How to Fix Coloured Pencil Mistakes - A Troubleshooting Guide

Hello. If you're here, something in your drawing isn't going the way you hoped.

Please believe me when I say this: every coloured pencil artist I know has run into the things on this page.

The muddy colours. The streaky blending. The hazy film that appears on a piece you thought was finished. These are not signs that you've chosen the wrong hobby, or that you're somehow doing it wrong. They are characteristics of the medium, and once you understand what's causing them, they are nearly always fixable.

This guide covers six of the most common problems. For each one, I'll walk through what's likely going on, what to do about it now, and how to make it less likely to happen next time.

1. Muddy colours

Problem: Your colours look dull, greyish, or dirty. They lose their vibrancy as you layer or blend.

What's causing it:

Too many different colours stacked in one small area.
Complementary colours (opposites on the colour wheel, like red and green) overmixed.
Over-blending, which can lift pigment or flatten the colour.
Dirty blending stumps or tortillions carrying old pigment into a new area.
Soft, waxy pencils being used with more pressure than they like.

How to fix it and prevent it:

Work with fewer, more deliberate layers. Three considered layers usually beat seven overworked ones.
Use complementaries sparingly, and only when you actually want to dull a colour or build a neutral shadow.
Don't overwork your blends. Less really is more.
Clean your blending stumps or tortillions on scrap paper or sandpaper between areas, so they don't carry colour with them.
If you're using very soft pencils, keep the pressure light.

Related: colour basics in the foundation hub for what's happening when complements neutralise each other; blending methods for technique.

2. Patchy or streaky blending

Problem: Your blended areas look uneven. Pencil lines, splotches, or streaks show through instead of a smooth transition.

What's causing it.

Not enough layers of pigment on the paper before you started blending. Blending tools need something to work with.
Inconsistent pencil pressure during layering, leaving the pigment uneven.
A blending tool that isn't well-suited to your paper, your pencil brand, or the amount of pigment you've laid down

How to fix it and prevent it.

Lay several light, even layers of colour before you try to blend.

Aim for consistent, light pressure when layering.
Try different blending tools. A colourless blender pencil might work where a paper stump doesn't, or the other way round.
Very smooth paper shows streaks more easily. Paper with more tooth handles blending better.

Related: layering guide, basic strokes and control, blending methods.

3. Visible Pencil Strokes (When Smoothness is Desired)

Problem: You can still see individual pencil lines in your finished piece, and you were hoping for a smoother, more painterly look.

What's causing it.

Too much pressure too early in the layering.
The stroke direction never changing between layers.
Not enough layers down to cover the paper's tooth.
No blending or burnishing step to finish.

How to fix it and prevent it.

Start every drawing with light pressure. Pressure can go up gradually as the layers build.
Vary the direction of your strokes between layers. Diagonal over vertical, for example.
Build More Layers: Often, simply adding more light layers will help to obscure earlier strokes.
For the smoothest finish, blend or burnish as the last step.

4. Hazy film on the drawing (wax bloom)

Problem: A cloudy, whitish, or greyish haze appears on the surface of your drawing, usually on dark or heavily worked areas.

What it is? Wax bloom is excess wax binder from the pencils rising to the surface. It is a characteristic of certain pencils, not a sign you've done something wrong.

What's causing it.

Pencils with a high wax content (Prismacolor Premier, Derwent Artist, and Derwent Coloursoft are common examples).

A lot of heavy layers.
Heavy pressure or burnishing techniques.
(Note: Oil-based pencils, like Faber-Castell Polychromos, are much less prone to wax bloom due to their different binder).

How to fix it and prevent it.

Wipe the haze gently with a soft, clean cloth. A microfibre cloth or a cotton bud works well. The bloom usually comes off. On heavily saturated areas, expect it to drift back over time.
Prevent it by building colour with multiple light layers rather than a few heavy ones.
A light coat of workable fixative between layer sets can help in areas you know will be heavily worked.
A final spray fixative designed for coloured pencil work, once the piece is finished, seals the surface and usually stops bloom from returning. Use fixatives according to the manufacturer's instructions, and only with good ventilation.
If wax bloom keeps recurring in your work, oil-based pencils may suit your style better.

Wax bloom can be alarming the first time you see it. Once you know what it is, it is quite manageable. For more on why it happens, fixative choices, and deeper prevention, see the dedicated wax bloom guide.

5. Paper won't take more colour (flattened tooth)

Problem: You're trying to add another layer of pencil, but the colour slides off, looks shiny, or won't adhere to the paper.

What's causing it. The paper's tooth (its surface texture) has been filled in and flattened. The pencil has nothing to grip. This usually happens from:

Heavy pressure too early in the layering.
Burnishing an area too soon or too aggressively.

How to fix it and prevent it. Prevention is the real answer here. Once the tooth has gone, options are limited.

Build colour with light layers first. Save heavier pressure for the later stages.
Burnish only as one of the final steps, when you're sure you won't need much more colour on top.
If the tooth has gone and you have to keep working, oil-based pencils sometimes grip a slick surface where wax-based ones won't.
A light spray of workable fixative may give you a new surface with a little tooth. Test on scrap paper first, because results vary.

6. Difficulty Lifting / Erasing Colour

Problem: You want to lighten an area, remove a small mistake, or create a highlight, but the pencil won't come up.

What's causing it.

Coloured pencil pigment, especially from softer waxier pencils, binds strongly with paper fibres
For general lightening, use a soft, pliable kneaded eraser. Warm it in your hand, then press and lift (dab) rather than rubbing. Rubbing damages the paper.

How to fix it and prevent it.

Start with realistic expectations. Complete erasure of coloured pencil is usually impossible. Aim to lighten or lift pigment, not remove it entirely.
Blu-Tack or poster putty works in the same way. Press on, peel off.
For fine, controlled highlights, a pen-style precision eraser like the Tombow Mono Zero can lift colour from very small areas.
An electric eraser can lift more pigment, but use a light touch and test on scrap first.
For prevention: work lightly in areas you might want to highlight later, or plan to leave the paper white from the start.

A note before you go

Each thing on this page is here because I ran into it at some point. Once you know what's causing a problem, you can usually adjust the next time and avoid it. That is how a feel for the medium builds.

A reader called Tom Henshaw worked out how to fix a problem I hadn't covered: pencil dents in the paper. He kindly let me write it up. You'll find it on the how to remove a dent page.

Please keep going. The piece that goes wrong this week is the one you'll know how to handle next month.