How to Color a Drawing in Pencil
Color pencils offer a wide selection of colors along with freedom for the artist. An artist can grab a small pad of paper and some pencils and go just about anywhere. Color pencils do not require mastering a lot of techniques like other art mediums. However, there are a few techniques to learn that will help get a new artist started. The same techniques used with pencil and pen may be used with colored pencils.
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Instructions
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Practice making marks by adjusting how you hold the pencil. Hold the pencil upright to create hard clean lines or a series of dots. Hold a pencil about halfway up and use the side of the lead for shading.
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Sketch in dashed loose marks for drawing in items such as grass, and create swirls for coloring in large area. Use different pressures to create a variety of tones.
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Use other techniques such pointillist and hatching. Pointillism is a technique artists use to color areas by creating many small dots, lending itself well to the sharpness of the pencil. Hatching is a series of parallel lines and crosshatching is the crisscross effect achieved by drawing lines perpendicular to the hatching lines.
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Create a glass, polished surface or a metal effect with burnishing. Burnishing is applying a color and then applying a light color. The wax of the pencil mixes creating a slick surface that also fills up the paper surface.
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Tips & Warnings
Give the illusion of depth when shading in with colored pencils by using complementary colors.
Clean off the tips of the pencil before coloring any light areas to help prevent smudges and dark spots.
References
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