How to Layer Color and Get Soft Colors

This week’s reader question is from Gina, who wants to know how to layer color and get soft colors. Here’s her question.

Hi Carrie,

On most of my drawings, the subject calls for color that has been layered with pretty hard pressure. The result is a solid color with depth. Landscape and horses and things are examples.

I would like to know how to still incorporate all the layers and yet end up with a soft look, such as in some portraits that I have seen. My portraits usually have an aged look about the persons, especially the children. I think it comes from too much pressure. Is it just practice, practice, practice?

Thanks,

Gina

Thank you for your question, Gina. You’ve addressed an issue that a lot of colored pencil artists wrestle with.

There are a lot of ways to get good color with a soft look, including blending solvents and special tools. I’ll include links to some of the articles I’ve written on those subject below.

But I want to answer this question from the point-of-view of someone who doesn’t want to or is not able to use solvents or doesn’t have some of those special tools, by providing tips and suggestions that work with just pencils and paper.

How to Layer Color and Get Soft Colors

Lots of Layers

You can get depth of color and good color saturation with lots of layers. The fact is, combining layers of different colors is the best way to get color saturation with colored pencil.

Every layer of color you put on the paper fills in the tooth of the paper a little. Put just a few layers on, and you fill up only a small portion of the tooth. There are still a lot of paper holes showing through.

Put down a lot of layers, and you eventually fill in every bit of tooth. No more paper holes showing!

The fewer paper holes show through, the smoother your final color looks.

Light Pressure

Getting good, smooth color doesn’t require heavy pressure.

Begin with the lightest possible pressure you can—I often refer to it as “whisper soft” pressure—and continue to keep the pressure light throughout as much of the drawing as you can.

If you have difficulty getting light pressure, try changing the way you hold the pencil. Most of us hold a drawing pencil the same way we hold a writing pen. This kind of grip gives us good control of the pencil, but may make it difficult to draw with very light pressure.

So try holding the pencil at the back, and in a more horizontal position, so you draw more with the side of the exposed pigment core than with the tip. You have less control of the pencil, but you’re also able to exert less pressure on the pencil.

Sometimes, I use this grip with the pencil held loosely in my fingers and let the weight of the pencil apply the pressure to the paper.

You will not be able to draw details or shade small areas with a horizontal grip, so practice developing a lighter hand with simple drawing exercises. Try writing your name repeatedly, using less pressure each time until you can barely see what you’ve written.

You can also shade a color starting with regular pressure, then decrease the pressure you draw until the color “disappears.”

Sharp Pencils

Sharpen your pencils often. Getting good color saturation with many layers and light pressure requires very sharp pencils, because the sharper the pencil, the more easily you can get color into the deeper tooth of the paper.

Selective Strokes

Use a stroke that helps you draw smooth color layers by either mimicking the surface texture of whatever you’re drawing or by leaving no visible stroke at all. Most artists recommend a tight, circular stroke such as is shown below.

This type of stroke doesn’t create edges where the stroke stops or changes direction, and it allows you to move over larger areas of color without creating “edges” where you don’t want them.

But it’s also acceptable to use other strokes if they help you draw whatever you’re trying to draw.

Read Let Your Pencils Do More of the Work, With These 3 Advanced Pencil Strokes on EmptyEasel.

Old Looking Portraits

You also mentioned your portraits looking older than they should, and you wondered if that’s the result of applying too much pressure during drawing. It could be, but it’s more likely that color choice and the way you’re drawing values has more to do with the end result.

One thing I can suggest is that you keep the gradations between values very soft when drawing children. They generally have smoother skin and a lot less wrinkles than older people. I’m putting together a tutorial on this subject, so stay tuned.

Additional Reading

The Only Methods You’ll Even Need for Blending Colored Pencil

Blending Colored Pencil with Painting Solvents

Blending Colored Pencil with Rubbing Alcohol

Unusual Blending Methods for Colored Pencil

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