Or Is It?
In my opinion, not necessarily. You need to have the perfect balance of the right paper to pencils; and skill, of course.
I finally did complete my first coloring page in a coloring book! You can find out why and how I started this coloring page on my The Beginning of a Colorful Journey post.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed picking the colors and trying to blend them together, I didn’t really like the final result too much. Sure, it was pretty, but I just couldn’t put my finger on the problem; why when I looked at the page, I wasn’t satisfied. Was it my skills? Was it the type of pencils I was using? The paper in the coloring book? Or a combination of all three?
I am starting to realize that is all three combined. Most of all, I must learn better techniques for using colored pencils. The problem with that is each brand and type of pencil is different in their lay down and blending capabilities and there are so many out there, how do you choose? I will be focusing on pencils more next week.
Probably one of the biggest factors in creating a beautiful colored pencil picture, I found, was the type of paper you choose and that is what we will be talking about in today’s post. Since I had a bad experience with my first coloring book and the paper it was printed on, I am hesitant to go out and buy several pre-printed coloring books. Plus, in coloring books, I may like one or two pictures, but the rest do not interest me at all, or they are too busy, or the images are too small for my shaky hand.
I have found that I prefer to search for downloadable coloring pages that interest me on the Internet and print them onto a better-quality paper that I have personally selected. Currently, I am using the Neenah Vellum Bristol Cardstock. I will be using this for our color-along videos, and it seems to work great!
But there are others out there that I may have to give a try when this ream runs out. As always, I will keep you posted on what I am using, my thoughts and opinions, and how it performs.
I do, however, own one coloring book called “Flowerscape: A Botanical Coloring Book”. I saw a YouTube video 3 SUPER EASY Coloring Book Hacks That Make You Look Pro from The Happy Ever Crafter on this book and loved all the different flowers you can color.
It does however have the smoother paper, so I mainly use this book to test out the different pencil sets I get or whenever I go out into public to color. It is a lot easier to transport than the big boards I like to use and don’t get as many stares. If you haven’t seen my video on YouTube about how I take my coloring on the go, you can watch it here:
The one thing I discovered as I took a dive into the wonderful world of paper is that I like it just as much, if not more, than pencils (or I just haven’t run across the perfect pencil set yet.) I have already collected more pads of paper than I have sets of pencils. There are so many out there to explore; I think the thing I love most of all are the different color shades. I can’t wait to try them all!
I am also learning that there are countless different types of paper out there. It will boggle the mind, and my brain doesn’t have the capacity right now to consider all the possibilities. There are different brands, thicknesses, tooth, which allows you to add more of the pencil pigment to the paper, colors, size, manufacturing processes, and the list goes on and on.
In that case, where do you start?
I don’t want to use my time to do a lot of research and testing of different products for you when there are some wonderful You-tubers that have already created the perfect content. One great video I would recommend to watch is Sarah Renae Clark’s video BEST PAPER for Printing Coloring Pages (20+ papers tested!). This is a great video that covers a lot of the paper options available to adult colorists.
Another great video is from Jessica Matheney Fine Art, Colored Pencil Paper Guide | Choosing The Best Paper For Wax & Oil Colored Pencils. Jessica focuses on fine art with colored pencils, which is what I would eventually love to do (I know…a lot of practice!) I did join her Patreon community, which is similar to my Patreon community, so I can learn some of the more challenging techniques to drawing realistic animals. Feel free to join me over there too!
I will be referring to Jessica’s videos quite a bit throughout my journey, but you can always visit her website and YouTube channel to see what tutorials and other options she has to offer. She does teach graphite drawings too, if you want to start your own journey.
I prefer to use my time to color with you! I will be trying out the different types of papers as we color together, and I will give you my opinion and what I experienced as we go along. However, we are all so different in our preferences for coloring; so what conclusions I come to or anyone else on YouTube may be totally opposite of what you experience and prefer.
So, watch various videos, get ideas, try them out yourself, but always come to your own conclusions on what works best for you and what you enjoy most. That is what this whole journey is about; finding what you like to do, what will relax you the most, and what you can do to have the most fun!
Then check out my YouTube Channel
Coping Creatively
for more of my thoughts on paper, a closer look at the selection I have already collected, and my plans for using those during our coloring journey! Next week, I will be covering pencils; the sets I currently own, along with some of the basics to get you started.
It’s time to finish up our Apples in a Basket this week! We will be coloring the honey jar and the pomegranate. I am looking forward to continuing and completing this first color-along with you!!
See you in a few days and until then hang in there! ~Kaye
(Any products I mention on this website or in my videos can be found on my Goodies page. Head on over at take a look at all of the cool products I use and recommend!)