Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Coloring Page Ideas

There are different ways you can color your adult coloring pages.  I wanted to show you a few tricks.


Watercolor and marker
Don't be afraid to use watercolors.  You don't have to be experienced using this medium.  Try an inexpensive set of watercolor pencils, a very small brush and small amounts of water on your brush.  You can color with the pencil straight onto the paper, it doesn't take much color at all.  Then using your brush with a small amount of water, begin washing over the pencil strokes.  Once dry, if you'd like more color, just repeat the process.  Or you can dip your brush in water, dab onto a napkin to soak up some of the water then use the brush to run across the tip of your watercolor pencil picking up paint from the pencil tip and paint onto your picture.

One more thing to remember.  The thickness of your paper is important when using watercolors, because of the water.  If your paper is thin, it will curl and warp.  If you are using an inkjet printer to print out your picture, the ink will bleed and smear.

So if you are going to try watercolors to color your adult coloring pages, use a laser printer and print it out on a thicker paper.  No more water than you will be using a 40# paper should be sufficient.


On this piece I learned I could very lightly use a pastel pencil, a small paint brush and a bit of water.  Once the water was absorbed, I could use my watercolors over the top of the pastel for more vibrant colors.



You can also use colored pencils over a watercolor base.  Blending colored pencils is not something I would recommend for a stress free coloring experience.  Using them to blend into the dried watercolor is quite the creative experience though.

Don't be intimidated by all the colored pencil techniques out there.  It's pretty simple.  Here's an example for a stress free coloring experience with colored pencils.

Colored Pencil Tips


Let's color a simple leaf.   Coat the entire leaf in yellow, coloring lightly.


Next take a light green and color over the yellow using a light touch.


Then, add a touch of dark green where you imagine the leaf would be darker.



Lastly, using your yellow pencil once again, blend all the colors together by lightly going over the entire leaf.  If the leaf is too yellow for you, just add more green.



Add an artsy touch by using a black sharpie to give it a bit of personality.  Or you could even use a white marker or both.


You can also use a white colored pencil to blend.  But if you use a color to blend, always blend colors together with a light color as we did with the yellow above.


Look at the little spots of white and the small black dots added to this water colored flower.  It just gives it more life and makes it fun.




Here is a close up of the butterfly.




Look at this close up of the flowers.




It's your coloring experience, add whatever you like to make it yours.  Try magic markers and then add colored pencil on top of them.  You can use the pastel, watercolor and marker together.  You can use the watercolor and when dried you can use colored pencil on top.  Try markers over the top of colored pencil, it will blend.  Just choose your colors carefully, experiment on scrap paper before you begin on your picture.





  



If you would be interested in taking a look at all my coloring pages please visit my shop by clicking here, Southern Sky Studio Coloring Pages


Thanks for stopping by and happy coloring.