet. Knitted for me by my daddy before I was born. I can’t quite believe I was ever small enough to feel its softness on my skin.

Are my skills with coloured pencil up to this very personal object? Would I want to capture every stitch or the overall effect? Would it be obvious to the viewer what is was folded like that, or should one of my other teddies wear it?

How Personal Items Reflect Your Identity

Look around your home. Which objects tell the story of who you are now?

Along with the computers and screens, my bulging camera bag has its own place in my home office. Ready to grab in an instant, long lens already attached with spare batteries and camera cards tucked safely in the pockets. Time has no meaning when there is a chance the bird will reappear.

Although photography is a big part of my life, drawing a closed black bag would bore me to tears. Unzipped with a hint of the objects inside? Maybe. But no, in hindsight its probably best left in situ, ready for action.

Other objects may have an accidentally permanent home.

I'm guessing not everyone will have a metal marlin sculpture on the mantlepiece, with a yellow and orange rosette hanging from its bill. I hung it there as I returned from the village dog show, never having expected Finn to win. Just weeks earlier he was an abandoned, wounded saluki that lunged at every dog he saw.

metal marlin with dog show rosette

Now this riot of colour would make a rich drawing! The textures in the sculpture , the shiny surface, the reflection in the mirror, the stones holding it down so it doesn't wobble, and the contrast to the ribbon. It may look odd to others that don't know the story, but I could draw it just for me.

Putting objects together

With my objects found, next I think about whether they belong in the same drawing. Most often they don't. 

I like contrast, and there is certainly that between my two toys, but in my head they seem to fight each other.

I don't like to rush, I will arrange them one way, live with it for a bit, then change things around. 

I might mix soft surfaces with hard, textured with smooth, old with new. Then I trust the objects to tell me if they comfortable with where I have put them. 

Where to go from here

However before you can arrange and draw your own coloured pencil still life you might want to see how just a few pieces of (wait for it) fruit could be arranged, and learn the basic skills.

Talking of arranging things, my composition basics page has you covered there. 

a boys dreamMy friend Ed, knew immediately what objects to gather together to create a still life that showed how well he knew his friend.

About the Author

I'm Carol, and I've been working with coloured pencils for over 15 years.
My work has been featured in Ann Kullberg's COLOR Magazine and I'm a member of the UK Coloured Pencil Society. Like many of you, I came back to art as an adult and had to learn the colour foundations I'd skipped the first time round. Everything on this site comes from that experience of going back, learning properly, and finding out it was worth the effort.

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