Laleh Kamalian Art

29/08/2026

📝Art Memory: Fifty Shades of Green

A few years ago, I was back in my birth country, Iran, visiting my family in Shiraz, in Fars Province.

One of my closest friends had come to see me after many years apart, and my brother took us to Ghalat, a town near Shiraz, to walk around its beautiful gardens and hills and enjoy a traditional breakfast together.

We stopped at one of those lovely traditional cafés, with wooden platforms arranged around a courtyard, covered with Persian carpets and traditional cushions. The courtyard itself was like a beautiful artwork, full of fruit trees, with birds nesting amongst them and singing their morning songs.

It was spring, so most of the fruit hadn't ripened yet. One of the Sharon fruit trees was absolutely loaded with unripe green fruit, hanging so heavily from its branches that you could almost feel sorry for the poor tree, carrying them all so graciously and patiently. 😄

Of course, I couldn't resist taking lots of photographs. One of them eventually became this drawing.

I chose drafting film because I wanted to challenge myself. I had used it for furry subjects where I could rely on subtraction techniques, but this was very different. There was no fur to scratch out, so I had to rely on my pencil tips, layering and blending to create all those smooth surfaces on a rather unforgiving surface.

I think I came out of that challenge feeling pretty proud of myself. 😊

And yes... I know the title "Fifty Shades of Green" is a little naughty.

But I don't mind being just a "little" naughty sometimes... purely for fun, of course. 😂

27/08/2026

💡Colour Pencil Tip
How to Draw Realistic Braided Hair on Smooth Paper
When working on smooth paper like Strathmore Vellum, achieving realistic hair texture requires patience and careful layering. Here are the key steps covered in today's tutorial:
🎨 Start with the lightest colour – Draw in the direction of the hair strands, building up darker colours gradually.
🎨 Keep strokes random – Avoid making the strands too uniform; natural hair flows in an organic, slightly messy way.
🎨 Use sharp pencils & gentle pressure – This helps achieve fine strands without harsh lines.
🎨 Add darkest shadows last – Deep shadows give depth and make the braid look realistic.
🎨 Create stray hairs – Use a Slice tool and a middle-value pencil to add flyaway strands for a natural look.
🎨 Don’t forget the shadow! – Placing a shadow beneath the braid gives it a convincing 3D effect.
Watch the video below for the full instruction.

Want to draw realistic braided hair with coloured pencils? In this ...

22/08/2026

Art Memory: My Lady in Red
I drew this portrait of my daughter, which I called My Lady in Red, back in 2020. It's a large piece, 60 × 60 cm, drawn on Fisher 400 sandpaper.
The reference was a photograph she and her friends had taken, with her posing as a red devil for a play or something... I honestly can't remember! 😄 But I loved the photo from the moment I saw it and had always wanted to draw it.
Then Covid arrived. We were all stuck at home, isolated and separated from our loved ones. I was missing my daughter and suddenly had soooo much time on my hands, so this seemed like the perfect project to start.
At the time, I had been experimenting with the **Powder Blender **method by Brush and Pencil, looking for a quicker and better way to create seamless blends with coloured pencil, particularly for human skin. I'd done a few studies, and this was my first attempt at using it on a full portrait.
It didn't end up becoming my method of choice. Although the results were good, I found the process a little too laborious for my liking. In fact, halfway through the portrait I started going a bit rogue! 😂 I introduced other methods, including OMS and cotton buds for blending, and pastel with coloured pencil over larger areas such as the hair to achieve that rich black.
But I'm very glad I experimented with it, because it introduced me to something else: how fantastic artist-grade sandpaper can be as a surface for coloured pencil.
I went on to create several more drawings on sandpaper, but somewhere along the way I stopped using it. Perhaps it was when I started teaching, as it wasn't a traditional coloured pencil surface.
Maybe it's time to revisit it. I still have loads of sandpaper sitting on the shelf... 😄

20/08/2026

Take a good picture of your artwork that is worth it!
One of the things that I always notice when someone shares their lovely artwork in this group is that we tend not to pay enough attention when we take a good photo of our artwork.
We spend countless hours creating realistic coloured pencil drawings, yet many don’t do their artwork justice when it comes to photographing them. You don’t need a fancy camera—most smartphones today do an excellent job.
Lighting is the key factor. The best light for capturing your artwork is natural daylight, but not direct sunlight. A bright but cloudy day is ideal. Place your drawing near a window or take it outside, position it upright or flat, and hold your phone parallel to the artwork. Keep your hand steady and take multiple shots, then choose the best one.
Finally, don’t forget to crop your image properly—an uncropped photo can make even the most stunning artwork look unprofessional and unfinished.

17/08/2026

🌷 Colour Pencil School Update

"Quiet Grace" has come quite a long way since last week's update.

I've been working on this pre-recorded tutorial for a while now, and after completing the base skin layer, I moved on to what I think of as "pouring colour" onto her skin.

The combination I use for the base layer is quite similar across different skin types, with the values changing as needed. But when it comes to the colours on top, that's where the individual skin tone really comes into play.

The more exciting part starts when I discover unexpected colours in certain areas—I'm talking purples, greens, and blues! There were quite a few of those hidden throughout this portrait, which made the process even more interesting and rewarding to explore.

It's like going on a little adventurous colour journey, and it's one of the reasons I love drawing human portraits so much. 🥰

Strangely enough, I particularly enjoy the areas that need a little more tweaking and adjusting, aka the challenging bits! The mouth and teeth, nose and hands have all given me plenty of that with this portrait.

I'm really happy with how "Quiet Grace" is coming along, and next week I finally get to start on the clothing... and those who know me will know how much I love drawing fabric! ❤️

The reference is from Wendy Hodgkins Corniquet.

13/08/2026

💡 Colour Pencil Tip : The New 20 Polychromos Pencils - Which ones are really new?

Faber-Castell has recently expanded the Polychromos range from 120 to 140 colours.

So, are the new pencils really worth adding to your collection?

After swatching all 20 new colours and comparing them with the original 120, here are my thoughts:

• More than half of the new colours are genuinely new additions to the range.
• Around nine of them have very close matches in the original 120-pencil set.
• For me, the biggest improvement isn't those colours. It's the addition of the beautiful, subtle light shades that I always felt were missing from the Polychromos range. I think they add something genuinely useful to the collection.
• If you already own similar colours in brands such as Prismacolor or Caran d'Ache Luminance, you may not feel an urgent need to buy the whole set.
• On the other hand, if you enjoy working with Polychromos and appreciate their unique characteristics, these new colours are a lovely addition to the range.

I've put together a full review where I swatch every new colour, compare them with the existing Polychromos collection, and share my honest opinion. I hope it helps you decide whether these pencils are right for you.

Have you tried the new colours yet? I'd love to hear which ones are your favourites.

10/08/2026

🌻 Colour Pencil School Update

This is one of the tutorials currently in progress inside Colour Pencil School.

The reference photograph is by Wendy Hodgkins Corniquet (WenPhotos), kindly shared in the Free Reference Photos for Artwork group on Facebook. It was chosen by our member Hilda Smith, who won the prize draw in one of our mini challenges and earned the opportunity to select the next pre-recorded tutorial.

I'm so glad Hilda chose this wonderfully soulful portrait. It has everything I love to draw and teach: character, a thoughtful expression, beautiful skin tones, and, of course, my favourite part... the fabric.

So far I've completed the base skin layer and have now started adding the warm skin colours, along with all those fascinating little details that make human skin such a joy to draw.

It's amazing how many colours you discover when you really begin to observe skin. So far I've used a whole spectrum of pinks, oranges, purples, soft greens, and more, all working together to create the illusion of life.

This is one of my favourite stages of drawing a portrait. It reminds me of those videos where colour is poured onto a black-and-white image and, little by little, it comes to life. That's exactly how this feels. With every layer, she seems to gain more warmth, more character, and more life.

I honestly can't wait to get back to my drawing board and continue.

Which part of a portrait do you enjoy drawing the most? 🌷

08/08/2026

This portrait is of my dad.

Yesterday was the anniversary of his passing in August 2021, so it felt like the right artwork to share for this week's Art Memory.

I drew it as a gift for him three years before he passed away. He was so excited about the idea that he asked my daughter to take lots of photographs of him, then carefully chose the one where he thought he looked his happiest.

That was the year I had just started drawing human portraits. I was teaching myself for the most part, and art was becoming much more than a hobby to me.

I've come a long way since then in my drawing style, confidence, and, thankfully, the quality of my work. Even so, this portrait will always remain very special to me.

I still remember his only criticism when I gave it to him. He smiled and said I'd made him look younger by reducing his wrinkles! Perhaps I had done it unconsciously. 😊

This portrait was drawn with Polychromos pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel paper. The surface was quite textured, and you can still see that texture throughout the drawing.

06/08/2026

💡 Colour Pencil Tip

Drawing transparent objects can look intimidating at first, but once you understand what you're looking at, they become much easier to tackle.

Here are a few things I keep in mind:

• Don't think of the object as one whole shape. Break it down into lots of smaller shapes and draw them one at a time.
• You don't need every tiny reflection. Focus on the most important details and let the viewer naturally fill in the rest.
• Values are everything. Find your brightest highlights, darkest darks and everything in between.
• Glass bends and distorts whatever is behind it, so don't be afraid to bend the shapes you see.
• Objects behind the glass will often appear shifted. Notice how surfaces can look higher or lower through the crystal.
• To make glass look transparent, show the colours and textures of the objects behind it through the glass.
• Don't forget the shadow. Even a transparent object needs one to feel truly three-dimensional.

I've put together a two-minute highlight from the full tutorial if you'd like to watch the crystal apple come to life.

https://youtu.be/8n1nWOncKUw

I hope it encourages you to have a go yourself. 🥰

05/08/2026

Drawing transparent glass doesn’t have to be as difficult as it looks.

Here’s a two-minute highlight from one of my Colour Pencil School tutorials, where a crystal apple gradually comes to life, together with a few simple tips that make drawing transparency much easier.