How can I draw skin tones with coloured pencils?

Have you always wanted to know how to draw realistic skin tones with colored pencils? I’m sure you know the one “skin color” that is included in every colouring pencils set, but you’ve probably noticed: it doesn’t look realistic at all.

Many of you have probably already drawn black and white portraits with pencils. You don’t have to worry about the choice of colour, you can concentrate on facial features, light and shadow, as well as contrast.

Drawing regular pencil portraits is easy compared to coloured pencil portraits. This tutorial should help you to take the next step to coloured portrait drawings!

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I am very happy to show you this super helpful tutorial that the lovely and very talented Anna prepared for us.
Anna supported me as an intern for 4 weeks and is currently studying to be a graphic designer. In her spare time, she draws playful characters and is also a real professional when it comes to realistic drawings. At the moment she prefers to use coloured pencils for her creations and can help us understand the complexity of skin tones in this tutorial.

Preparations

Before we can start, you first need a suitable portrait photo that you want to draw (as an exercise, you can also use the same photo I used). It doesn’t matter whether you have your photo printed out or in digital form. These are the drawing materials you will need:

• Coloured pencils (I used Polychromos from Faber Castell)
• and the basics, such as erasers, sharpeners and paper

Part 1: Analyse Colours

First we will analyse the skin colour of the person in the portrait.
You are probably familiar with the typical “skin colour” that can be found in all well-stocked coloured pencil sets. Have you ever tried to draw skin with it?

If you only take one colour from the box to draw human skin, your result will most certainly not look realistic. Skin normally looks too orange or simply unnatural when coloured in this way. So, if you want to draw realistic skin tones with coloured pencils, you have to know the following:

Take a close look at your portrait photo and try to identify individual colours. Write them down on a piece of paper.

At first glance, it seems almost impossible to see multiple colours of the skin when looking at the photo. It takes some practice to break down the many nuances of the skin into multiple colours. But there are ways to make this easier!

Option 1: Analyse Colours Digitally

Of course, you won’t find all the colours that you’ve just discovered as colouring pencils in your box. This is why you need to apply and mix different colours on top of each other to get the right result.

I can assure you that there is a way to mix any colour!

Take a white sheet of paper and try to mix the skin colours as similarly as possible with your coloured pencils. You can also use this practice sheet for mixing colours.

Write down exactly which pens you used so that you can select them again later for your drawing. I find this method very helpful. Even if you don’t have that much experience, you have at least chosen the right colours!

Option 2: Improve Your Colour Perception

Part 2: Drawing Process + Video!

Step-by-step: Drawing Skin Tones With Coloured Pencils

1. Sketch the outline of your portrait.
2. Lightly erase the sketch so that it becomes only slightly visible. (a kneaded eraser is very suitable for this)
3. Start your drawing with a first layer, which should serve as a base. I used the brightest pencil for this. Choose a neutral color. In my case it was a light, warm shade of grey. Try to apply this first layer very evenly to dark areas and leave the light areas lighter or completely white.
4. Then start in the darkest area of ​​the face. It is always easier to make dark areas even darker afterwards instead of making light areas lighter. For example, if you start in the light area and it turns out to be too dark, it is difficult to touch up with an eraser later.
   

   Therefore, always start drawing in the darkest areas of your portrait. Warning: that doesn’t mean you should draw with the darkest pencils first!

5. Always work your way from light to dark.

   Work in very fine layers without applying a lot of pressure. Take your practice sheet to hand – you have already written down all the colours that you need for your drawing. Then always choose the lightest colour you wrote down for the colour field and slowly work your way to the darker colours.
   In my case, I started on the far left (near the ear) with light green and light brown and then gradually built up the right shade with dark brown and dark grey. I used a lot of brown, grey and green in the neck area

   You shouldn’t use black at all at the beginning. The darkest accents are best set at the very end, when it is already clear what light-dark balance the picture has or needs.

6. It gets significantly lighter on the cheeks and warm shades such as purple and red are used.
   

   Tip: Try to draw in small curved movements, this will give you smoother transitions.

7. When you are satisfied with the colours and shades, take your lightest coloured pencil (white or grey) and move it in a curved motion over darker areas that you would like to appear “softer“. The pencil will blend the underlying colours and make the surface appear smooth. Repeat the same for the light areas of the face with a white pencil.
8. Finally, take a dark coloured pencil (dark brown or black) and use it to  set contrasts. For example, under the chin there is a space that separates the face and neck, which you can emphasize a little. This way you give your drawing even more contrast. Remember to be very careful with the dark tones. Black and other dark colors are more suitable for drawing eyelashes and hair.

Wow! What an amazing tutorial! A huge THANK YOU to Anna for sharing her tips on how to draw skin tones using coloured pencils with us!

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