As an avid colorer, of course, you want to create dimensions, details, and beautiful work. Building your coloring skills is always a great extension of what you already know and are doing. So how do you blend colors while coloring?
There are a few ways to blend your colors while coloring; one way to help is using rubbing alcohol. This can be used as a light blending tact. Using rubbing alcohol, break the wax binder in the colored pencil enough to move little pigments around and fill in paper holes. Other practices to blend your colors are pencil blending, dry blending, solvent blending, and blending with odorless mineral spirits.
With all these techniques, you can create detail-oriented work. Of course, there are ways to go about blending and using these techniques in positive ways. Here are a few ways to blend your colors while coloring.
Basic Techniques Blending Color Pencils
Using all these techniques can elevate your work with more detail, and dimensions, and create presentable, frameable work. Each technique has its way of applying it to your work, as well as giving a different perspective. Here are some blending practices that you may want to try on your next coloring experience.
Pencil Blending
This is probably the most obvious way to blend your colors. It is the easiest way and most of the time you don’t realize that you are blending. If you layer your colors while you coloring, well, guess what, you are blending. Without even knowing it. This is also known as burnishing; when you burnish, you are using heavy pressure to grind the layers together.
The most common way to burnish your colors together is to use a color a little lighter than the color you are using. But, also know that you can burnish any colors together, by layering them. However, keep in mind that whatever color you use to burnish, will affect the color you are burnishing.
Tip: Be aware of the pressure sharpness of your color pencil. When your pencil is sharp, the lighter the pressure is needed. When you add pressure to a colored pencil that is sharpened, it is more likely to break. Which can result in leaving a mark or a hole in the paper.
Learn even more about blending HERE!
Dry Blending
Dry blending is blending without using solvents, but using another tool other than your colored pencils. These can be household items such as paper towels, or bathroom tissue. Both of these items get the job done and are most likely lying around your house, helping your artwork to be an eggshell smooth surface.
By simply folding the paper towel into a square, and rub over the area that you want to blend, you should be able to see the results. You can use heavy pressure while not risking damage to the paper. However, the results are light, but if this is the application you are looking for, then using tissue paper or paper towels is your best bet to blend your colors.
Other ways to blend your colors, with dry blending, is using blending stumps, or tortillons; which can be used for graphite drawing materials but can be used on colored pencils. They are less effective for colored pencil blending but are great to use when blending a small area.
Also, if you are looking for an even easier way to blend, use Prismacolor Colorless Blender. Pretty much it is a colored pencil without pigment. Be sure to understand that using this tool can hard wax or oil your drawing paper.
Solvent Blending
There are three ideal solvents to use for blending your colors. These are rubbing alcohol, odorless solvent mineral spirits, and turpentine. These are the three most aggressive tools to use to blend.
How solvents work is by breaking down the binding agent that keeps the pigment together in pencil form. By breaking down the binding it allows the pigment to flow together, almost like paint. Before you try any solvent, be sure to test a small piece of scrap paper. You want to be sure that the paper can withstand the solvent. You don’t want your paper to buckle, disintegrate, or warp.
Be sure to test your pencils too; you want to see how colors react to each solvent to ensure that you are getting the desired application and color. There is a possibility that the application may not be the ideal color or look you want.
Tip: Solvents can completely wipe away the color completely as well; you need to test before you use them. You don’t want to waste your time.
Rubbing Alcohol Blending
This is ideal for light blending uses. It breaks down the blinding of wax in the colored pencil to move the pigment around a little. Be sure to use enough pigment for the best results. But, it can work with less pigment.
You can use cotton balls, swabs, or a painting brush to blend the pigments with rubbing alcohol. You could use a brush with a bristle to blend as well, but be sure that your paper can withstand the aggressive tool. Test before use.
Blending with Odorless Solvent Mineral Spirits
This technique blends colors more completely than rubbing alcohol. Using mineral spirits, break down the wax binder more completely, allowing the pigment to be free which will result in the blending process more completely. The more pigment, the better the results; using solvent mineral spirits can give off more of a watercolor wash effect.
If you want a lighter tint, then melt a little color in odorless mineral spirits and let it wash over the matter. Be sure to test the paper to see if it can withstand the solvent. Using this technique, you can use it for oil painting blending.
You can use soft brushes, or a bristle to blend the odorless solvent. When there are layers already on the paper, which means that there are a lot of pigments, you can use a heavier pressure, but you want to use medium pressure to ensure the best results. This will also avoid scuffing the paper as well as removing color.
Tip: The most potent solvent to use is turpentine. It works with blending, just like odorless mineral spirits do. But it does break the wax binder down more completely.
Safety is Key
Because you are using different solvents, you want to be sure that you are being safe. These solvents can be toxic, so here are a few tips for using these solvents.
Tips:
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- You want to work in a well-ventilated place.
- Do not use solvents near pets or children.
- Ensure that all tools used are cleaned thoroughly when finished.
- Be sure that all containers are sealed.
- Keep out of reach of children.
- Let drawings dry thoroughly before working on them again. Let them sit overnight.
Conclusion
Blending your colors while coloring will only create more detailed work that you will be proud of. There are many ways to blend colors while coloring; using solvents can be dangerous if safety precautions aren’t taken, but they give off the best results of different applications that most artists are looking for, such as watercolor wash, or breaking down the wax binding of each pigment used.
Using paper towels, or tissue paper is a lot safer, but they give off a light blending look, but it is usually very light and gives off an eggshell smooth surface. The most commonly used blending technique that most people don’t realize they are using is layering by using different colors on top of each other.
Each technique can be used to manipulate the look of each drawing. Using blending can give an ordinary drawing more dimension, and detail, and look like a painting. You want to use these skills to elevate your work and improve your skills. Be sure to try these techniques out with your next work, you won’t be disappointed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you Color Smoothly?
The best practice while trying to color smoothly is to carefully layer. It doesn’t matter what type of colored pencils you use, but how you carefully draw each layer to ensure that there is little to no blending required.
Best Colored Pencils to Use for Portraits
Here are the eight best-colored pencils to use for drawing portraits:
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- Prismacolor Premier Soft Core
- Black Widow Wax Colored Pencils
- LYRA Rembrandt Polycolor Art Pencils
- Staedtler Ergosoft
- Prismacolor Scholar Colored Pencils
- Sargent Art Coloring Pencils
- Faber-Castell Polychromos
- Crayola Colored Pencils
How do you Color the Background with Colored Pencils?
If your drawing requires the background to be colored, here is how to do that. Be sure that your colored pencils are sharpened before use. Apply the color to the side of the pencil with very light pressure. You want to almost breathe the color onto the paper. To get a lighter tint look, use a paper towel to blend it all. You could also use a cotton ball for smaller areas on your drawing.
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