Ann Kullberg's Colored Pencil magzine and website began in 1999...
But the whole story began much, much earlier. When I was 4, my mother wrote a letter to my grandmother, saying, "Ann is always drawing, drawing. When we found that letter in the 90's, you can imagine how surprised we all were at Mom's insight! Fast forward 25 years...
I saw my first colored pencil drawing at a relative's home and
long story short - I learned a bit about colored pencil, borrowed Bet Borgeson's The Colored Pencil from the library, bought a set of 24 Prismacolors and plunged in. The minute I started drawing with those pencils, I felt "home". I loved the control, the rich colors and the ability to build color by layering. I entered my very first drawing into a small county fair and took First Place! I was off and running! I was accepted to a gallery within a year and in a couple years was steadily receiving portrait commissions. Then my life changed, thanks to my affiliation with CPSA (Colored Pencil Society of America), when North Light asked me to write a book, Colored Pencil Portraits Step by Step, published in 1999. That's when the real fun began! Lots of "fan email" started pouring in from folks who loved the book, including one who asked if I could give online lessons which led to the idea of a colored pencil monthly magazine. I sent email to the 200+ artists who'd emailed me and soon had 50 subscription checks in my mailbox. Thus began Ann Kullberg's Colored Pencil Magazine! (formerly named From My Perspective or FMP)
Since 1999, we've steadily added products designed to improve your colored pencil art experience - Project Kits, Workshops, Portrait Tools and more. The website and scope has grown in ways I couldn't imagine all those years ago, but it's all been lots of fun! As much as I love working with and for colored pencil artists, I couldn't do it all without some help here in my studio/office near Seattle.
