Glazing

This may be a term you are unfamiliar with when combined with coloured pencil…

I’m not sure exactly where I first heard this term and I know I didn’t make it up, but this coloured pencil technique is really handy for finishing off areas and adding extra depth.

“Glazing” is basically adding a very light shading of a colour over the top of another to give the initial colour a slightly different tone. You may have experienced this technique when observing or working with oil paint and you can apply it directly to coloured pencil.

I often glaze browns and blues over black or dark areas to make them appear a little more full of life and to give the area a little more depth. Glazing works extremely well with coloured pencil, especially if you are using a burnishing technique as it helps to fill all those tiny crevices of the paper. 

Glazing is not to be confused with burnishing or blending. You don’t apply any pressure to the pencils at all. Glazing can be compared to mixing as you’re ultimately placing one colour atop another to produce another tone.

When glazing, it’s best to hold the pencil as far back as possible to really limit the pressure and to make short shading strokes to cover the paper. Remember to work in the direction of the fur or whatever you are drawing!

An example of glazing can be seen above. The centre section of the dog eye study has a slight brown tint to it. That brown tint was added as a glaze after completely the underlying fur.