Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal


Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal

Hey everyone, Katie here to share three fun ways to use colored pencils in your art journal. Since it’s color week here on the Tombow USA Blog, I’m using only purple colored pencils!

Supplies:

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

#1: Sketch with them!

My favorite way to use colored pencils in my art journal is to simply sketch with them! I love the loose and artistic style you can get by just sketching with pencils instead of ink.

Start by using a lighter colored pencil to draw out a rough sketch of your idea. Use very light pressure. Next, take a slightly darker color and refine your lines a bit.

Continue to layer colors, using the lighter tone to add some shading and the darker tones to add finer lines and refine.

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

#2: Faux Hand Lettering!

Using colored pencils for hand lettering in your art journal can add really beautiful lettering in unique colors in textures. I like to start out by writing my letters in cursive and then adding thicker down strokes to fill in.

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

 

#3: Draw Patterns!

Need an easy way to fill a blank page in your art journal? Try drawing patterns with your colored pencils!

You can be spontaneous by mixing different colors and doodles. For example: wavy lines, dots, straight lines, stars, lines echoing around shapes, cross hatching, etc!

Three Ways to Use Colored Pencils in Your Art Journal - Katie Smith

Bonus idea: Use colored pencils over markers!

One of my absolute favorite way to use colored pencils is to layer them over top the Dual Brush Pens and ABT PRO Markers! This can help you refine the colors and add beautiful texture to your art!

How do you use colored pencils in your art journal?

If you are inspired by this blog post to try using colored pencils in your art journal, be sure to tag us on social media: @tombowusa and @studio.katie!

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