Denise J Howard

Swatch Charts

If you're a fellow colored pencil artist looking for a downloadable, printable chart of all colors for a given brand of pencils, that you can print out and color yourself for a reference as you work, here you go! I couldn't find ones to suit me so I made them myself. I label my pencils in sequence, so the left number helps me find the correct one very quickly.  The right number is the brand's color code. Enjoy.

Prismacolor 150 Chart	Caran d'Ache Pablo 120 Chart
Faber-Castell Polychromos 120 Chart	Caran d'Ache Luminance 100 Chart
Derwent Artists 120 Chart	Derwent Drawing 24 Chart
Derwent Coloursoft 72 Chart	Derwent Procolour 72 Chart
Derwent Lightfast 100 Chart	Koh-I-Noor Polycolor 72 Chart
Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor 72 Chart	Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle 76 Chart
Holbein 150 Chart

Videos


Making Time for Your Art

On October 6, 2021, fellow artist Doreen Cohen and I gave a presentation at the Los Altos History Museum in Los Altos, CA titled "Making Time for Your Art", in which we shared our art journeys, shared tips on how to find one's creative side or return to it, and how to save time on the little stuff to maximize your art-making time. (Length 1:21:44)




A Ride Through the Creative Side

Namratha Prithviraj tapped me as her subject for a communications class project at UC Santa Cruz. She got an 'A'! November 2018 (Length: 7:45)





Critique of "Tree of Kintsugi"

Michael W. Monroe, Director Emeritus of the Bellevue Art Museum in Bellevue, WA and a former curator at the Renwick Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, was the juror for the 2016 CPSA International Exhibition. He gave a talk/critique at the gallery and this is what he said about my "Tree of Kintsugi ", which he had awarded one of the two Awards for Outstanding Achievement. August 2016 (Length 2:25)



Cricket Time Progression

This is a very short video I made of my progress on Cricket Time.  It gives a little insight into how I typically work with colored pencils. (Length 01:00)

       


The King Family Progression

This is an even shorter video I made of my progress on The King Family. It gives a little insight into how I typically work with graphite pencils. (Length 00:40)

       

Talk Art episode

I was the guest artist for an episode of Talk Art, a 30-minute cable TV program that features San Francisco bay area artists and their work.  The program is sponsored by Silicon Valley Open Studios. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to expose more people to colored pencil!  March 2014 (Length 28:18)

       

Global Tech Women Voices 2016 Conference panel session

Shubha Prithvi Raj, Namratha Prithviraj, Carrie Zeidman and I streamed a live panel discussion "Pixels, Paint, and Passion: Technology and the Creative Edge" to the global audience of the Global Tech Women Voices Conference.  We shared our experiences as artists who also work in high-tech fields. March 2016 (Length 52:40)

Web and Social Media

Creative Catalyst Productions blog interview, September 3, 2018

Publications

101 Textures in Colored Pencil: Practical step-by-step drawing techniques for rendering a variety of surfaces & textures

Author: Denise J. Howard
Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing
Release date: December 5, 2017

I was surprised when Walter Foster Publishing contacted me to inquire if I'd be interested in writing a reference book for creating convincing textures in colored pencil! I'm very excited about this project, which is the third in their series of "101 Textures" books. All my other prospective projects went on hold for the several months it took for me to produce all the drawings, notes, and text. I hope it turns out to be useful to artists of all experience levels for many years to come.

Click HERE to order a copy on Amazon.
Click HERE to order a signed copy directly from me!
Click HERE to download a free sample with four textures from the book!



Strokes of Genius 13 3rd Place Winner Feature Article

I was over the moon that my "Tree of Witness" was awarded Third Place in The Best of Drawing: Strokes of Genius 13 competition in 2021, from the 112 outstanding drawings selected for publication, which in turn were from thousands of submissions across all drawing media and many countries. In addition, my "Aloe Song" was included, too! A feature article about me and my work was included and also published online: Strokes of Genius: The Top 3 of 2021 (scroll 2/3 down to reach my article).



May 2016 Featured Artist, Ann Kullberg's COLOR magazine

I was so happy to be the featured artist for the May 2016 issue of Ann Kullberg's COLOR magazine!  The eight-page article talks about my background, my aspirations, and some of the materials I use, and includes several images of my work, including the cover!  Click on the image to order a copy from the publisher.




July 2014 Featured Artist, Colored Pencil Magazine

I was thrilled to be the featured artist for the July 2014 issue of Colored Pencil Magazine!  The four-page article talks about my background and progression as an artist, inspirations and goals, includes several of my pieces, and just look at that cover!  Click on the image to order a copy from the publisher.




Ann Kullberg Swallowtail Butterfly In-Depth Kit

Ann Kullberg is the author of several well-regarded books on colored pencil techniques, publisher, teacher and workshop presenter.  I was delighted when she asked me to develop a new in-depth step-by-step kit for her series, based on one of my own butterfly photos.  I made special emphasis on how to produce a soft, blurry background, since many colored pencil artists struggle with that.  I hope everyone who purchases the kit from her website finds it helpful.  The kit is 24 pages and includes 48 progress photos.  Click on the image to order a copy.

Links

This section is not about me. It's a collection of links to some product manufacturers and retailers that I've been happy with, listed in alphabetical order.

Manufacturers

Ampersand (Pastelbord)
Caran d'Ache (Luminance, Pablo, Neocolor II, Museum Aquarelle, Grafwood)
Epson (printers)
Faber Castell (Polychromos)
Grafix (Dura-Lar)
Legion Paper (Stonehenge, Arches 88, Somerset Satin)
Prismacolor (Prismacolor Premier, Art Stix)
Red River Paper (Aurora Art Natural card stock)
UArt Paper (UArt 600)

Retailers

Dick Blick
Jerry's Artarama
Lenz Arts (local to Santa Cruz, CA)
Madison Art Shop
University Art (local to Redwood City and Sacramento, CA)