5 Essential Steps for Grayscale Coloring Success

8 min readOct 11, 2017

Colorist: Jones Flores
Coloring Book: Beautiful Nature

When coloring grayscale there are 5 essential steps to follow for success:

Choosing Colors
Layering
Increasing Contrast
Blending
Finishing Touches

These steps can be followed for any grayscale image you color. In order for you to see these steps in action, in this post Jones Flores has outlined how she followed these steps for the succulent you see above. Below you will find a coloring worksheet for the succulent as well as a color chart and an image progression of Jones’ coloring process from start to finish so that you can try out the steps and follow along with Jones’ process.

Download the Coloring Worksheet

Download & print this grayscale coloring worksheet for the succulent from Beautiful Nature so you can color along with Jones’ guidance.

Step 1: Choosing Colors Using the 3 Tone Rule

To simplify grayscale coloring we have classified it into 3 major areas: light, medium and dark. To assist with your color selection, Jones developed the 3 Tone Rule. The 3 Tone Rule is choosing 3 shades of the same color for each color you plan to use in your picture. To see how this works, here are the color selections Jones made for the succulent:

The major color is Green so Jones picked:

Chartreuse = light green tone which applies to the light gray areas
Grass Green = medium green tone which applies to medium gray areas
True Green = dark green tone which applies to dark gray areas

To enhance her palette, Jones chose Blue to increase the contrast which applies for the shadows. Again, by applying the 3 Tone Rule, Jones chose the following for her Blues:

Light Aqua = light blue tone
True Blue = medium blue tone
Ultramarine = dark blue tone

Additional colors would be for highlighting and shadowing.

White, Creme and Canary Yellow = highlighting
Black = shadowing

Prismacolor Premier Color List for the Succulent
To find the Faber Castell Polychromos equivalents, check out this awesome Prismacolor/Polychromos pencil comparison chartcreated by Claire of Colour with Claire.

Step 2: Layering

In order to build up color intensity and depth it is important to do many light layers of colored pencil. Apply your layers using light pressure and a circular motion.

Apply your White and/or Creme (for highlights) to the very brightest/lightest areas of the succulent. This will help “hold” those areas as the lightest areas when layers of your lightest tone (Chartreuse) are applied.
Apply your light tone (Chartreuse) being sure to target the light gray areas. You can also apply it on the medium gray areas since your main goal is to create as many layers as possible and you will layer your medium tone on top of the Chartreuse in the medium gray areas next.
Apply your medium tone (Grass Green) on the medium gray areas. Like with the step above, it’s okay if your medium tone is applied to your dark gray areas because you will layer your dark tone on top of the Grass Green in the dark gray areas next.
Apply your dark tone (True Green) on the dark gray areas.
Apply multiple layers of each tone on it’s related gray area until you have built up enough color intensity.

Step 3: Increasing Contrast

Shadowing, outlining and highlighting are key to increasing contrast. By focusing on shadowing and outlining the existing highlights will intensify due to the increased contrast that has been created.

Highlighting: Add further layers to your brightest areas to ensure they are as bright as possible.

Layer with White, Creme and Canary Yellow to further brighten the very lightest areas. These will be your highlights.

TIP: Colored Pencils are not as opaque as wet mediums like paint or ink pens and it is always a challenge to bring out the brightness of light colors.

Shadowing: Add layers using the 3 shades of Blue. However, this time only target the medium and dark gray areas of the leaves. Using one tone at a time:First the Light Aqua on the medium and dark areas.

Then, True Blue and Ultramarine on the dark areas.
If you find that the shadows become too blue or the blue layer has sharp blue lines in it then you can balance them back to a greener color or just soften the sharp lines by applying a layer of Canary Yellow or Creme.

Outlining is a process to define the shadows by creating thin lines using the color of the shadow.

Use Ultramarine mixed with Black for the dark outlines.
Observe the outlines of the leaves that are dark instead of those that are light. By increasing the contrast of the surrounding area, we are able to further emphasize the light edges of the leaves.

Step 4: Blending

There are many options for blending as outlined below. For the succulent, Jones burnished with Creme for the light areas and Grass Green on the medium areas. Jones did not burnish the dark areas she just left them as is after lots of layering. If you do wish to burnish the dark areas then do so with Grass Green after applying multiple layers of Green and Blues mixed with Black.

Burnishing is a blending technique that will not require any spirit or blending medium other than a burnishing pencil or the colored pencil itself. This is applied by using heavy pressure on the pencil and flattening out the surface or tooth of the paper. With the force applied, the multiple layers are now mixing together. Here plays the importance of creating as many layers as possible. Burnishing is done as the final layer.
Baby Oil or Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) are common household products that can be used as a blending medium. You can use a cotton bud or a small old paint brush with soft bristle by dabbing it directly and wiping off the excess on a tissue paper or any scratch paper. A small amount will go a long way and will help you avoid bleeding or staining the back of the paper. Blend in a circular motion. Again, do this once you are finished layering colored pencil as it will become difficult to add another layer once this blending technique has been applied.
Gamsol or Odorless Mineral Spirit is commonly used by artists but us colorists can also use this with caution. Make sure that you are in a well-ventilated area when using spirits. Jones has a small sealed container where she pours a small amount for her to use. She dabs the paint brush and wipes the excess on a scratch paper or tissue paper before blending. A small amount will be enough. This medium dries quickly (less than a minute) and it allows additional layers as long as you haven’t flattened the tooth or surface of the paper.

TIP: Tooth of the paper is the nooks and crannies you see when you apply your colored pencils and find a grainy texture. That texture results when the pigments of the colored pencils are not able to reach the tooth of the paper. Circular motion pencil strokes help the pencils to get into the nooks and crannies which results in smoother blending and output.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

Once the layering, shadowing, outlining & blending are complete it is now time to apply any finishing touches. Depending on the picture you are coloring, it can be anything from tiny white dots with white ink pen on the brightest spots in your picture to a sharp black pencil to add flecks of dark detail like in this succulent. The small finishing touches are what can truly complete a picture and take it to that more realistic level.

To provide that finishing touch for the succulent Jones wanted to add some final details using her Pencil Flick Trick for the small spikes on the edges of the succulent leaves. To apply this technique make sure that your pencil is well sharpened then on a scrap piece of paper try creating a small check. Point and flick. It is like creating a very short line with medium to sudden light pressure. Now apply this technique to the actual picture.
Observe the black thorn-like things on the edges of the leaves. These small details are the key to realistic artwork. This is also applicable when coloring other subjects with fur, hair, petals, etc.

The Full Process

Here are the 10 stages of coloring the succulent that Jones advanced through. These stages embody the 5 steps outlined above: choose colors, layer, increase contrast, blend and finish.