Chestnut plait with a band of shineOchre, sienna, brown, dark brown. Highlights: leave a pale band across each bulge and stroke toward it from both ends.
White swan on brown parcel paperWhite, cream, grey, orange. Highlights: here the white pencil does the work. Press hardest where the light lands.
Leaf made of yellow and blue dots, no green pencilLemon, yellow, sky blue, blue. Optical mixing: dots side by side, never layered. Across the room the eye sees green.
Avocado half with the stone still inLime, dark green, brown. Gradient: lime at the centre, dark green toward the skin. One bare dot shines on the stone.
Barrel cactus in a terracotta potLime, dark green, sienna. Layering: lime all over, dark green stripes between the ribs. Spines are flecks of bare paper.
Doughnut with pink icing, seen from aboveOchre, pink, sienna. Highlights: leave a curved strip of bare paper on the icing. Sienna darkens the edge of the dough.
Fried egg on a blue plateYellow, orange, blue. Pressure: the white stays bare paper. One faint blue line under its edge lifts it off the plate.
Goldfish in a round bowl of pale blue waterYellow, orange, sky blue. Layering: yellow over the whole fish, orange on top. Keep the water to one light coat of blue.
Heap of nine blueberriesBlue, violet, indigo. Layering: blue first, violet on the shadow side, indigo in the gaps. Tops stay pale.
Hot-air balloon with stripes that curve round itScarlet, yellow, blue. Pressure: press harder at both edges and lighter down the middle so the balloon turns round.
Ice lolly in three melting stripesScarlet, orange, lemon. Gradient: overlap each stripe into the next so no hard line shows between the flavours.
Pair of cherries on one forked stalkScarlet, crimson, green. Highlights: one small window of bare paper per cherry. Crimson goes on the side away from it.
Paper lantern glowing orange at duskYellow, orange, indigo. Gradient: yellow centre, orange toward the ribs. An indigo sky packed round it makes it glow.
Rubber duck with an orange beakLemon, ochre, orange. Layering: lemon all over, ochre under the wing and belly for shadow. Orange for the beak alone.
Sliced orange wheel with pale spokesYellow, orange, scarlet. Highlights: leave the spokes as bare paper. Fill each wedge from the rim inward, easing off.
Strawberry with seed dimples and a leafy capScarlet, crimson, green. Highlights: leave the seeds as tiny bare ovals, colour round them. Crimson down one side only.
Three macarons stacked at a tiltPink, lemon, lilac. Layering: two light coats per shell, then a firmer line of the same pencil under each for shadow.
Watermelon wedge fading from red to pale rindPink, scarlet, green. Pressure: ease off the red toward the rind and let bare paper make the pale band before the green.
Beginner: one skill each 14
Bunch of carrots tied with stringOrange, sienna, green. Hatching: short curved strokes across each carrot, never along it. Sienna in the creases.
Candle flame with a blue base, in a dark roomLemon, orange, blue, indigo. Gradient: bare core, lemon round it, orange at the tip. Blue hugs the base by the wick.
Five balloons, one highlight window eachScarlet, yellow, blue, green. Highlights: ring a window on each balloon before any colour goes down. Shade round it.
Five mountain ridges fading into the distanceIndigo, blue, sky blue, lilac. Pressure: nearest ridge darkest, each one behind paler and bluer. That reads as distance.
Green pear with a blush on its sunny sideLime, green, ochre. Layering: lime all over, green down the shadow side, a thin coat of ochre where the sun would hit.
Lemon with a violet shadow on a white clothLemon, ochre, violet. Complements: yellow and purple are opposites, so violet in the shadow brightens the fruit.
Patch of grass, blade by blade, in three greensLime, green, dark green. Hatching: upward flicks that lift off at the tip. Lime first, dark green last and lowest.
Red ball lit from the top left, with its shadowScarlet, crimson, turquoise, grey. Pressure: faint to firm round the ball. A touch of turquoise goes in the grey shadow.
Row of six autumn leaves turning from green to redYellow, green, orange, scarlet. Layering: yellow under every leaf. Green over the first, orange and scarlet on the last.
Sunset sky in four bands over a dark skylineLemon, orange, magenta, violet. Gradient: palest at the horizon, bands overlapping. The skyline is violet pressed hard.
Three overlapping circles in yellow, red and blueYellow, red, blue. Layering: light coats only. The overlaps turn orange, green and violet, and the centre goes muddy.
Three scarf stripes fading to bare paperBlue, magenta, green. Pressure: each stripe runs from full weight to nothing. No smudging with a finger.
Two red apples, one burnished and one notYellow, scarlet, crimson, white. Burnishing: layer both alike, press white firmly over one. It turns smooth and shiny.
White egg on white paper, colour only in the shadowSky blue, lilac, ochre. Highlights: the egg is bare paper. Shade its underside and cast shadow as lightly as you can.
Realistic: four or five pencils 17
Amethyst crystal cluster, darkest at the tipsLilac, violet, purple, indigo. Gradient: pale at each crystal's base, deepest at the point. Every facet changes tone.
Boiled sweet in a twisted cellophane wrapperPink, scarlet, crimson, grey. Highlights: the wrapper is bare paper with sharp grey creases, pink where the sweet shows.
Chestnut plait with a band of shineOchre, sienna, brown, dark brown. Highlights: leave a pale band across each bulge and stroke toward it from both ends.
Eye iris close up with a window reflected in itOchre, green, dark green, brown, black. Hatching: spokes from the pupil out, darker at the rim. The window stays bare.
Eye of a peacock tail featherIndigo, blue, sienna, green, ochre. Layering: near-black heart, blue round it, copper rim, then green and bronze rings.
Glass marble with a twist of colour insideTurquoise, blue, indigo, grey. Highlights: a hard-edged window of bare paper and a paler glow opposite it in the glass.
Halved pomegranate with glistening seedsPink, scarlet, crimson, cream. Highlights: one bare fleck per seed, all on the same side. Cream is for the pith.
Kingfisher perched on a reedTurquoise, blue, orange, sienna. Layering: turquoise over blue on the back, orange below. The eye keeps one bare dot.
Monarch butterfly wing with black veinsYellow, orange, sienna, black. Layering: yellow then orange in each cell. Black veins and border last, white spots bare.
Old brass key on a wooden tableLemon, ochre, sienna, dark brown. Burnishing: layer ochre and sienna, then press lemon firmly over them until smooth.
Red bauble reflecting a window and the roomPink, scarlet, crimson, indigo, white. Burnishing: map the bent window first, layer the reds, press white over them.
Red-eyed tree frog gripping a stemLime, green, scarlet, blue, orange. Layering: lime under the green. Red eyes, blue flank stripes, orange toes last.
Rusty padlock on a garden gateOrange, sienna, dark brown, grey. Layering: patchy orange under sienna, never even. Dark brown pits, grey metal showing.
Scarlet macaw wing: red into yellow into blueScarlet, yellow, green, dark blue. Layering: red shoulder, yellow coverts tipped green, dark blue flight feathers.
Soap bubble drifting past a dark hedgeMagenta, turquoise, lemon, dark green. Pressure: faint swirls near the rim only. The dark hedge makes the film show.
Tabby cat's eye with a slit pupilLemon, lime, ochre, dark green, black. Layering: lemon by the pupil, green toward the rim. Fur strokes overlap the lid.
Water droplet sitting on a green leafLime, green, dark green, grey. Highlights: dark at the top of the drop, light at the bottom, a bare dot in the dark.
Creative colour 13
Blue apple with an orange shadowSky blue, blue, indigo, orange. Complements: blue and orange are opposites. Shade it as usual and it still looks solid.
Ginger cat whose whiskers are scored inOchre, orange, sienna, pink. Scoring: press whiskers in through tracing paper with a pen. Shade over: they stay white.
Grey street where one umbrella has colourGrey, black, scarlet. Pressure: the whole street in greys, faint to firm. Only the umbrella gets red, at full weight.
Landscape drawn with only red, yellow and blueYellow, red, blue. Layering: every green, orange and brown comes from light coats of these three laid over one another.
Leaf made of yellow and blue dots, no green pencilLemon, yellow, sky blue, blue. Optical mixing: dots side by side, never layered. Across the room the eye sees green.
Leaf rubbing in three greens, veins side upLime, green, dark green. Rubbing: leaf under the paper. Stroke with the side of the point and the veins come up.
Lit window at night, a warm room in a cold wallLemon, orange, indigo, violet. Complements: the yellow pane looks brighter the more violet and indigo you pack round it.
Neon sign glowing on black paperWhite, pink, magenta, turquoise. Layering: lay white under every tube first, colour on top, then a faint halo round it.
Northern lights over a ridge, on black paperWhite, lime, green, crimson. Layering: white first, then green curtains fading upward. Red, if any, sits at the top.
Striped gas planet with one oval stormCream, ochre, sienna, orange. Burnishing: stripe it loosely, then press cream across it all to blur the bands.
Swatch chart that becomes a patchwork quiltPink, turquoise, lemon, lilac. Layering: a four by four grid: rows one pencil, columns another. Every square a new mix.
White swan on brown parcel paperWhite, cream, grey, orange. Highlights: here the white pencil does the work. Press hardest where the light lands.
Your name in capitals that fade through the rainbowScarlet, yellow, green, blue, violet. Gradient: each letter blends into the next. Orange turns up by itself.
Crayons: bold, no fine detail 13
Big sun with thick rays filling the pageYellow, orange, red. Pressure: press hard for solid wax colour in the middle and ease off along every ray.
Bowl of fruit in flat shapes with no outlinesRed, orange, yellow, green, purple. Pressure: no black lines at all. The edge of each fruit is its own colour.
Caterpillar of overlapping circles, a new colour eachGreen, yellow, orange, red, purple. Layering: let each circle overlap the last and see what the two make.
Coin rubbings heaped into a treasure chestYellow, orange, brown. Rubbing: coins under the paper, side of a peeled crayon on top. Draw the chest round them.
Fish tank of fat striped fishOrange, yellow, blue, green. Broad side: peel the blue and drag its side round the fish for water, in wide sweeps.
Patchwork of fields seen from a hilltopGreen, yellow, orange, brown. Pressure: each field flat, at a different weight. Hedges are green lines pressed hard.
Rainbow from three crayons, red on the outsideRed, yellow, blue. Layering: three fat arcs that overlap. Orange and green stripes appear where the wax crosses.
Row of tulips as tall as the paperRed, yellow, purple, green. Pressure: three fat petals each, pressed solid. Each stem is one stroke from the bottom.
Stained-glass window with thick black leadingRed, yellow, blue, green, black. Pressure: fill each pane flat and hard, then go over every dividing line twice.
Street of five houses, a different colour eachRed, yellow, blue, green, purple. Pressure: walls light, roof and door hard, same crayon. Two tones from one stick.
Tiger face filling the whole pageYellow, orange, black, green. Layering: yellow under orange warms it. Stripes last, pressed hard. Green is for the eyes.
Volcano with lava in three hot coloursYellow, orange, red, brown, black. Layering: yellow lava first, orange then red at its edges. Brown cone, black cracks.
Whale under a wavy sea and a yellow sunBlue, purple, yellow, black. Broad side: drag a peeled blue crayon across for the sea, then press the whale in on top.
How it works
A paper lantern at dusk, a glass marble, a scarlet macaw wing: 72 things to draw with colored pencils, picked because layered colour is the point. Every idea names the three to five pencils to use and the one skill it practises. Five groups sort them: Easy, Beginner, Realistic, Creative and Crayons.
Read the full guide
Built from layers, light coats first
Pencil colour goes down thin, so whatever is underneath shows through. The strongest colored pencil art ideas have one colour inside another: yellow under the orange of a goldfish, lime under the green of a tree frog. Light coats leave the tooth of the paper showing as a soft grain. Burnishing, a white or pale pencil pressed firmly over finished layers, fills that grain and turns it shiny, so it comes last.
One skill per drawing for beginners
The Beginner group holds 14 color pencil drawing ideas for beginners, one skill each. The sunset sky is a gradient: lemon at the horizon, then orange, magenta and violet. The lemon on a white cloth teaches complements: yellow and purple are opposites, so violet in the shadow makes the fruit brighter. Two red apples teach burnishing: finish both, burnish one, compare.
Try each pair both ways on scrap. Yellow over blue and blue over yellow rarely give the same green.
Match the plain colour names to your own tin. Scarlet is the red that leans orange, crimson leans purple, ochre is a dull brownish yellow.
Ring every highlight faintly before any colour goes down. Bare paper is the brightest white on the page.
Questions and answers
What are good things to draw with crayons?
Bold subjects with no fine detail, because a crayon is a blunt stick of wax. The Crayons group has 13 crayon drawing ideas that use only red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown and black, such as a page-filling tiger face and a three-crayon rainbow. Peel one stick and drag its side for seas and skies.
What makes an idea creative rather than realistic?
Creative color pencil drawing ideas change the colour rather than the subject. The Creative group has a blue apple with an orange shadow, a leaf of yellow and blue dots that reads as green from across the room, and a ginger cat whose whiskers are pressed in through tracing paper, so they stay white under the shading.
Do I need a big tin of pencils?
No. Every Easy idea uses exactly three pencils, and nothing here asks for more than five. One Creative landscape uses only red, yellow and blue, layered light for its greens, oranges and browns. With half a tin, things to draw by colour sorts subjects by the colour they are in real life.