Many people aren’t sure how to color beautiful faces. Picking the right pencil for skin tones, shading, and highlighting can be confusing. Figuring out where to put shadows and highlights is overwhelming. Here are a few tips and tricks to assist you in creating a beautiful face.
This tutorial won’t teach you how to color a realistic portrait. That would be much more advanced. I intend to tell you what works for me. Pick and choose whichever makes sense to you and practice. The more faces you color, the better you will get.
Beautiful Faces
Line drawing from Weirdlings and Wildlings by Shelah Dow.
My #1 secret? It’s all in the eyes. What does that mean? Most people will focus on the eyes. Nail them, and the whole face will look better. I’ll give some tips for the eyes, but we need to talk about the skin.
Color Selection
Getting the colors right is half the battle. Maybe you’ve purchased a skin-tones colored pencil set, hoping that it will make the color selection easier. But now you have brown, beige, peach, black, yellow, pink, blue, green, and purple skin tone pencils. What’s the deal with blue, green, and purple?
Fortunately, you don’t need all those colors to create a beautiful face. One to five pencils is all you need. Here is the process to pick out those pencils.
What color is a beautiful face?
There are at least nine make-up companies that offer foundations in 50+ colors. This means that you have a lot of choices when choosing realistic skin colors. It’s confusing, so you grab a pencil labeled “flesh” or “peach.” and start coloring. Now have a pinkish or yellowish caucasian face. Nice, but maybe a bit boring?
Side Note: Describing a color as “flesh” or “nude” without a qualifier such as “peach flesh” or “dark flesh” is outdated and offensive!
You can do better. There is no reason to limit yourself. Take a look at these color palettes from KarenNicoleDesigns on Etsy. Any of those shades can be the foundation color of a realistic skin tone.
Skin Tone Charts
Light Skin Tones. Chart by KarenNicoleDesigns.
Dark Skin Tones by KarenNicoleDesigns.
Great charts, aren’t they? Now you can find a pencil to match any shade you want by comparing the pencil color to the table color! Problem solved, right? It’s a start, but we need to talk about a couple of other things to create a beautiful face. So pick a shade to use as your foundation color and move to the next step.
Highlights and Shadows
What really makes a face “pop” are the shadows and highlights. For simplicity, we are going to assume “universal lighting” for this tutorial. That means there is no strong light source causing weird shadows. Just a gentle diffused light from above/in front of the face.
Have you heard of make-up face sculpting? It is the process where people use make-up to create highlights and shadows on their faces to emphasize features or change the shape of the face. Coloring highlights and shadows use the same techniques.
Contour and Highlight Chart
Sugar Cosmetics Contour & Highlight Chart
I don’t use this make-up brand, but I love how the chart shows contouring and highlighting. It’s also a great example of eyes, blush, and lips. On the left, the highlights have been blended but not the contouring. On the right, the contours have been blended but not the highlights.
Have you picked out your foundation color yet? Now you need to pick out a darker and lighter pencil to go with it. Concerned your colors won’t match? Let’s talk about color tone.
Warm/Neutral/Cool Undertones
Look at your wrist in natural lighting.
Do your veins look blue or purple? Then you have cool undertones of blue, pink, or ruddy red.
Do your veins look green? Then you have warm undertones – peach, yellow, and gold.
Can’t tell what color or there is a mix of both? Then you have neutral undertones.
Got it? Let’s open Karen’s skin tone charts in a new window so you can look back and forth easier. Click this link to open the Skin Tone Charts in a new tab.
The first three columns are cool colors, the second three are neutral, and the third set is warm. So you will want to pick a lighter and darker shade from the same tone as the foundation pencil you choose. How much lighter and darker can change depending on how dramatic you want the picture to b,e but make sure that it is noticeable.
You will also want to pull colors for your lips and cheeks from the same tone family. That means a warm tone red will have an orange tinge, and a cool red tone will have a blue tinge. Can’t tell? Then it’s probably neutral and will work with any tone.
Remember the three pictures at the top of the page? Can you identify their tone?
Got your three pencils now? Ready to learn how to use those colors to create a beautiful face?
Start Layering the Color!
Layering isn’t scary. It’s how you create depth and texture to your picture. I’ll make it easy for you. Let’s open the highlight and contouring picture in a new tab so that you can easily refer to it.
Using a sharp pencil and a light touch, gently fill the picture with your foundation color. Coloring in little circles instead of straight lines will allow you to blend the color more evenly. Go over the highlighted area very lightly and apply more pressure to the contour areas.
Next, take your sharpened contour color and go over the contour areas.
Now apply the highlight color with a sharpened pencil.
After sharpening your foundation color pencil again, apply to areas without contour and highlighted areas.
You now have two layers of color. If done properly, you should not have complete coverage yet. Depending on the tooth of your paper, repeat steps 1 – 4 at least two more times. Smooth paper won’t take as many layers as rougher or toothier paper.
Blending
At this point, you can consider using a blending agent or, my favorite, a Prismacolor blending pencil.
If your paper is very toothy, you may have to burnish it to get a smooth finish. Burnishing is like blending, except that you are pressing harder and breaking down the paper fiber. Once this is done, it is difficult to make any more changes.
Not sure how to blend. Here is a great tutorial.
Continue to add layers until you are satisfied with the results. Your contouring and highlighting may be different than the sample picture, and that’s okay. Different face shapes look better with different contours and highlights. You can also adjust them to create a softer face or a more dramatic one.
Typically, I will also use the contour or other dark colors to create a slight shadow around the hairline and between the head and neck. Shadows don’t have to be blended in as much as contours.
Cheeks and Lips
Pick cheek and lip colors that are in the same tonal family. For instance, a warm complexion will look better with the red/oranges, and red/purples work better with cool complexions.
For blush, start with the apple of the cheek and fade the color as you handle back towards the temple and hairline. It should overlap a little of the cheek contour and the cheek foundation color. Start applying color lightly because you can always add more color, but it’s a pain to remove it.
For lips, apply the color darker where the lips meet and on either end. Using a little of the contour color in the corners can create a nice definition. Color lighter towards the middle of the lip. Blend and highlight more if needed.
Eyebrows
After I’m satisfied with the skin, I color in the eyebrows. I’ll go over the eyebrow line with a white pencil to soften it if I want lighter eyebrows. Then I use short strokes in the direction of natural hair growth and draw in hairs until I have the eyebrow shape that I want.
Finishing Touches
At this point, I will use my favorite white pencil (Derwent Drawing Chinese Pencil) to lighten the highlights under the eyes and on the forehead, nose, and lips. I also use black or grey in the same tonal family to shape the edges of the face, nose, eyes and lips and add more defined shadows to the hair and neck.
Check for any spots that need additional blending.
Side Note: Tones are why Prismacolor gives you so many grays in its Premier 150 pencil count box. You’ll love having so many options once you figure them out.
Why a Sharp Pencil?
A sharp pencil allows you to apply light coats of color and fills in the paper’s bumps and ridges. This will allow you to layer color and create a smooth look without damaging the paper. Once the paper fiber is damaged, it is difficult to make any changes to it.
What is a good sharpener? It depends on the pencil brand you are using and your personal preference. The Kutsuwa STAD T’GAAL is a very popular handheld sharpener. My current favorite is the Dahle 155, Professional.
Eyes that Pop
I always start with the eyes. I joke that they tell me how to do the rest of the face. But in a way, it’s true. By starting with the eyes, I can keep the eyes as the picture’s focus while coloring everything else.
This picture is from a colored contact lens company called TTDeye. I find their photos great for color inspiration, plus they give you an excellent close-up look at the eye.
The Iris
The iris isn’t one shade. There will be a base color plus lines or dots of color. There will also be a darker color around the outside of the iris. If the eye you are coloring is small, use a single light color and outline it with a darker color. You can also use your sharp white pencil to lighten the area between the pupil and the darker edge.
The Whites of the Eyes
The whites of the eye aren’t white. Look closely; the inside and outside corners of the eyes are slightly red or pink. Sometimes the whites are slightly grey, blue, or yellow.
For the corners of the eyes, apply a light coat of red and then soften with your white pencil. The inside corner of the eye has a slightly larger area of color than the outside. A small oval of your red or pink color will create this part of the eye. Lightly blend it in.
Top Eye Lashline
There is a shadow along the top of the eyeball below the lid. A swipe of soft grey will give the eye depth. If the eye is large enough, you can add a faint tint of your red/pink color to it.
Bottom Eye Lashline
There is a slight gap between the eyeball and eyelash line. The eye in your picture may not be large enough to show that line but keep in mind.
When coloring the bottom lash line, go over the artist's line with a white pencil to soften it. Bring your skin color over that line, then softly create the lash line or draw eyelashes right below the outside of the line.
Eye Shine and Reflections
You will always see eyeshine or light reflections off of the eyeball. Most people use a dot or two from a white gel pen or acrylic paint to create the reflection. If the eye is large enough, you can add more dots and streaks for a more realistic look.
You can use your white pencil to add a light sheen or larger reflection by gently rubbing it across the selected section. Sometimes I will use my Tombow Mono Zero Eraser to create eyeshine by removing color.
Example of gel pen highlight. Line drawing by Shelah Dow.
Example of eyeshine with a white pencil. Line drawing by Shelah Dow.
Skin Around the Eye
When coloring the skin around the eye, the inside corner of the eye should be lighter. Also, there should be a soft shadow under the eye. It doesn’t need to be more than a smear. Note that in the picture from the contact lens company, the shadow is a light purple. What’s her skin tone?
Visit my Coloring Eyes Pinterest board for more examples and tips on coloring eyes.
Fixing Common Problems
When people come to me for advice to “fix” their picture, the “problem” is usually one of the following.
Too Yellow or Too Pink
A too yellow or pink face is a very common problem but easy to fix if you haven’t burnished your picture. Remember our talk on warm and cool colors?
If your picture is too yellow (warm), you will need to layer some pink-toned (cool) color over it. A little will leave your beautiful face warm-toned, and more will turn it neutral. Too much pink? Reverse the process and layer on a warm color.
You can refer to the skin color chart to find a similar shade to your foundation color in the opposite tone column. I suggest blending the colors on a piece of scrap paper to make sure you like the results before applying the new shade to your picture.
Many people find it helpful to keep a swatch book of color combinations for future reference. You can use a sketchbook (my favorite: Arteza sketchbooks) or purchase a swatch book like the Colorist Palette Reference Book by Ligia Ortega.
Too Much Color or the Wrong Color
This can be a little more challenging to fix depending on the amount of area to be corrected. You will need to erase it by layer gently. You will not eliminate all the color but should get enough off to fix the picture.
For small areas, I would use a Tombow Mono Zero Eraser. For larger areas, I typically use a Faber-Castell Triangular Grip Eraser. Though I love electric erasers for some things, this is not the time to use them.
So let’s say you overcolored a highlighted area or used the wrong color blush. Take your eraser and lightly brush the color off. Don’t scrub! Try to feather the erased area into the surrounding color when you’ve removed as much color as you want or can. Use the layering and blending methods to apply the correct color and blend it into the surrounding color.
The #1 Mistake People Make
You got nervous and stopped coloring a few layers too soon. When a picture is looking good, it is perfectly normal to get worried about ruining it. We can’t entirely trust ourselves.
Or, you may think it’s not very good and give up. But, when we are in a middle of a project, it isn’t easy to judge how it will turn out. And we are all too hard on ourselves.
You have three choices at this point.
Stop and be happy with your picture. I’m sure it looks quite nice.
Continue and “ruin” the picture. First of all, it looks better than you think it does. If you don’t believe me, post it and have everyone else tell you. Second, even if it is truly ruined, it was a great learning experience, and your next face will be better for it.
Continue and amaze yourself. You did it! Post your beautiful picture and enjoy the compliments.
It’s a Learning Curve
Keep in mind that even the greatest artists had to learn how to create beautiful pictures. When I started coloring, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I watched tutorials, read books, studied pins and asked people how they got the results I wanted.
Most of all, I practiced. For every picture I post, there are three or four fails. But that’s okay because I learned something from every one of them. Even if it just was NOT to do. I promise that you will see improvement if you keep pushing yourself outside your comfort zone by trying new techniques.
Deirdre’s Very First Picture. Line art from Creative Haven Creative Cats Coloring Book by Marjorie Sarnat.
Click here to see some of my favorite tools for Coloring Beautiful Faces and Skin Tones.
Advanced: Undertones
Hummingbirds. Drawn by Sanja Bo of Creative Bo Art.
When you decide you’re ready, you can experiment using undertones to give your beautiful faces richer color. With this lady, I used the cool-toned hummingbird colors for her first layer.
The foundation color is a light blue. I used darker blue for shadows/contour and to shape the nose, chin, and under the eyes. I left the highlights uncolored.
Using purple, I defined her cheekbone, soften the jaw, and shaded the eyelids.
In a surprise move, I neutralized the cool skin tone colors with three shades of golden brown (warm tone) and a neutral dark brown. I have no idea how many layers I used as I layered until I was happy. (Actually, I’ve gone back and added another layer or two after I took this picture.)
I colored the part of the face further away, slightly darker than the part nearest to us. This helps to add depth to the face.
With a white pencil, I lightened the highlights.
I used a black pencil around the hairline, neckline, eyes, and nostrils for more definition.
The eyebrows were shaped with dark golden brown and dark brown. I think they may be too warm and may add some blue to them to cool them down.
I applied a cool red (blue undertones rather than orange) lightly to the apple of her cheek and faded it towards her temple.
For the lips, I created a gradient from the cool red in the corners to purple and, finally, light blue in the middle. I used a white pencil to lighten the lip highlight.
I checked for any areas that needed more blending.
Side Note: The skin in this picture has a blended combination of Crayola Skin Tones, Arteza, and Prismacolor Premier colored pencils. I used a Derwent Drawing Chinese Pencil for my white pencil and blended it with a Prismacolor Premier Colorless Blender Pencil.
Which Brand of Pencils is Best When Coloring Beautiful Faces?
Your favorite brand. Seriously. It is more about the technique than the pencils. Read my pencil comparison test here.
My Secret Weapon
Are you still reading? Want to know one more resource to improve your color choices? This book contains all sorts of color combos for skin, eyes, lips and hair. It has a section on contouring and highlighting and even shows undertones. It is also a good resource on how to mix warm and cool color combos successfully.
Don’t get too caught up in the mixing instructions – it is for painting. Instead, just match your pencil colors to their swatches.
So that’s it. At least all I can think of right now. What do you think? Do you have a favorite trick or tip? What is your go-to technique? Let me know in the comments.
Join my Facebook coloring club, Obsession Coloring Club, and show me the beautiful faces you’ve colored. Head over to my Gallery on Facebook to see more of my beautiful faces.
For information overload, here is my Pinterest Board with Skin and Hair examples and tutorials.
Deirdre Gamill-Hock is a lifestyle/wellness coach and freelance writer/editor who writes engaging content for blogs and small businesses. Contact her at deirdre@deirdrehock.com or click here.
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