If you are new to the world of adult
coloring books, welcome! Adult coloring can be the perfect way
to relax, connect with your creative side and brighten up your day.
You don't need to be a professional artist to create something amazing.
And today, I'm sharing my top tips to help
you get started with colored pencils so that you can move past the confusing
beginner questions and focus on the fun part of getting creative.
Hi, I'm Sarah Renae Clark and I have been making adult coloring books since twenty
fifteen when I was looking for a creative outlet to help work through my postnatal
depression and my mom's cancer diagnosis. I never expected that my little hobby
would develop into such a passion with a bigger purpose.
My art became my haven, and I realized that coloring and drawing
could be a powerful tool to unlock creativity, to reduce anxiety and to bring
encouragement to me and to the people around me.
Here, it's okay to color outside the lines.
It's okay to take risks and to try new things.
And I believe that experiments and mistakes can lead to beautiful things.
Even if you're not a creative person,
you have what it takes to create something amazing.
So if that sounds like something you'd love to be a part of,
please take a second to subscribe and then let's jump in to today's video.
Today, we're talking about colored pencils.
They are a great medium to get started
with, whether you're new to coloring books or a seasoned artist.
So I've put together my top ten tips
for getting the most out of colored pencils in your adult coloring pages.
Tip one: keep a sharp point.
A sharp pencil is a simple key to great results.
It allows the pigment to get
into the deepest parts of the paper and reduces the grainy appearance.
It also makes it much easier for you
to control the pressure and create some gradients.
You see, all paper has a texture also known as the tooth.
It has very tiny ridges with lots
of valleys that allow it to absorb a lot of layers of pencil.
When your pencil is blunt,
it won't get into the lower ridges and you'll often end up damaging
the paper's tooth, which will make it much harder to add more layers.
Don't be tempted to just keep drawing because your pencil is still working
and laying down color. I used to do this a lot with my blunt pencil and it was a mistake.
A sharp pencil will always give you much better coverage and a much smoother result
tip two: work in light, even layers. When you first start coloring,
learning to work lighter and using more layers is one of the best things you can
do to improve your art and create smoother results.
When you press harder with your pencil in the paper, you flatten the texture
and you get the color pigment into all the lowest parts of the paper.
And it does create a bolder color and it removes that white,
but it also makes it much harder to add
more pencil layers on top, and therefore it makes it somewhat
impossible to create nice gradients and blends.
This is what we call burnishing,
which you can use as a final step in your drawing so you can actually press harder
as a technique to remove that white and to make the colors bolder.
We do it last so that all of your
blending gradients have been done underneath.
But once you've done this final step,
you won't be able to go back and add more details easily.
Pressing harder saves time and is
a huge temptation, but it also creates harsh lines.
It can damage the paper and it will really
limit your ability to create textures, gradients and blending effects.
No matter whether you're using cheap pencils or expensive pencils,
learning to draw lightly is a great way to improve the look of your pages.
If you're struggling to press lightly,
try making your hand further towards the back of the pencil.
Holding your pencil further back and using the side of the pencil instead of the tip
will make it much easier to use light pressure and keep your coloring smooth.
As a bonus tip, try drawing in smaller circular shapes instead of back and forth,
as this will also help reduce those harsh lines.
Tip three: learn those blending techniques.
There are a lot of different ways to blend
colored pencils and the options can be overwhelming for a beginner.
But it's still worth learning a few basic blending methods to get you started.
The best and beginner technique is to just keep layering your pencils like I have shown
you in my previous blending tutorial, and finish with burnishing by pressing
harder with the same pencils like we just talked about.
You don't need any extra tools for this method.
Once you've mastered this,
you can experiment with some other blending tools around,
like blending pencils, powders, solvents and even household items.
In fact, I'll be testing some of these out in an upcoming video,
so make sure you subscribed and turn
on your notifications so you don't miss that video.
Whatever you try,
I always recommend trying your blending on a test piece of paper first.
Never try a new method on your
final artwork just in case it doesn't work as expected.
Tip four: use more colors.
If your coloring pages are looking
a little bit flat, swap one color for two or three.
Instead of using a single green to color
a leaf, choose a dark and light green and color the same leaf with both colors.
You can try layering them,
creating a texture, creating a simple gradient,
or even practicing some basic lighting and shading techniques.
You don't have to get too fancy just start simple by adding
a second similar color every time you choose a new color.
If you're using a red add a darker red,
if you're using a blue add a light or a dark blue,
even without perfect blending skills, the slight changing color will give your
coloring page more depth and make it look instantly more interesting.
As a bonus tip, it can be really helpful to swatch out all the colors in your set
whenever you purchase a new set of pencils.
This can become a great reference every time you start to color because you can
easily see exactly what each color will look like and you can even create some
preselected matches of colors that work well together.
Tip five: use reference images.
This is a bit of a secret from professional artists the many
coloring book artists don't think to use, and that's to use reference images.
By this, I mean looking at photos
of the object you are coloring in as inspiration of the colors you can use or
to help you recreate textures or even lighting in your coloring page.
If you've already got the Color Catalog,
you can use the images in these palettes as reference images too.
Otherwise, you can also find plenty of reference images online.
And I'll list a few of my favorite sites in the blog post.
In the description below. You can print your reference image out or just
keep it on device next to you and look at it as you are coloring.
Try copying the style, the lighting or the texture, whatever you are using
the reference image for. This can bring a really realistic look to your coloring
page, even if you're coloring something that's a cartoon or something whimsical.
Tip six: watch tutorials and try new things.
There's no rule that says you have to learn all this on your own.
And the fact that you're here watching
this video tells me that you already know this.
Tutorials are a great way to learn new
techniques, learn quicker ways to do things and to discover ideas or tools
that you may have never considered using otherwise.
We haven't all been to art school, but with the Internet,
we have access to some of the best artists in the world, all in the one place.
So why not learn from the best?
But remember, it's great to watch these tutorials, but don't get caught comparing
your skills to the people you are learning from.
These teachers and artists are years ahead, so don't compare your beginner
skills to theirs or you'll end up discouraged.
They started in the same place you are now
and they've made mistakes along the way too.
So be encouraged to just give it a go.
Don't be afraid to experiment
and challenge yourself to try new technique from time to time.
Tip seven: use a color palette or the color wheel.
Using a color palette for your coloring
page can help you to create a certain look or mood and can be a great source
of inspiration to break through creative block and give you a starting point.
I don't even remember what I used to do before this because I never start
a project now without browsing my Color Catalog for inspiration first.
It's become such a fun part of my creative
process and it helps me to think outside the box.
I don't always stick the palette I choose, often
it is just a starting point
I need to help me start coloring and to give me a general direction.
It challenges me to work with colors that I wouldn't naturally choose
and to move away from using the same few colors on every drawing.
Using the color wheel can also work in the same way.
And if you're unfamiliar with how colors
work, I recommend this short video I've put together to teach you how to use
the color wheel so you can get a better understanding of why certain colors look
better than others and how you can use them in your coloring.
Tip eight: buy quality pencils.
I still remember buying my first professional set of pencils.
It was so hard to know what to buy.
A little overwhelming, actually.
There's a lot to consider when buying pencils.
So If you're a beginner, don't panic.
Ultimately, any mid-range quality pencils will give you a good start and will be
a significant improvement on the no-name cheap dollar store pencils
that you might already have. As a general guide,
I recommend that if you're a beginner, look for a wax-based pencil because they
are softer, creamier and a little bit easier to blend than an oil-based pencil.
Oil-based pencils are a little harder to work with if you're a beginner,
but are often better for fine details like hair and fur.
I've got a few helpful videos to talk you
through my top recommendations and favorite pencils.
So I'll link to those in the description below and in my blog post.
As an all rounder for beginners, I think the Prismacolor pencils are
a great choice and I still use them more than most of the other pencils that I've
bought and tried over the past few years, including some much higher priced pencils.
You don't need a huge set to get started,
just like I showed you in my previous video.
You can layer and mix colors from smaller sets to produce a bigger range of colors.
So instead of buying the big sets of one hundred and twenty or one hundred
and fifty, a set of 30 to 50 pencils is enough for a beginner.
But of course, if you want to own the complete set, don't let me stop you,
I certainly love having all the colors.
And if you're wanting to try
a few different brands before committing
to one, you can often buy a few pencils, open stock in the craft shop or online,
so by some single pencils and see which brands you like, most brands work together,
so you can actually use these even after you commit to one brand later.
Tip nine: buy quality paper. For a long time,
I just used normal printer paper, but after upgrading to some better paper,
I was genuinely surprised at how much my art improved and how much easier
and more enjoyable it was to use my colored pencils.
I'm still on the hunt to find my favorite
paper, especially because everyone keeps asking.
But here are some general considerations.
Paper varies a lot, it comes down to preference,
technique and the medium you're using. Because we are talking about pencils
you'll generally want a paper with more
texture, not a shiny or smooth paper that's made for markers.
However, even with pencils, there are a lot of different techniques
and different artists prefer different paper.
If you're wanting to print your coloring pages,
you'll also need a paper that you can print on.
So your printer also matters here,
and this might eliminate some of the thicker or heavier papers that many
colored pencil artists would actually recommend.
So for a beginner,
the most popular and highly recommended paper is some kind of Bristol Vellum.
This kind of paper usually has enough tooth to work well with pencils without
having so much texture that you need lots of layers to hide the white grain.
If you're wanting to use solvents,
watercolors or anything wet like the Derwent Inktense pencils that I
recently reviewed, you might want to consider upgrading
to something a little heavier, like a watercolor paper or a mixed media paper.
These have a much thicker tooth and will
handle the extra moisture, although they won't always work in your printer.
So it's always best to buy a few single
sheets of these first to try them if you can find them.
There are some other tools as well that can help with your coloring.
So I'll pop some recommendations in the blog post to some sharpeners,
some erasers and some other coloring tools that you might want to check out.
These aren't essential if you're just starting out,
I didn't have some of them for a while, but they can be helpful.
So I recommend taking a quick look
and I'll pop that link in the description below.
Tip ten is to practice.
All of this information is useless if you don't put it to use.
It's not the tools or the expensive pencils that make the artist,
it is the practice.
I often see people, myself included, buy a new set of pencils and wait
for the perfect project to bring them out in fear of wasting them on anything else.
But if you don't practice with them,
you're not going to do that big project justice.
Instead, take joy in every opportunity
to use your pencils, to use your supplies and to use up your coloring pages.
If you have a special page you've been waiting to color, just go for it.
You won't become an artist by watching tutorials,
you'll become an artist by practicing what you learn in those tutorials.
The best way to improve your skills is to just keep drawing,
no matter what pencils you are using, no matter what paper you have and no
matter what your skills currently are, we all start as beginners
and the only way forward is to take
that first step. To my fellow colorists and artists, please share with me below
if there was an eleventh tip on this list, what would it be?
And if you are a beginner, which of these ten tips, did you find the most helpful?
I would love to hear from you and invite
you to join me in my free Facebook group at the link below where you can share your
progress and join our amazing community on your creative coloring journey.
Thanks for tuning in,
I've collected some of my favorite
coloring tutorials for beginners, including some of the videos I've talked
about through this video and a handy playlist right here.
So you can check that out right now.
And I wish you the best with your coloring.