How My Technique Found Me
- Anna Bogusz
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 26
Let me start with a bit of my story so you can get to know me and my background before diving into what’s happening in my work.
I began with graphite, where I first discovered my fascination with light and fine detail. I especially enjoyed recreating famous oil paintings (read more) for example, The Stolen Kiss by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a piece I returned to three different times.
In the years that followed, I focused on graphite portraits of people, before gradually moving on to animal portraits in coloured pencil, these are probably the ones most familiar to those who follow me on Instagram. During the period when I was creating commissioned animal portraits, I also spent some time experimenting with soft pastels. Over time, my work naturally shifted toward watercolour layered with coloured pencil, a combination that now feels like home.
How It All Began
A few years ago, I began a drawing of two polar bears swimming in water. This piece felt so close to my heart that I returned to it three times, creating three different versions, yet never fully finishing it. At the time, it felt like a quiet beginning I couldn’t fully understand.
Not long after, I created old wooden door from a preserved house in the Black Forest, now a small museum of everyday life from the past. That work, titled "Between Worlds" became a turning point. For the first time, I felt something truly click.
For a long while, coloured pencils remained my main medium. I also experimented with watercolor, but after finishing that door, I felt a growing pull toward layering, letting watercolour remain present through every stage, with coloured pencil gently deepening the layers. This technique solved things I had struggled with for years. With pencils alone, I used to press hard, spending long hours on tiny details, slowly straining my hand. With watercolour and layers, the process became lighter, physically and mentally. There is also a practical side, cost of high-quality pencils while watercolours last longer and give me more freedom to work without restraint.
Discovering Coloured Pencil and Watercolour Technique
I already mentioned one aspect that really tested my technique - pressing my pencil too hard. Not everyone struggles with this, but I tend to press strongly, so it was a good wake-up call.
Another reason I started mixing pencil with watercolor is all about layers. I’ve been using Fabriano Artistico watercolour paper for a long time, it really shows its magic only when water comes into play (I go deeper into this process in my subscription option Inside the Studio) Combining pencil with watercolor opened up so many possibilities, more layers, textures, and ways to tweak the piece. I explored this in depth while working on “Feathers of Dusk" and many of my other works as well.
Would you be willing to do a tutorial on how you do this? I would love to see the process and possibly try it!