How to Bling The Tarot Coloring Book: Colored Gel Pens

When it comes to coloring, the first tool that comes to mind for me are crayons. That’s a no brainer, right? But sometimes crayons get a bit boring.

Sometimes we need a little something-something to up the ante and add some intensity. I decided to try out colored gel pens and see if they’d add some depth (or fun) to The Tarot Coloring Book.

After shopping around, I settled on Ooly Color Luxe Fine Tip Gel Pens and Yummy Yummy Scented Glitter Gel Pens.

The scented ones brought back fond childhood memories of scented markers. Snnniiiffffffffff!

I also grabbed some Monster Gel Pens for my husband for no particular reason except he loves monsters. How cute are these guys?

Now it was time to get to some coloring and see how these bad boys worked! Thankfully, Ooly has a blog post with ideas on how to use those pens for adult coloring. I turned to the Two of Pentacles and started off with some hatching techniques, which is a series of parallel strokes.

I experimented with cross hatching and contrasting colors to add some flair.

Next, I tried stippling, which means a series of dots, placed close together to add texture. Kinda what you might see in a comic book. My stippling technique needs some work:

I decided to fancy up the tights on the figure with some decorative spirals:

Then I added scribbling techniques with this awesome glitter pen (I promise I didn’t sniff it while I worked). If you look closely, you can see a bit of the glitter in this picture. Trust me, the picture does not do it justice. The glitter pens leave GORGEOUS effects. I’m hooked!

Ta-da!

So dope!

But now – the important part: did it bleed through?

Nope! The Tarot Coloring Book is made with excellent paper stock, which holds up well to colored gel pens. Plus, these particular pens seem to lend well to adult coloring.

I went to work on The Tower next:

I loved adding some extra flair to the flames. Check ’em out (also look at the green fishnets I gave one of these guys):

All in all, I would have to say: I’m totally in love with colored gel pens. I think they create stunning effects and allow for fine line work. I need some practice but I’m going to keep on working with ’em.

Here’s what to do:

Get yourself some groovy gel pens. Here are some to check out:

OOLY Color Luxe Gel Pens

OOLY Yummy Yummy Scented Glitter Pens (my hands down fave)

OOLY Totally Taffy Pastel Colored Gel Pens

Pilot G2 Assorted Gel Pens (I’ve been using Pilot G2 pens forever but never thought of using them for coloring! They are great!)

Tanmit 100 Coloring Gel Pens Set for Adults Coloring Books

Gelmushta Gel Pens 120 Unique Colors

Gel Pens For Adult Coloring Books – Premium Ink Gel Pens Set With Case Includes 96 Artist Quality Coloring Pens: 24 Glitter, 12 Metallic, and 12 Neon Plus 48 Matching Refills. WOW.

Now, grab your copy of The Tarot Coloring Book and get busy! Try out some of those techniques I used above. Or just fill in the images however you like. You’re the boss! Have fun!

More resources:

From OOLY: Colored Gel Pens Make Adult Coloring Very Interesting. This post has the techniques I used above.

How to color like a boss: Gel Pens and Coloring Books for Adults. This post also has a cool info graphic that might give you some fresh ideas: