GUIDE: TECHNIQUES FOR BLENDING COLOURS USING COLOURED PENCILS

Would you like to create gradients or a sense of depth in your drawings? Try out a range of techniques to play with different shades or lighten and deepen the colours in your drawings using coloured pencils and special tools, but no solvents.

Want to explore new colouring techniques to elevate your drawings? Read on to discover our tips for mastering the art of colour blending: adjusting the pressure applied to your pencil, applying superimposed layers of colours to enrich your palette, or using blender pencils to merge the pigments.

 

Practise colouring with different amounts of pressure.

● Draw 5 empty squares on a blank sheet of paper.

● Colour in the first square while applying almost no pressure.

● Fill in the second square using slight pressure.

● Colour in the third square by applying medium pressure to the coloured pencil.

● Increase the pressure again for the penultimate square.

● Finally, press very hard on the pencil to colour in the final box (without wrecking the paper).

When drawing and colouring, the layering technique is a very effective way to deepen colours. Use your coloured pencils like watercolours, but without the water, brushes, or solvents! Choose your base colours carefully according to the shades you want to achieve.

● Apply a light base layer to build up with the subsequent layers of colour.

● Colour over the base with complementary or darker colours to create depth.

● Use darker colours for shaded areas and lighter colours for bright areas.

---

💡 Want to blur some of the lines in your drawing? Go back over the target areas with a kneaded rubber that is suitable for working with coloured pencils.

While some artists use solvents to blend the colours in their drawings, pigment-free blender pencils are also a popular choice for creating gradients. They are typically used to blend the colours in finished drawings.

The blender tools from Caran d'Ache are great options to really bring your drawings to life. The blender pencils and Full Blender blister pack can be used with coloured pencils, graphite pencils or wax pastels to combine, mix and intensify colours.

Made from a blend of wax and oil, our Swiss-quality blender pencils add brightness and shine to your drawings without altering the colours.

How to use a blender pencil: once you have finished your drawing, apply the blender pencil, pressing hard enough that the colours of your drawing seem to melt into the paper. Blenders can help to flatten the grain of the paper, bringing a smooth and shiny finish to your drawing. This technique is known as burnishing.

Feel free to blend permanent and watercolour pencils. By playing around with different formulas, you can enjoy both the vivacity of permanent pigments and the transparency of watercolour pencils. Combining these two mediums is a great way to bring new texture and depth to your drawings.
 

Enrich your drawings by experimenting around with different pencils, recreating the colours in your mind's eye. Do you want to take your drawing and colouring to the next level? Let your creativity flourish with the Creative Class by Caran d'Ache online courses.