With their vibrant colors and wide availability, gel pens are a popular choice for adult coloring books. But if you haven’t used gel pens before, you might be wondering how to use them for coloring.
To use gel pens to color:
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- Use their fine tips for detailed work.
- Quickly cover large areas with the smoothly flowing gel ink.
- Use the wet ink for blending
- Utilize the color wheel
- Add dimension and texture
- Create patterns and designs
- Combine them with other mediums
- Use the pens for layering.
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Gel pens behave a little differently than other coloring mediums, so we’ve broken down how to make the most of their unique features.
How to Use Gel Pens to Color
It’s easy to disregard gel pens as a coloring tool, but they’re a lot more versatile than you might think. Because the ink is made of powdered pigment suspended in a water-based gel, the ink is more vibrant than in regular pens and less likely to bleed or feather. The ink is thicker and slower to dry, too, making it great to blend or add sharp contrast without sinking into the layer underneath it.
Here are just a few ideas to get you started on your gel pen coloring journey.
Use the Fine Points For Precision Work
The fine tips of gel pens make them excellent for detailed work like mandalas, and because they don’t require sharpening like colored pencils, you can use them on large-scale, intricate works without losing the point over time.
The gel-based ink tends to stay where you put it (as long as you’re careful not to smear), unlike markers, which can sometimes feather out a little, past the edge of the shape you’re coloring. The ink also tends to sit on top of the coloring surface rather than soaking in, preventing page bleed-throughs and keeping the color looking vibrant.
Need help coloring the right way with gel pens? Check out our article HERE!
Glide Over Large Areas With Ease
Although they have very fine points, the ink in gel pens comes out quickly and smoothly, so they require almost no pressure at all to lay down color. This means that the pens glide quickly over the coloring surface, allowing you to cover a lot of space with less hand and arm strain. Some of the techniques below can also cover large areas quickly, making coloring with gel pens even more versatile.
Make the Most of Smearable Ink
The nature of gel pen ink makes it prone to smearing, but that same nature makes it great for blending. To blend using gel pens, the following tools might be helpful:
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- Water (optional)
- Small paintbrush or makeup brush
- Cotton swab
- Cosmetic sponge
- Pencil eraser
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The general principle around blending using gel pens is to work quickly while the ink is still wet. Different brands have “wetter” ink that takes longer to dry – these work incredibly well for blending.
What you’ll want to do is use one of the tools listed above, either dry or dampened with water, to drag through the wet ink, creating a deliberate smear. You can do this for different effects:
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- Soften a strong line of ink for a gentle fading effect
- Blend different colors into each other
- Blend different shades of the same color into each other
- Smear over the colored pencil to soften the appearance of pencil lines
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Many people, especially left-handers, only remember gel pens for their tendency to smear. Why not make the most of this trait and use it to your advantage?
Plan Your Color Scheme
Artists have been discussing color theory for hundreds, possibly thousands of years, leading to the color wheel’s invention in the 1600s. A color wheel is any wheel that arranges colors in a logical sequence, but most are a variation of the primary color wheel, which is made up of red, blue, and yellow. The color theory is the idea that when certain colors are used together, it invokes specific viewer responses.
The three primary color schemes are:
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- Analogous: using three colors that appear next to each other on a color wheel for an understated yet exciting look
- Monochromatic: using multiple shades of the same color for a more subtle, quiet feel
- Complimentary: using colors that appear opposite each other on the color wheel, like yellow and purple or red and green, to create visual interest
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Because gel pens come in so many colors, the options for creating color schemes with them are endless. Experiment with different colors and combinations and see what you think.
Add Dimension and Texture
The following techniques can be used for adding dimension and texture to your coloring, as well as filling up large spaces quickly.
Hatching
Hatching is using parallel lines to fill a space. It’s usually done in one color, although adding a second color can add interest. The lines can be facing any direction you want:
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- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Diagonal
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Please take into account what you’re coloring to help you decide what direction to make your hatches. Horizontal works exceptionally well in landscapes, for example. You can use hatching to add a sense of depth to your coloring by placing lines closer together or further apart.
Cross-hatching
Cross-hatching is taking hatching up a level by adding a second set of lines that intersect, or cross, the first set. This makes almost a checkered or plaid pattern, which can be great for filling space quickly without taking the time to fill it in solidly. The more closely together the lines are spaced, the darker the area will appear, and the further apart they are, the lighter it will look.
Contour Hatching
Contour hatching uses curved lines instead of straight ones to add to the illusion of depth when shading.
Stippling
Stippling is the process of using tiny dots to fill a space, much like you’d see in old comics or pop art today. All you have to do is press the gel pen repeatedly onto the page to make stipples – it’s as easy as that. Just like hatching and cross-hatching, placing the stipples closer together will make the area seem darker or deeper, and placing them further apart will make it appear lighter.
Shading and Contouring
Gel pens can be used for shading by using monochromatic colors and blending to create seamless color transitions that create the illusion of depth.
Since you can’t just apply more pressure to get a darker shade, like with pencil, you’ll want to transition to darker shades of the color you’re using to get that effect or use more closely spaced hatches or stippling.
Highlighting
Another must in the world of depth is highlighting. Highlighting mimics light striking an object and looks different on parts of the object closest to it. An easy example is the line of highlight that appears when someone is wearing glossy lipstick.
Gel pens are perfect for highlights since they tend to stay on top of whatever surface they’re placed on, rather than sinking in and fading. They also come in white and metallic colors, allowing you to highlight a little extra oomph.
Spruce Up a Simple Picture
Gel pens are ideal tools for adding interest to a picture. Use their vibrant colors to create exciting contrast or designs like:
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- Polka dots
- Swirls
- Geometric shapes
- Unusual patterns
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You can use these techniques alone to fill space or layered over colored pencils here and there as focal points.
Combine With Other Mediums
Gel pens pair well with other mediums due to their ability to color over almost any surface and their bright, intense hues.
Try using them with:
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- Colored pencils
- Watercolor
- Marker
- Regular pen
- Charcoal
- Pastels
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Gel pens usually work best when they’re layered over other mediums, rather than a base layer.
Layering Adds Interest
Similar to blending, layering is an easy way to add a little something extra to your coloring. Layering can include blending or not, depending on the look you’re trying to achieve.
Experiment by:
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- Layer different shades of the same color gel pen
- Layer different colors of gel pen
- Layer gel pen over colored pencils (the same colors or different)
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Layering adds richness to your coloring and can completely change the tone of the artwork.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it: an essential guide for getting started coloring with gel pens. They’re easy to find and pretty affordable, making them perfect for experimenting with. Try out a few of the suggestions above, or experiment with other techniques until you figure out the best way to incorporate gel pens into your coloring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different types of gel pens?
Gel pens come in tip points ranging from medium to extra fine. Their ink can be regular or quick-drying, black, white, pastel, neon, metallic, or glitter.
What mediums can I use with gel pens?
Gen pens can be combined with most artistic mediums but work incredibly well with colored pencils, markers, and watercolors.
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