Coloring Tip for Realistic Shine: Don’t confuse reflections and highlights; they’re different. The key to coloring shiny glass, metal, or gloss is to pretend it’s a mirror. What do you see in the reflection? Stop coloring white gel pen highlights and color the room behind you for photorealism.

Do you add shiny reflections with a white gel pen?

Oh no.

Please don’t tell me that you make them in the shape of a comma or semicolon…

Noooooo!

That’s not shine, that’s a punctuation!

You don’t need a tutorial to color shiny objects like metals, glass, and glossy plastic with amazing realism.

Just color yourself!

A reflection is nothing more than a mirror image of the room around you.

Step one is easy— color the object itself. Don’t worry about the reflection until later. The bell is the foundation, no amount of reflection will make a bell look like a bell, so get the object colored correctly first.

In this case, I colored the Sleigh Bell with a range of cool gray markers. It looked like an actual bell.

But in the starting stages the bell is matte, not shiny. The reflection comes next.

The shine is nothing more than me sitting here in my office.

Can you see me there? Can you see my two desk lamps?

Don’t confuse reflections for highlights. They’re two different things.

When you color glossy or reflective surfaces like glass, metal, or high shine items, you’re actually coloring a mirror image of the room.

You don’t need to color detail. General blobs are fine.

After the room reflection, I turned my attention to the other objects in my made-up composition. The original photo reference is just a bell, I added the spruce branch and berries myself.

Any added elements should also be reflected in the bell.

So I thought a bit and decided that I might see the ends of some green needles at the top of the bell. I added a few long ovals with the same green pencil I used on the branch.

Then I thought about the berries. Instead of mirroring the berries as red circles, I added little bits of smeared berry color.

You don’t have to get too detailed. Our reflection is a series of gentle suggestions, not precise drawings.

The best advice I can give you about creating realistic reflections is to:

1. Admit that gel pen commas are very fake looking.

2. Experiment with shiny objects in your house and pay attention to what they reflect and how they reflect it.

3. If you’re coloring a shiny spoon, have a shiny spoon on your desk. If you’re coloring a shiny ornament, have one near you to observe.

These aren’t hard things to do, but they’re the extra step most colorers won’t bother with.

Color photorealistic reflections like an artist. It’s easier than you think!

Learn to Color Realistic Metal

Do you want to color with photorealism?

Ready to try challenge level coloring?

Sleigh Bell an Advanced level Marker Painting Workshop

Explore the difference between highlights and reflections, a process that’s essential to capturing the look of shiny metal objects which look touchably real.

Real time coloring, recorded live

Live Workshops are unscripted demonstrations which provide students with a real look into the authentic coloring process. You’ll see mistakes being made and corrected. It’s just like visiting Amy in her home studio.

Log in and color with Amy at your convenience. Anytime access, no expiration dates.

Class was recorded in October 2020 and featured a live student audience. Amy answers questions from the students and offers many tips for better colored pencil art.

Select supplies used in Sleigh Bell:

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