One of the things we love about coloring is choosing your coloring materials. There are a lot of super fun choices.  You can go from color pencils to gel pens to wax crayons. You name it! What is even more fun is that you can even try to mix them up but do they really work? Well, we have got mixed reviews on this one. Some say yes while some say no but before we judge this concern ourselves; let us first go through the pros and cons of each coloring material

Adult Coloring Tools: Color Pencils

Let us first start with the color pencils. What is good about pencils is that they are generally cheaper. The price varies depending on the type of pencil that you want but you can buy them for as low as 7 dollars for a twelve piece set. They also last long so you can really maximize the value of your money.

Color pencils also offer a wide range of colors which is really great. It also blends different colors pretty well.  The only thing we do not like about pencils that much is that the colors and the texture are not as vibrant. Pencils feel comfortable to hold and are very easy to use.

The triangle shaped tip makes it easy to use for filling. They do not really smear but you will notice some of the color dust coming off.  Those who are new to coloring usually get free adult coloring books from the internet then buy and use color pencils.

Adult Coloring Tools: Gel Pens

Now, let us talk about gel pens. Well, the one thing that we love about gel pens is the variety of super vibrant colors which makes the picture really pop. It even comes with the metallic ones, neon versions or the glittery types (who does not love glitter?).  The downside of these vibrant colors though is that drying time takes longer. It also tends to smear a lot so you have to be very careful.

Gel pens also feel smooth when you slide them across the paper but you need to push a little harder than pencils. They come in pointed tips which make them great for outlining. You may feel a little guilty though when you use gel pens for filling because it runs out of ink a bit quickly.

The price is generally more expensive than pencils so you tend to save the ink as much as you can.

Do They Mix Together?

Well, the one thing good about mixing them together is that it makes coloring easy on the pocket. You can use your more expensive gel pens to outline or to color smaller parts of the coloring page while you can use your cheaper pencils to do lots of filling. You still get a vibrant picture with the mix but you will not feel that guilty when you indulge to use your precious gel pen ink. We got a free adult coloring book from the internet and we used this to work on an experiment. We mixed gel pens and color pencils together and it seems that they do not go together that well.

Colored Gel Over Color Pencils

When you fill with color pencils then fill with colored gel on top, the vibrancy from the gel pens tend to lose its punch. Mixing it up does give a different texture but the color does not really pop anymore. Using white gel pen over white color pencil is great. It brightens up your usually dull white.  However, if you are using a colored gel, it mixes better if you just apply a dab or a single stroke to highlight your piece rather than filling it.

Color Pencil Over Colored Gel  

Doing it the under way around do not seem to work either. When you color with your gel pen and then color with your color pencil over it, the pencil tends to smear off the gel medium. The end result then becomes a little bit splotchy.

Yay or Nay?

We are not the experts here but based on our experiments, mixing gel pens with color pencils as in overlapping the colors does not give very good results. However, using gel pens to highlight areas of your medium is great in making the color of your picture really pop. So for now, it’s a NAY for us but we will keep on experimenting to see what would work best! (It’s a good thing we get free adult coloring books!)