Lettering with Colored Pencils

I usually don’t do adult coloring books – the popular ones have so much detail it actually freaks me out more than it relaxes me, but I recently received the Paige Tate coloring book which is just enough detail to be calming and really cute, to boot!  Along with the book, I got a set of Tombow colored pencils for my birthday.

Finally, a coloring book that marries my love for lettering and an un-overwhelming amount of detail! // http://www.prettyprintsandpaper.com

It’s as if I was a child and an adult all over again with this set up! This brought me to lettering.  Inspired by the way Tombow dual brush pens have a sort of gradient to them, I wanted to do something similar with colored pencils.  It’s quick and easy and you’ll be doing it in no time!

Creating gradient in lettering with colored pencils – just a few quick steps! // http://www.prettyprintsandpaper.com

First, choose your colors. This actually takes me the longest – but choose 3-5 colors that are really close to each other.  I am a huge blue and purple fan, but I’ve also done reds, oranges, and yellows.

When you write out your phrase in script with your lightest color, make it a wider than usual so you have room for thicker downstrokes (aka, more color!).

Blending colored pencils gives lettering a beautiful gradient look // http://www.prettyprintsandpaper.com

Now, work your way to the darker shades of your palette. I like to do a little test patch on a scrap piece of paper to get a smooth coloring surface before I start shading to avoid that one really intense colored streak.  Just start shading your letters, beginning from the bottom and reaching not quite to the top.  It’ll be harder to notice until you get to the third color when the gradient becomes much more obvious.

// http://www.prettyprintsandpaper.com

Voila! Add a few finishing touches – at the end I added just a touch of black at the very bottoms of each letter and sharpened up the thin strokes with the lightest shade.

The key is to get your letter forms right – the shading is the easy part.

Have fun!

Jessica