Colored Pencil Shading Bible Art Journaling in John 8

I would NEVER have won a coloring contest when I was a kid. When other little girls were concentrating on staying in the lines and color choices and shading, I could not have cared less. My coloring pages were definitely amateur hour when lined up against those of my female classmates.

So, when I stole borrowed my kids’ colored pencils and started trying to improve my art skills for bible art journaling, my coloring still looked like amateur hour – seriously! Colored pencil shading did not come naturally to me at all. It seemed oh so mysterioso when peeps on the interwebs would be coloring and it would turn out looking so realistic. How do they know how where to color darker and lighter?

I set off on an adventure to learn more about it, and guess what? It really is kind of simple, once you know the secret. If I can do it, you can totally do it too! If colored pencil shading has baffled you (like it did me), come along with me and I will demystify this process for you.

The Biggest Secret Behind Great Shading

Here’s the biggest secret to creating beautiful shading when you are using colored pencils… Drumroll, please… Color really lightly.

Seriously. So simple, but really, really, really helpful.

The key to colored pencil shading is to start coloring very lightly and then build up color in certain areas, so that some places stay light and some are darker. The lighter each layer is, the easier it is to blend and get a more realistic look to your artwork. Keep a light hand as your pencil glides across the page.

Tip: Colored pencil maintains the stroke pattern (lines from the pencil) in the finished piece, so if you think about the shape of the object you are coloring, you can create that shape in the lines. (For example, when we color the can of the spotlight (a cylinder), use a curved motion as you color.

The Next Biggest Secret to Great Shading

Next, and just as important, is how you are going to tell where to color darker and where to leave the colored pencil shading on the lighter side.

Picture in your head where the light is shining. So, if the light is shining from the top, then the bottom will be darker because it is in the shadows. You might think, like I did, “Duh, of course the light is from the top.”

But light is not always straight over head. You will want to think about a light source being on the upper right or upper left side. For example, on that spotlight can (again), the light is shining on the upper right side of the can, so the darker colored pencil shading is on the lower left side.

Tip: Keep curving your pencil strokes as you darken that lower left area, and make the outside edges longer and the center thinner. 

Time to Practice

This outline is included in the bundle of printables for the entire book of John here:

You can practice colored pencil shading on this printable or trace it into your bible, like I did.

Gather your colored pencils and a cup of tea (or coffee or Dr. Pepper – whatever!).

Feel free to watch the process video and color along with me. If I have sped the video up too much, just hit pause whenever you need to!

Here is the Full Bible Art Journaling Process Video:

Here are the materials I used:

That is all you need to do… Follow the secrets and tips and practice…practice…practice. Suddenly, you will see your colored pencil shading getting better and better.

If you would like to check out the full devotional post on John 8, click HERE.

Have fun coloring and getting into God’s Word!