Step by Step: Blend lips with coloured pencils

1 prepare for colour

Begin with an outline so you can see where your highlights and shadows will fall. The outline will also help you see if everything looks okay before placing your coloured pencil layers down. Erasing an outline is much easier than erasing multiple coloured pencil layers.

2 blend with a stump

I like to start out with soft gentle layers to gain a better idea of lighting placement, shadows and the colour palette. After each soft layer I’ll gently rub the blending stump across the paper where I’ve just coloured. I keep repeating this process until it’s blended to my liking.

3 add outlines

After I have applied many layers of coloured pencil I’ll check the overall look before I begin this final step. If it’s finished then I’ll begin to add outlines to the lips. This step is done with the coloured pencils only. The blending stump isn’t required for this last part.