When you first start coloring in adult coloring books you first think about which colors to use but as you start to gain some experience you discover that there is so much you can do with even just a single color.
Welcome to color shading 101, here I'll share a few must know tips and techniques on how to practice and use color shading with colored pencils for adult coloring books and pages.
1) Alternate weight pressing shading:
This is one of the most basic, important and most frequently used colored pencil shading technique. All it means is that you start off by applying gentle pressure with your pencil on the part of the page where you want a lighter color and gradually increase the pressure on the pencil as you move across the page towards the part that you want to be darker. As you gradually apply more pressure the colored part will be darker and darker in color and that will create a beautiful shading effect.
2) Alternate contrasting color shading.
This is a more advanced technique where you take two contrasting colors, lets say orange and blue and you shade one color, starting at one side of the page with light shading, working your way to the other side of the page to dark shading and then do the same with the contrasting color only you'll start out light shading with the orange on the side that you finished dark with the blue so their shading will contrast as well as their natural colors.
This is a fun advanced technique that can create some very beautiful results
3) Use a blender pencil / blender marker / solvent liquid
Water colored pencils can create a gorgeous natural shading effect but you don't always have some laying around. For that reason you can always use a blender pencil, marker or solvent liquid. Used sparingly they can water down the color a bit and create a shaded look. Just make sure to experiment with then off the coloring page first to make sure you have a good idea of their effect and how much of them to use