Grayscale Coloring Tips & Tutorials by Medium and Coloring Book

To date there have been a lot coloring tips & tutorials using all kinds of techniques and mediums for the pages of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Nature. I thought it would be helpful for you to have a summary of those tips & tutorials sorted by coloring medium as well as by coloring book. This way if you are working on a specific page in one of the books you can refer to this list to find guidance tailored to that coloring page. 

​You'll notice that some tips & tutorials show up in multiple categories. This is because multiple mediums are used in some of the tips & tutorials. 

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Colored Pencils

Below you will find tips & tutorials grouped by wax-based and oil-based colored pencils. This is important because the pencils do behave differently. So you have an understanding of how they differ, here is a comparison of ​Prismacolor Premiers vs. Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils.

Even though the pencils perform differently, you can certainly follow along with a tutorial that uses different colored pencils than you use. Although the pencil types are different there are still many similarities and the basic guidance provided regarding coloring with colored pencils applies across all types. 
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Wax-Based Colored Pencils (e.g. Prismacolor Premiers)

Beautiful Nature

1. Lotus Flower Buds: Tutorial & color-along. Learn 5 key coloring techniques.
2. Tulip Field: Essential coloring techniques for increasing contrast & impact. 
3. Giant Wave: How to color grayscale water. ​Big waves tutorial & color-along.
4. Tulip Field Background (Part 1) by DKdesign.
5. Tulip Field Tulips (Part 2) (by DKdesign).
6. Poppy Field Ominous Sky (Part 1) (by DKdesign).
7. Poppy Field Hillside (Part 2) (by DKdesign).
8. Water Drop Leaf: Coloring water drops.
9. Dahlia: Layering and burnishing. 
10. Magnolia Tree Flowers: Achieving vibrant color. 
11. Petunias: Mapping out the layers.
12. Big Succulent: 5 essential steps for grayscale coloring success.
13. Mountain Reflection: Cloud coloring technique. 

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cat: Tutorial and color-along.
2. Basenji Dog: Short fur tutorial & color-along.
3. Iguana: Step-by-step to realistic results.
4. Ladybug: Speed coloring. 
5. Horse: Speed coloring.
6. Giraffe: Speed coloring. 
7. Squirrel: Speed coloring. 
8. Three Horses: Speed coloring. 
9. Crocodile: Speed coloring
10. Close-up Cat: Speed coloring 
11. Basenji Dog: Speed coloring. 

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Oil-Based Colored Pencils (e.g. Faber Castell Polychromos)

Beautiful Nature

1. Ocean Pier Landscape: Tutorial & color-along. 
2. Sunset Ocean: How to color grayscale water. Small waves tutorial & color-along.
3. Tulips: Grayscale coloring basics. Tutorial & color-along.​

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cat: Tutorial and color-along.
2. Flamingos: Tutorial & color-along.
3. Rhinoceros: Essential coloring techniques for increasing contrast & impact. 
4. Bee: Grayscale coloring basics tutorial & color-along.
5. Iguana: Step-by-step to realistic results. 
6. Monkey: Long fur tutorial and color-along. 
7. Butterfly: Speed coloring by Peta Hewitt.
8. Peacock: Colored pencils over water-based markers.
9. Bird: Colored pencils over water-based markers.

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Ink Pens, Markers & Gel Pens for Details & Embellishment

In the tips & tutorials below ink pens, markers &/or gel pens are mostly used for ​detail/accent work rather than as the main coloring medium.

Beautiful Nature

1. Ocean Pier Landscape: Tutorial & color-along. 
2. Tulip Field: Essential coloring techniques for increasing contrast & impact. ​
3. Water Drop Leaf: Coloring water drops.
4. Dahlia: Layering and burnishing. 
5. Tulips: Tip for ink or gel pens over colored pencils. 
6. Peony: ​Tip for ink or gel pens over colored pencils. 

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cat: Tutorial and color-along.
2. Rhinoceros: Essential coloring techniques for increasing contrast & impact. 
3. Iguana: Step-by-step to realistic results.
4. Squirrel: Speed coloring. 
5. Crocodile: Speed coloring
6. Close-up Cat: Speed coloring 
7. Peacock: Colored pencils over water-based markers.
8. Bird: Colored pencils over water-based markers.

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Soft Pastels

In the majority of cases, the pastels are used for backgrounds unless otherwise noted. 

1. General Tip: Using soft pastels mixed with oil. 

Beautiful Nature

1. Succulent: Soft pastels blended with baby oil to color the succulent.

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cat: Tutorial and color-along.
2. Giraffe: Speed coloring. 
3. Squirrel: Speed coloring. 
4. Lion: Speed coloring of the background being colored with soft chalk pastels.
5. Rooster: ​Soft pastels and pointilism to give the rooster texture. 

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Acrylic Paint

General grayscale painting guidance: learn how to paint a grayscale picture with acrylics.

Beautiful Nature

1. Mountain Reflection Landscape: Time-lapse tutorial. 
2. Peony Buds: Time-lapse tutorial.
3. Lotus Flower: Step-by-step tutorial. 
4. Gerbera Daisy: Step-by-step tutorial. 
5. Autumn Leaf: Creating the effect of a water background with acrylics. ​

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Derwent Inktense Pencils

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cat: Speed coloring. 

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​Oil Pastels

Beautiful Creatures

1. Close-up Cow: Speed coloring. 

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Watercolors

Beautiful Creatures

1. Basenji: Tutorial & color-along. 
2. Monkey: Tutorial & color-along.

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Blending Mediums: Vaseline, Gamsol, etc.

In the tips & tutorials below, a blending medium is used to smooth & blend out colored pencils &/or soft pastels.

1. General Tip: Using soft pastels mixed with oil. Getting a smooth background.
2. General Tip: Getting a smooth background.
3. General Tip: Blending with hair coat oil & Berkeley rectified turpentine. 

Beautiful Nature

1. Ocean Pier Landscape: Tutorial & color-along.
2. Lotus Flower Buds: Tutorial & color-along. Learn 5 key coloring techniques.
3. Succulent: Soft pastels blended with baby oil.

Beautiful Creatures

1. Flamingos: Tutorial & color-along.
2. Close-up Cow: Speed coloring of oil pastels blended with baby oil. 
3. Three Horses: Speed coloring of Prismacolors and Berkley turpentine for blending. 

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I hope you found this grouping of tips & tutorials by medium and coloring page helpful! I will do my best to update this blog post with any new tutorials that we do. 

Happy Coloring!​

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