When you open your first coloring book for adults you might be a bit overwhelmed at the amount of detail and then when you start exploring the hundreds of Facebook coloring groups with amazing artists sharing their work you might get very intimidated! However, never fear, there are a few books to guide you and this book is hands down the best I have seen.
The New Guide To Coloring – Colored Pencil Techniques + Tips and Tricks for Colorists of all skill levels
This book has everything you ever wanted to know about coloring in adult coloring books but didn’t know how to ask. From basic blending, shading and highlighting techniques to complex color theory, ideas for things to do with your colorings and advice on supplies. The amount of knowledge in the coloring book bible will blow you away. It is published by Design Originals and the editors of DO Magazine. Click to Order Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon Canada
YouTube is also your friend, just search for “Colored Pencil Tutorials” and dozens will come up I’ve posted a few of my favorites for you below.
Johanna Basford Easy Coloring Tutorials
3 ways to Colour Leaves in Magical Jungle by Johanna Basford
How to Color Treasure by Johanna Basford
How to color a dragon in Ivy & the Inky Butterfly by Johanna Basford
How to Color Skin Tone by Johanna Basford
Blending Techniques – Colored Pencil Tutorials
Blending Tips – Colored Pencil Tutorial with Cher Kauffman
My favorite colored pencil teacher is Peta Hewitt. In this one she chats while coloring in Johanna Basford’s Enchanted Forest and explains which pencils she uses and then shows her methods for blending and choosing colours.
Colouring Tutorials: Pencil Blending and Choosing Colours by Peta Hewitt
These first three have the artist chatting with you and explaining different aspects of coloring with colored pencils. This next video has the artist just coloring in a Johanna Basford owl.. Just watching her color you can get ideas about how to blend colors together.
This tutorial addresses the problems colourists have with picking colours and planning their work. Using this multi-part tutorial Peta will colour the grasshopper picture in Hanna Karlzon’s colouring book ‘Sommarnatt’ (‘Summer Nights’ in English). I’ve added parts 1 – 5
Chris Cheng has a completely different style for her Johanna Basford Owl. There is NO one way to color, no rules at all! That’s what sets adult coloring books apart and makes them such a stress reliever. If you want a purple owl then color it purple. Chris’ owl is a more traditional palette of Earth tones and with lots of white highlights showing through. Both are fabulous and as you learn techniques you will come upon your own individual style.
If you have explored Johanna’s Secret Garden & Enchanted Forests or have gotten a copy of Floribunda or the Swedish artists Hanna Karlzon or Marie Troll’s gorgeous coloring books you know that coloring flowers and leaves is something you need to master. This colored pencil tutorial from Davlina Art shows different methods of leaf shading and highlighting. It moves slowly enough that you could color right along with her.
How to create shiny leaves – Leaf Shading Colored Pencil Tutorial
How to color flowers – Colored Pencil Tutorial
Coloring Pencil Tutorials: How to Color Leaves by Peta Hewitt
Peta explains what she is doing and why as she colors, as you listen she will also reveal all sorts of other little tips that you haven’t heard of before. I really enjoy watching and listening.
Colouring Tutorial: Using Light and Choosing Colours – Colored Pencil Tutorial
Advanced Colored Pencil Tutorials
Once you have the basics of flowers and leaves down you will need to move into more advanced techniques and once again I turn to Peta Hewitt. She is a great teacher who explains things in such a way as she colors that the concepts come alive.
Colouring Tutorial – How to Colour in a Face shown in Dagdrommar by Peta Hewitt
Coloring Skin & Hair Colored Pencil Tutorial by Chris Chen ColorvsColour
Chris doesn’t explain what she is doing or why but you can learn by watching her color in Dagdrommar coloring book in this video.
How to Color Gemstones and Jewels – Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt
As soon as you get your copies of Dagdrommar & Sommernatt you will want to know how to color in all the gems and jewels in Hanna Karlzon’s colouring books.
How to do a background in your coloring book – Video Tutorials
Background Basics – Coloring Book Tutorials
Cher Kauffman shares 10 different ways to do backgrounds.
How to Color a Black Background – Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt
How to color a background with pastels- Colored Pencil Tutorial by Peta Hewitt
Tips and Tricks for Pastel Background
Coloring Backgrounds with Pastel Pencils – Colored Pencil Tutorials
Colored Backgrounds using eye shadow – Coloring Tutorial
Check out these Tips for New Colorists, best colored pencils to buy, best markers to buy and best gel pens for adult coloring books.
Let us know your favorite tutorial teachers in the comments below.
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