Over my years of practicing different art techniques, I have learned some tricks along the way. I’m excited to share some of the things I have learned with you so that you can now enhance and improve your coloring and artistic skills!
1. Don’t always use just one color for an object. For instance, if you are coloring the home in blue, mix different shades of blue, or use some grey so that it appears natural. Remember, with these homes, there would be different amounts of sunlight on various parts of the object that you are coloring.
2. Try blending colors together. When using watercolor, the colors will naturally do some of their own blending. However, if you are using colored pencils, you can blend the colors with your finger or a tissue. For best results, use blending tools. These can be found in the drawing sections of art stores.
3. If an area seems too dark or bold, lift some of the color with an eraser. This method will give your artwork a more natural appearance. You can use any eraser, but I do recommend higher quality erasers that can also be found at art supply stores.
4. Like I mentioned earlier, sunlight will land on objects from one direction so don’t forget to add some shading on the sides that don’t receive as much sunlight. You can do this by using the same color and just adding more of it. Or you can add some grey to the darker side. You can also use a bit of a complementary color. For instance, if you are coloring an object red, you can shade the darker side of an object by using a bit of green. This method creates a natural looking shade. Basic complementary colors are: blue & orange, red & green, yellow & purple.
5. Liquid correction fluid can also be used to fix certain areas of your pictures. Try using a small amount on an area if you want to cover up color on an object that you want completely white when erasing doesn’t take out enough color.
6. When there are trees in front of the home, color those last. In fact, I usually work from top to bottom on my pictures. I color the sky first starting with a darker color near the top of my pictures. Then I work down to the bottom of the page which will be the foreground of the picture. If part of the home is behind a tree, color some of the areas of the home leaving spaces to be colored in with whichever colors you are using for the trees.
7. If, when you are done adding color, either through watercolor or colored pencil, and there is an area that you would like to soften, try a bit of chalk pastels. They can be used to soften or highlight certain areas of your pictures. You can even add shadows easily using darker pastels.
8. Use the margins of the pages as an area to test blending different colors before you use them.
And here are some examples of what I have done with some of the coloring pages from my first coloring book, A Coloring Book of Beautiful Homes.
This picture was done with watercolors. As mentioned in Tip #6, I usually paint from the top down which allows me to color the background to the foreground of the picture. This picture has a tree in front, so I was careful to not make the sky and the house behind that tree too dark so that I could add leaves on the trees later.
This picture is the same one as the previous one. However, it was done with colored pencils. Again, try to not make the house behind the tree too dark so that the leaves will show up.
This picture was done with colored pencils, but highlights were added with pastels later. Whether you use colored pencils or watercolor, you can use pastels to lighten areas up. You can even add shadows easily using darker pastels.
When you're done with your creation, let us see it on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #therelaxedartists so we can add you to our Relaxed Artists Color Club on Facebook, Pinterest, and on our website here!
I made the pages in the coloring book one sided so that you can carefully cut your picture out and frame it to use as personal art in your home. I suggest cutting it out with something like an X-acto knife.
I also made the lines in the coloring pages more soft than having them be harsh so you can blend and shade better when coloring with whichever medium you chose to color with.
Also, if you have an Amazon Prime account, and you just want to place an order for a coloring book(s), you can order through Amazon! Just click here to find it on Amazon!
Now it's your turn! Let's see your beautiful coloring art!