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How To Color

To begin I am going to show you How To Color this Mermaid Coloring Picture with pencil crayons.

There are many qualities of pencil crayons, and many colors.

An important feature of pencil crayons like paint is that you can actually mix color thereby creating something new.

You can always create color!

Let's color this mermaid!

I find it best to start with the lightest color. With a gentle but firm pressure, go with an all over color.

Also, when coloring it helps to squint a little!. This way you can get a feel for How to Color the overall Picture.

You can see that I am starting with a very light yellow-green and a light cream.

Color and Shading

Then I go with a light beige for the overall hair color.

When I color, particularly hair, I like to color in the direction of the long lines - go with the form, or the flow... Enjoy the movement of the Mermaid's hair.

Skin Color and then Shading

Then a light overall skin color.

Now the fun part! Shading.

This is where we start to make our Mermaid Coloring Picture come to life.

This is what I call the "big-shading" stage. I shade with a comparable color, adding the shape and leaving the light. Later we get into the more intensive, definitive shading.

The "big-shading" stage again works best when you squint.

I'm using a slightly darker green and a darker brown in the hair. Just let go with the color, also intensify, and strengthen your pressure on the pencil close to the lines.

Next I work on the detail in the face and shading of the skin.

The last step in my coloring is even more fun -

Go crazy with the black or dark brown shading, and also add some red to the hair and blue-green to the tail.

In other words, now is the time to let go and enjoy the color. If you are enjoying my

How to Color page you can follow the link to my Mermaid Coloring page for some coloring practice.

Color Wheel

If you want to look at a Color Wheel it might help understand the mixing process, and how the whole color spectrum works.

Always remember, this is just an example, have fun.

If you are ready to take your art skills and create your own site, please read my About Me page, and who knows where your artistic muse might take you.