Blending Colored Pencils with Rubbing Alcohol

In one of my latest drawings, the background is blurred to focus on the subject in the center. Such large areas always come out kind of grainy for me (particularly since I’m working my way through a set of rather cheap pencils for practice, so I thought I’d give blending with solvents a try. I don’t have any proper colored pencil solvents, but I do happen to have 99% rubbing alcohol for another project.

Before and After

The effect was subtle, but definitely there, especially in the pavement. Certainly enough to play with it some more, maybe with some of the better quality pencils that I have.