How to Color in a Grayscale Image using colored pencils

Coloring a grayscale photograph can be intimidating at first but just let your creativity flow and follow the natural highlights and shadows within the photograph. The photograph has done all of the hard work of figuring out where lights and darks should go, use it as a guide to bring the photograph to life.
This tutorial will teach you how to take a grayscale photograph or coloring page and bring it to life. I hope you guys enjoy.
To get your own copy of this adorable kitten to color please visit: tinyurl.com/gra...
If you like this tutorial, check out all of my adult coloring books at www.amazon.com/author/ericahenry
Please visit my website at www.coffeeandco... and say hi. I also have tutorials there as well. I love to see your coloring pages that you’ve done so please post them to Facebook page / coffeeandcoloring .

[@t.reynolds829]

I have not been coloring long, (little less than a year). Before investing in a grayscale coloring book, I wanted to watch a tutorial to get a gist of the coloring technique. Your video was well done and the outcome was fantastic! Although were shadows, it was not a big issue for your instruction was detailed. Thank you!

[@ArtByEricaH]

Thank you for watching! I personally love grayscale coloring. It looks complicated, but honestly the photograph does a lot of the hard work for you. This was one of my first videos on KZbin and I didn't have a great setup at that point, though shadows have always been a battle for me, even with tons of videography lights. I do have more grayscale tutorials and coloring planned, so stay tuned.

[@t.reynolds829]

I will certainly keep an eye out.

[@sarahfranco3240]

Gorgeous work!!! I love coloring for relaxation and I find it inspires me when I am feeling creatively blocked. I have to say this is the first coloring tutorial I’ve ever watched and it was almost like coloring myself! I could almost smell the pencil!

[@bluedozzer]

a simple yet effective demonstration.Thankyou. I have subscribed because I recently bought my first grayscale book. no instructions so I have tried many techniques and only have one picture to show. this helped alot.

[@ArtByEricaH]

shaun featherston I'm glad you found it helpful. I discovered most on my techniques for art through trial and error. My way might not be the "best" way for everyone but it's the way that works for me and for art I honestly don't believe there is a "best" way that everyone should do something. I just think there is a best way for each person. Best of luck and happy coloring 😊

[@janadean1646]

Well, you obviously do know how to color greyscale pictures appropriately. To know that, all one has to do is look at your kittens face that you colored. It's so lifelike. Thank you for the time you take explaining the "how to" parts of coloring greyscale. I've always been intimidated to try, but as soon as I get your book, I will start on a picture. I'm getting the Flowers, Volume 1 book. I would so love it if you would pick out some pages from that particular book and color the entire pages AND please add the color brand and name/number you are using. Picking out colors takes the relaxing out of coloring for me😁. Thank you for your videos!!!

[@ArtByEricaH]

Thank you so much for your comment. I will try to remember to say what colors I'm using. I find it hard to do because honestly, I just grab and go. I also record the voice over later, so it's hard to remember what was even used :) But I will try to remember to keep them to the side and list out later if nothing else. I appreciate the feedback.

[@charknowlton8584]

Thank you, very clear instruction with beautiful detail.

[@michelinelachance8078]

Fabulous tutorial and coloring! It's not the little colorgin when we were child, more complicated but wonderfu. thank you.

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Micheline Lachance Thank you I'm glad you found it helpful. Coloring can be as complicated as you want it to be that's the beauty of it! Happy Coloring!

[@EvaWaylett]

I find it difficult to watch videos for more than a minute or so. I didn't even think about how long this video was until I was at almost 8 minutes. (The only reason I thought of it then is that I am supposed to be doing something else LOL) So, I want to thank you for making such a well done (despite the shadows) video and sharing it with the world. I appreciate your efforts. :-)

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Eva Waylett thank you so much for Your kind words. I will have more videos coming soon. Sorry about the shadows. This was one of my first videos and lots of equipment has been upgraded since then so my quality is getting much better. Have a great day.

[@conniebent3393]

I've never done grayscale and was amazed at how you did it. Your picture turned out beautiful. How do you figure out what colors to use?

[@ArtByEricaH]

Connie Bent Thank you so much! For the colors I find that looking at reference photos can be very helpful. For instance looking at different orange cats before starting can help me get ideas of what colors to include. Hope this helps.

[@capyboppy]

Loved this video. I have just discovered grey-scale colouring and had both a mini success and a disaster. I think the problem was I was trying to rush it and underrated the time involved needed. I have just bought a pack of 'cheap n nasty' pencils purely for practicing. I could tell my polychromos would be worn away quickly on my mistakes!

[@ArtByEricaH]

capyboppy I'm so glad you enjoyed it. If you are looking for some blendable and cheap colored pencils I highly recommend these amzn.to/2ebttag I have a product review video coming up but I was very impressed with them

[@capyboppy]

Erica Henry colors what brand are these Erica? The link is not working and just takes me to the US website. I am in the UK. An update on the greyscale colouring: the book i bought is going back. I discovered it was mainly the paper that was the problem - very poor quality. Even with my polychromos the ink off the paper was coming away!

[@ArtByEricaH]

capyboppy oh that would be why I gave you a US link. They are color peps colored pencils by Mapped Helix which is a U.K. Company actually

[@melacrane6025]

I am hooked lovely tutorial. Now I can do one of my cat that I had for 18 years it's something I have always wanted to do but didn't know how.. A great big thank you. Hugs

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Mela Crane I"m so glad that you enjoyed it. And awww. Enjoy coloring the picture of your kitty :)

[@AmyWallacewrapme]

This vid was so informative and inspiring! I'm just starting my first grayscale so it is a tiny bit intimidating but I'm excited to try.

[@ArtByEricaH]

I'm so glad you found it helpful! and they are intimidating at first because they are so different but they are so much fun!

[@AmyWallacewrapme]

I'm going to give it my best

[@judyjohnson9212]

Thanks Erica. You're kitty looks beautiful. I think iris going to take some work for me to get this but I enjoy trying. Your video helped me get the idea better than I was getting it on my own. Have bough talk your greyscale books. Hope by the time I finish them the pics will look good. Love it very relaxing. Judy

[@Qsquires]

Fantastic tutorial, but I am confused when to use the darker grey to bring out the markings vs darker orange (in relation to the yellow). Love your shading and coloring, but to make something pop - darker grey or darker shade of color?

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Hilma Sinkinson This is really a choice of personal preference. I like to try to put gray over most of the shadows in his fur. I will usually put a darker yellow or orange over the top of that. I like to layer many layers on top of each other. I hope that makes sense.

[@mzbrazell]

Excellent tutorial! I'm just learning how to do grayscale coloring and this short video has really helped me! New subbie here! 💞

[@ArtByEricaH]

mzbrazell I'm so glad you found it helpful. More grayscale colorings and other tutorials will be coming soon

[@LinWatchorn]

Thank you

[@kitrinaholmes5697]

Thank you for the tutorial...I am attempting my first greyscale coloring page of a wolf..hope it turns out okay.

[@ArtByEricaH]

I'm so glad you found the tutorial helpful. good luck with your coloring page!

[@donnanipper3896]

Thank you. Very helpful

[@PaperKitty99]

I’m a new subscriber! I also have a you tube channel and love art 💕. Look forward to seeing the rest of your videos. I’m Paperkitty99 so obviously I love kittens 🐱 💕. Thank you for sharing your skills🌸

[@melacrane6025]

Thanks so much for your reply to all my comments. Have a lovely day.

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Mela Crane Not a problem at all. I love connecting with my viewers. Hope you have a lovely day as well :)

[@cleofraser2841]

I'm trying to share this video onto my own Ipad but, even though I've input my name, it doesn't work. I'm trying to add it onto my own timeline...Cleo Fraser

[@ArtByEricaH]

+Cleo Fraser what timeline are you talking about? Facebook, KZbin, etc? or are you trying to download it to your ipad? I might be able to help

[@staceybrister]

Thank You So Much! I'm getting ready to order my very first grayscale coloring book; I'm so excited! I can only afford one, at the moment and it's so hard to choose! I wish I had a printer... :-( Then I could download a page, ya know? Oh well.. I really enjoyed this video

[@ArtByEricaH]

I’m so glad you enjoyed the video. Good luck with picking out your new coloring book! There are so many great ones out there. Of course I’m partial to the ones I create lol. If you don’t have a printer, there are ways around that. Local libraries usually print for free or very cheap, and a copy a print store wouldn’t be very expensive since it’s black and white. If you do go printing your own route, I suggest printing onto card stock. I find it very helpful to have a thicker paper whenever I can.

[@staceybrister]

Hello Erica; I'm so happy you wrote back! You know what...I didn't even know you created coloring books, yet alone grayscale! But, sure enough, Amazon carries your coloring books :-) I love what I've seen of the "Grey to Gorgeous: Flowers" coloring pictures! Oh my gosh, I love it! The only thing is...I the publisher is Createspace, and I keep reading their paper is thin, and rough, and all around, well...sort of crappy. I wonder if createspace uses all the same paper in every coloring book...do you know? Also, on the Amazon page for this coloring book, in the customer images, Cindy Butler (reviewer who posted images), uploaded an image that she colored. I'm looking at the one which I believe are tulips, she colored them a sort of light purple color. And in this photo, the paper looks almost like a canvas...maybe cardstock? Or does this look to you like she colored it straight on the coloring page that came in your book? Thank you so much for responding to the first comment I had left. This is HUGE, and I may purchase the grayscale coloring book...Gorgeous Flowers, because you were so attentive to your KZbin Channel. Thank You So Much! I hope you'll be able to answer my questions about the paper. Wishing you a Wonderful Day

[@ArtByEricaH]

staceybrister staceybrister thank you for your kind words. I’ll try to address your questions. Yes Createspace is the publisher. I cannot pick paperweight or I would gladly use a thicker paper. The paper isn’t as thin as a regular children’s coloring paper. Createspace uses 55# paper. Regular copy paper tends to be 20# if that helps. I took a look at the image you were referring to and I honestly have no idea how that look was achieved. I don’t remember that photo looking that way in my copies of the book. I don’t think I have any more copies of that one at home though. I am thinking that she might have copied into cardstock. A lot of colorists that I talk with do this because they like working on cardstock better than out of a book. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I love hearing from people and interacting with them. Let me know if you have any questions. I also wanted to let you know that I am planning several other coloring on grayscale tutorials over the next few months. If you want to be notified whenever I put out other books, make sure to hit subscribe and then the little bell icon and you’ll get notified. Have a great day!

[@laurabagby1506]

Very informative!

[@ArtByEricaH]

Thank you. I'm glad you found it helpful.

[@cbfraser10]

Great video! Thank you for this video. There's not very many good tutorials/,0videos on how to colour grayscale images. Cleo

[@ArtByEricaH]

Thank you. I'm glad you found it helpful

[@conniebent3393]

What does it me 'to subscribe'?

[@ArtByEricaH]

If you hit the subscribe button you'll get notified whenever I post a new video.

[@bluedoggarden1]

can hardly hear your video. sad face vol is all the way up on you tube and my lap top

[@WildesongSpirits]

Something definitely wrong with the sound in this video. While it looks like a really neat video. All the helpful hints are lost in the murmur of your voice in the background. The music overides the audio. Would love to hear your voice. Perhaps you can edit the sound on it. Techinques look wonderful though.

[@ArtByEricaH]

hmm. I'm not sure why you are having trouble. It sounds ok through my phone. I will redo the video though and decrease the music as soon as I can. Thank you for the heads up about it.

[@WildesongSpirits]

great Looking forward to it!!!

[@TheBakingSlave]

+Scarlette Wilde ? It must be what you are watching it on because I just listened to it for the first time and heard her loud and clear.

[@WildesongSpirits]

darn I am watching it from the link you posted on facebook. I have a brand new computer with a top of the line subwoofer and speakers. So not sure what the problem is. All the other videos I am viewing are coming thru fine. But thanks for letting me know.

[@taysmith7947]

You actually do not know how to properly color greyscale, any art teacher or professional will always tell you to do your darker colors first. (This is the exception in colorong only on grey scale.) Greyscale and regular coloring are the complete opposite. Using pensils on reg pages you start with your light color and color the big areas in so you can go back and blend except on greyscale. There is a couple good videos teaching you how to properly color greyscale that you can watch to improve and teach you the correct technique.

[@ArtByEricaH]

Thank you for your input. This video is about how I personally color gray scale photographs. This is the technique that I use that works well for me. Everyone has their own way of doing things and I was showing the way that I find works best for me.

[@veritasveritas9520]

so please Picasso enlighten us with your knowledge and expertise please...or at least give us the links.

[@capyboppy]

Veritas Veritas I loved your reply to 'Picasso' :-).