The Ultimate Guide to Grayscale Coloring for Adults

December 16, 2023

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Featured: a page from our 60 Fantasy Beauties set.

Grayscale coloring pages come already shaded in tones of gray. You color over the top, and the gray gives the finished picture depth. If you're just starting, read our Mastering Grayscale Coloring guide first: it covers your first page and the core techniques. This guide is for when you've colored a few pages and want to push further.

Choosing harder pages

The more tones and detail a page has, the more there is to work with.

Portraits have soft skin tones, hair and eyes, which reward slow layering. See our portrait coloring pages.
Landscapes need depth: warm, detailed foregrounds and cool, faded backgrounds. See our landscape coloring pages.
Fantasy scenes mix textures: scales, feathers, armor, mist. See our fantasy coloring pages.

All are part of our grayscale coloring pages collection.

Advanced techniques

Solvent blending. A small amount of odorless mineral spirits on a cotton swab or paper stump dissolves the binder in wax and oil pencils, so layers melt together like paint. Work in a ventilated room, use very little, and let it dry before adding more color. Print on heavier paper such as cardstock, because solvent can wrinkle thin paper.

Burnishing. For a smooth, polished finish, add a final layer with heavy pressure, using a light color or a colorless blender pencil. This presses the layers together and fills the paper's texture. Burnish last, because you can't add much color on top afterwards.

Stumps for soft gradients. Blending stumps and tortillons push pigment into the paper for soft transitions, such as skin, sky and mist. Keep one stump for light colors and one for dark, so you don't muddy the highlights.

Lifting highlights. A precision eraser can lift color back out of small areas: a glint in an eye, a sparkle on water. It works best before you burnish.

Bright highlights on top. When the page is finished, add small touches of a white gel pen on the brightest points. A little goes a long way.

Metallic accents. Metallic pencils or gel pens on jewelry, armor, crowns or picture frames catch the light and draw the eye. Use them only on a few small areas so they stand out.

Negative coloring. Color the background in deep, rich tones and leave the subject lighter. It's a striking way to make a pale subject, such as a white flower or a ghost, stand out.

Toned paper. Printing a grayscale page on tan or gray toned cardstock gives everything a warm or cool cast. Highlights in white pencil or gel pen then show up strongly.

Patterns and texture. Add your own patterns inside large flat areas: dots on a dress, stripes on a wall, fine hatching on wood. They add interest without changing the shading underneath.

Mixed media. Try watercolor pencils for a soft background wash, then colored pencil on top once it's dry. Test on a spare print first, as printer paper can buckle when wet.

Supplies for advanced work

Pencils: Faber-Castell Polychromos (oil-based, good with solvent) and Prismacolor Premier (soft wax, good for burnishing).
Blending: odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps and a colorless blender pencil.
Highlights: precision eraser, white gel pen and metallic pens or pencils.
Paper: white cardstock and toned cardstock.

Learning from others

Following grayscale colorists on Instagram and YouTube is a good way to see these techniques in action, especially as time-lapse videos. Some coloring groups and forums run monthly challenges, which can push you to try pages and techniques you'd otherwise skip.