Today I'll show you how to color a beautiful gradient with colored pencils. Once you master this, you'll be able to create gorgeous gradients, so let's give it a try together.
What you'll need is white paper (something not too rough in texture is recommended), colored pencils, and a pencil sharpener. Keeping the tip sharp at all times helps you color cleanly. You can download the line art we'll use from the Nuri-Iro site. Once downloaded, print it out and color along with us. Use it with the star mark facing up.
Basic gradient coloring technique
First, here's the basic method.
Move the colored pencil slowly, coloring with no gaps. From there, gradually ease off the pressure to lighten the color. Controlling your pressure is the key point.
A common mistake is that the darker areas look nice, but when you ease off the pressure the lines get choppy or the color bunches up in a small area. Start by pressing firmly, then practice gradually easing off the pressure.
Don't try to get it perfect in one pass — layer more color over any spots that need it. This will result in a smoother gradient.
Two-color gradients
Next, let's try making a two-color gradient by layering.
For example, when layering pink over blue, don't change the color abruptly — gradually cover the blue with pink little by little. The trick is to overlap them gradually so the boundary doesn't look sharply divided.
Start with firm pressure, then gradually ease off to lighten the color.
This creates a natural transition from blue to pink.
Variations in coloring technique
The mood of a gradient also changes depending on how you move your hand.
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Vertical strokes: dark at the top, light at the bottom. Handy for things like coloring a sky.
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Horizontal strokes: move sideways to create the gradient.
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"Swirl stroke": color in small circles, gradually easing off the pressure. Colors blend well, making this the technique I use most often.
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"Flick stroke": flick from top to bottom as if layering thin lines. Combining short and long strokes also works well for hair and flower petals.
Let's actually color the pattern
From here, let's actually color the pattern in the line art you downloaded.
The video shows about 40 minutes of uncut coloring, so please color along with me ♥
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First, use the flick stroke to follow the curves of the pattern's bulges. Right-handed and left-handed people may find different directions easier, so feel free to rotate the paper as you color.
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Next, color the lower part with green and blue, then layer yellow-green and light blue on top to create a smooth gradient.
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For the center section, use the swirl stroke, keeping the edges dark and the center bright. Layering white on top makes it even smoother.
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Finally, color the remaining sections with red-purple and other colors, creating the gradient using the same steps.
Finished
Even with the same pattern, solid coloring and gradients create very different impressions. As shown here, mixing and matching solid coloring with gradients results in more expressive artwork.
Try it out with different colors and practice again and again.
Thank you very much for watching today.