I’ve written about coloring in adult coloring books with highlighters before, but for some reason it never occurred to me to pair highlighters with gel pens until now. The bright, bold colors of highlighters are the perfect complement to your favorite sparkly glitter gel pens.
The example above is a colored page is from Valentina Harper’s Creative Coloring: A Second Cup of Inspirations. I love her style, but totally lack the patience to fill in all those details individually. So, this technique works perfectly as a time saver. I can make a base coat quickly with my highlighters, then add as many details as desired with the glitter gel pens. Since highlighters are a lighter color, you can still see the gel pen ink perfectly. The only difference is that layering makes your gel pen colors show up a bit darker than they would otherwise.
I used Yoobi brand mini highlighters from Target for my coloring because I love the range of colors in the set. Unfortunately, the tiny size of these highlighters makes them a little tricky to color with. If you’re buying highlighters for adult coloring books, I’d probably recommend a full size set like the 8-count Sharpie retractable highlighters on Amazon.
Also, don’t forget that highlighters glow under a black light because of the florescent ink. If you’re looking to make unique wall art for a teen’s room, this would be the perfect way to do so!