As a former oil painter, one of my goals when I switched to colored pencil was making colored pencil art look like oil paintings. That was especially true of my portraits, but it applied to everything.
Why would I want to do that?
The biggest reason I wanted my colored pencil art to look like oil paintings is that I’d spent so many years painting. A lot of people owned portraits in oils. I wanted to give people the option of getting colored pencil art, but I didn’t want the differences to be obvious. The quality and overall appearance should be similar.
As it happens, I’m not the only artist with that ambition, as the following question proves.
What are the best ways to make a colored pencil drawing look like an oil painting?
Making Colored Pencil Art Look Like Oil Paintings
Whenever anyone asks this question, they usually want to know about color application, method, and so on. That is, after all, what we usually think about when it comes to colored pencil: Method.
There are a couple of ways to get an oil painting-like result with colored pencils that involve method, but that’s not where the process begins if you truly want your colored pencil drawing to look like an oil painting.
Ways to Make Your Colored Pencil Art Look Like Oil Paintings
Choosing a Support
The process begins with the support you use. You can, of course, use the paper you usually use and the methods I’ll describe in a moment will work. But you’ll still have to frame the drawing under glass. No matter how painterly your drawing turns out, it will still clearly not be an oil painting.
So the first thing you need to consider is drawing on a rigid support. Something like Pastelbord, or a gessoed panel that doesn’t need to be framed under glass. You can even use colored pencils on canvas. That will really make the finished work look more like an oil painting.
There are plenty of surfaces from which to choose, so pick one or two (or three or four), and try them. Find one that works well with your drawing methods and suits your needs, and you’re ready!
Choosing a Method
Almost any method of drawing is capable of producing “painterly” colored pencil work. Why? Because styles of painting range from very loose and minimal to very detailed and complex. I usually think of realistic styles when I want to make a colored pencil drawing look like an oil painting, but that’s not your only option.
I’m going to make a huge assumption here, and say that most of the readers who ask how to make their colored pencil drawings look like oil paintings want to know how to draw rich, saturated color, with no paper holes. I have two suggestions for you!
Following are two options for creating saturated color.
(If you want to make your drawings look like oil paintings, but not with saturated color, let me know!)
Option 1: Layer, Layer, Layer
The method I prefer is layering. Not five or six layers or even a dozen, but twenty or thirty.
Start with light pressure and careful color application, then gradually increase the pressure with successive layers. Burnish toward the end if you wish, and alternate burnishing with additional layers of color.
My preferred paper for this kind of work is Stonehenge. It’s a relatively soft paper, but it can take a lot of color. It can also take some abuse. It is a printmaking paper, though, so it is rather susceptible to impression. You can very easily make a mark in it accidentally.
NOTE: Using this method on Stonehenge will produce wonderful color saturation and no paper holes—just like an oil painting—but you will still need to frame it under glass to protect the paper.
Option 2: Solvents
The second method—which I have used but don’t prefer—is the use of solvents.
I used rubber cement thinner to blend the background on this drawing, but that was years ago and I no longer use rubber cement thinner. it’s simply too potent and I had to use it outside to avoid the fumes.
These days, I use odorless mineral spirits when I use solvents (which isn’t very often). You still need to be careful and use odorless mineral spirits in a well-ventilated area.
I choose this sample, because the blended background looks like a background painted with oils, but the unblended horse is clearly colored pencil. You can clearly see the difference a solvent blend makes in color saturation. In order to make this drawing really look like an oil painting, I need to add more layers on the horse, and then possibly blend with solvent.
Tips for Using Solvent to Blend
If you use solvent, you need to have a lot of color on the paper first, so multiple layers are still important.
You also need a heavier paper. Paper mounted to a rigid support is best, because it will stand up to the fluid solvent better.
Keep gradations in value and color smooth and subtle. Consider the way you put color on the paper, too. Careful strokes, usually following the contours of the subject, but also using other strokes to cover the paper.
NOTE: Using this method on a rigid support will allow you to frame the finished work without glass, which will enhance the similarity to an oil painting.
The Bottom Line
Those are the best suggestions I can make. It is possible to do a portrait in colored pencil that looks like an oil painting. Though my portraits are usually horses or dogs, I have been able to do some that are difficult to distinguish from an oil painting, even when hanging next to an oil painting.
Except for the glass, of course. The glass is a dead giveaway. Most artists just don’t frame oils under glass!
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I purchased a printed art piece to do on canvas with acrylic however, I love working with colored pencils. The canvas is stretched but not a tight stretch, what I want to do is changed the markings slightly in the dog to look like the dog my husband lost a year ago. Can that be done. Thanks for your reply.
Happy sketching,
Barb
Barbara,
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “a printed art piece to do on canvas.” Are you talking about a paint-by-number?
If so, you can change the design any way you wish. In fact, I learned how to paint by doing every paint-by-number horse painting I could find, then doing some of them again, but changing them.
You can use colored pencil on canvas. John Ursillo (http://www.bearcubstudio.com/) does a lot of his colored pencil pieces on canvas. It’s a different process than drawing on paper, and it requires the use of solvent to fill the weave of the canvas, but it is possible.
I hope I’ve answered your question. If not, let me know!
Carrie
Ms Lewis
Thank you for your response, I will try
that and try to figure out what solvent to use that would be easy for a beginner.
It is much appreciated.
Barbara
I found a way that truly amazed me and all my friends. I colored a Gray scale picture and ha it printed on canvas and stretched. The result was outstanding can’t weight to try another.
That’s one way to make a finished drawing look like an oil painting.
Are you colorizing a gray scale photograph or artwork?
I have bought a paint-by-number kit. I want to use color pencil-by-number instead. How do I figure out the numbered paint colors to the equivalent of a colored pencil? The kit does not give a list if numbers with their colors of paint. Thank you, Crystal
Crystal,
It’s been a lot of years since I did a paint-by-number, so some of what I’m about to recommend might be outdated.
As I remember, the paints are numbered on the actual containers, but even if they’re not, all you have to do is compare your pencils with the paint itself. Find the colored pencil that’s the closest match and use that instead of the paint.
Depending on the amount of pencils you have, you may need to combine two or more colors to get a match. If that happens, make color swatches by layering different colors and compare those to the paints.
What type of board or paper is the paint-by-number on? It may or may not be suitable for colored pencil work.
Hello Carrie, I am not satisfied with the results of coloured pencils, tried every paper that exists. Smooth, rough, even Pastelmat. I’ve been fighting the grainy and streaky look for years using so many blending methods. It doesn’t seem realistic. Not even layer technology. I don’t use solvents because they are harmful to health. And it frustrated me that I strictly had to plan the highlights like whiskers. Where is the fun? It’s gone! So I tried it with walnut oil and got a completely new, incredibly great result! Prime Pastelmat with walnut oil and than draw over it. The colors are so amazingly intense and can be blended with a brush. Since then, hyper-realistic images have appealed to me. You can even paint light on dark on Pastelmat using this technique. Since then I don’t like it any other way. The oil cures fine within days. The only very annoying thing it’s yellowing over time. So I tried every oil existing and made tests. But it appears with every oil, even Poppy. Cooking oil doesn’t turn yellow, but it doesn’t dry either. The same with baby oil. I haven’t found a solution to this problem so far.
Sabine,
Thank you for reading this post and taking the time to leave a comment.
When I was an oil painter, I used walnut-based oil paints (M. Graham Oils) and used walnut oil to thin paint as needed and to clean brushes. One of the reasons I switched to walnut oil from linseed oil was because it doesn’t yellow like linseed oil and other oils commonly used for oil painting. The biggest drawback was that it’s so slow drying, but that fit into my painting methods perfectly.
However, I have never before heard of using it with colored pencils. Your method sounds intriguing.
I wonder if the yellowing is the paper rather than the oil. I always painted on either canvas or a rigid support like birch wood or Masonite. There is no yellowing with them, so maybe the problem with yellowing is the interaction between the oil and the paper.
Also, what color paper are you using? Maybe trying a colored paper would eliminate or at least conceal the yellowing somewhat…?
Overall, I don’t recommend oils like this with colored pencils because of possible damage or discoloration of the paper. I’ve also found it very easy to blend colored pencil on Pastelmat with a bristle brush or paper stump, so have not looked for other methods.
However, I can say that the pencils themselves do make a difference. Dryer, harder pencils like Faber-Castell Polychromos are definitely easier to blend with a brush or paper stump than soft, waxy pencils. They also lay down smoother color, at least for me.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your experiences.
Hi Carrie…..I love the idea of making a drawing look like an oil painting.
Your horse is beautiful!
Would you say Specific colored pencils do best? Like Derwent or polychromos? Mainly becouse of their oil base and light fastness.
Thank you for your articles…I learn so much and we artist must stick together.
I am currently seeking websites!
Sheila,
Thank you for your very kind comments!
I don’t think the pencil brands matter as much as how they’re used. The horse portrait was drawn many years ago, and I believe it was mostly with Prismacolor. It was definitely before I discovered Faber-Castell Polychromos.
I definitely recommend using lightfast colors whenever possible, but whether they’re wax-based or oil-based doesn’t matter.
Thank you again for your comment!
I like how this article frames a painterly look in colored pencil as something built through patience rather than a shortcut. The focus on surface choice really stands out, because that alone can shift the work from something that feels flat to something that holds weight like a painting. The layering process also feels very honest to how paintings develop, slowly building depth instead of forcing a finished look too early. As an artist, this feels less about copying oil painting and more about understanding what gives a piece presence, then carrying that into pencil work.
Arabella,
Thank you for reading this post and for your very insightful comment. You have taken my point exactly. Creating painterly art in colored pencils is more about skill and technique than about shortcuts.