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Aurélie S.

Colouring Tips and Tricks

Updated: Jul 29, 2021


Colouring can be just as beneficial as meditation to calm the mind and find focus. Yet, colouring can feel daunting when you first get started. So here are some expert tips and tricks just for you!

Colouring Supplies

You don’t necessarily need to invest in the most expensive stuff. You can already do great colouring with these 6 essential tools

  • A set of couloured pencils (At least the primary colours and a white - Prefer oil-based lead rather than wax-based lead that tends to break more often). Coloured pens although I love them for colouring on bristol, are definitely not the best for a colouring book. The famous alcohol based ones that are a favourite among manga/comics artists are great for blending but they tend to bleed through the paper, no matter how thick. The water-based ones bleed less but they are no good for blending colours.

  • A good sharpener (A bad one can really make your life miserable by systematically breaking your tip, so chose well),

  • A Colour blender pencil (sometimes included in the coloured pencils set but not always, they are a great help for colour gradients),

  • A white vinyl eraser (It’s better to have several small ones than a large one so you can make the most of the angles, prefer it phtalates free and latex free)

  • A white gel pen and dark liner pens,

  • A piece of scratch paper to scribble with.

Colour combinations

Before you start colouring, you need first to consider what colours should go on the page you have chosen. If you don't plan your colour palette in advance, you might be surprised or even disappointed with the result. Your colour scheme depends mainly on the mood you want to create with the picture. Some colours work great together, but beyond aesthetics, colours naturally convey a mood. Bright, vivid colours tend to convey joy, dull and dark colours melancholy, some tones are soothing, other excite, so you need to take this into account and choose the combination of colours that matches the mood you have in mind for this particular picture.

Beside the mood, colours can be used to draw attention to something in the picture.

When you get started, it might be useful to use a colour wheel like the one below. The colours on the left side of the wheel are considered cool while the ones on the right side of the wheel are called warm.

Complementary colours: 2 colours opposite to each other on the wheel are called “complementary”, together they create a bold contrast, that is perfect to draw attention on a subject for instance. Be careful not to try to use them evenly. One should be dominant and the other in smaller amount.

Analogous colours: If you choose to combine 2 or 3 colours that are sitting close to eachother on the wheel, called “analogous” colours, you will have a softer effect, easier on the eye.

Triadic colours: At last, another interesting typical combination is the triadic, it consists in choosing for your image 3 main colours that are equally distant on the wheel. The triadic gives a stimulating and playful effect. It is the hardest combination to get right.

If you are a beginner, I recommend you to start with a combination of 2 main analogous colours and their declinations. That will minimise the risk of getting it wrong.

Colour Wheel

Light and dark

After you have chosen the right colour combination, decide where the light is going to come from and how intense you want it to be, this will help you place your highlights and shadows accordingly. Without this, your character is going to look flat. This is particularly true for the face! The more intense the light, the darker the contrast of the shadows and vice-versa.

Gradients

Gradients are a great way to create 3-dimensional effects and make the picture more lively.

Always start with the lighter colour and progress from lighter to darker.

You also want to go light handed first and apply pressure progressively while you arrive to the final layers. The blender can help you with that. If you don’t have a blender, using a drop of baby oil on a cotton-bud can help you achieve a very similar result.

Texture

A smooth or textured effect can make your picture more interesting.

For a smooth effect, you want to colour using circular motions and hold your pen at an angle not directly vertically on paper, that will allow colours to blend in better and not to see too much the tracing.

In contrast if you want to show the texture, you can use stippling, hatching or cross hatching as shown below.



Using a white gel pen

I found that using a white gel pen to draw some small ornaments over a coloured area or enhance some details work great. Keep it for the very last, only after you have done all of the layering and gradients to your heart content.

Using a liner

You might want to use liners in the same way than the white gel pen, to add some small ornaments over a coloured area or maybe to add some texture with hatching or cross hatching. Again, this is really a plus to keep for last, and only if you feel confident.

Why not try your new techniques on my Celtic Colouring Book?




Featuring over 50 pages of texts, original black line illustrations and Celtic knot ornaments, this colouring book will carry you back to ancient times and help you discover - or rediscover- some of the main protagonists of Irish mythology.



Click the book cover image to access the book on Amazon.



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