* 8 Coloring Lifehacks Every Colorist Needs to Know *

1.  Hold on loosely, but don't let go.

Did you know that you can use a single rubber band to reduce the amount of force you have to use in your hand to hold the pencil? Well, you can! All you need is a single rubber band and well, your hand!

Here's what you do: You wrap the rubber band around your fingers & the pencil ( Make sure that you don't accidentally cut off any blood flow) -  Presto! Now, you can color with 1/10 of the strength you were using to grip the pencil before you discovered this Coloring Book Lifehack!

2. Use 12 Colored Pencils at once.

What's that? Do you say you DON'T have eight arms? Not to worry! This one is a straightforward technique but overlooked a lot. Here's what you do! Take all twelve of your colored pencils ( freshly sharpened works best ) and wrap a single rubber band around them.

Simple, right? NOW, "pack" them on the table by setting the flat side of the colored pencils on a flat surface (a table).  The result is you can take your "super pencil" & create any amount of awesome designs on paper with it!

 3. Infinite Support.

Have you ever been drawing or coloring and suddenly you notice that you've "smudged" your page? Well, there is good news! From this moment forward; you can begin preventing that from EVER happening again! It's simple. Here's what you do.

You have to take a piece of paper ( Normal 8 1/2 x 11 ), or any size works well, and you fold it into fourths. That's it. Next step - Put it under your supporting hand while you color. It prevents smudges and unwanted marks. You can reuse these, but I recommend just making a new one every time you wash!

4. Stick Together.  

A big secret a lot of Artists know is that you can use Rubber Bands to separate brands and even effectively store colored pencils. Very simple - yet again overlooked. Take a rubber band and wrap it around your "sets" of colored pencils. Do the same with your "Pens" and "Pencils." Very soon, you will go to look for that "magenta" colored pencil you always love using and to your shock and awe- it will be right where you left it!

5. You already have everything you need for this one in your bathroom!

I bet you didn't know that you can use almost ANY brand of Hairspray as smudge protectant, did you? That's right; you can protect your finished coloring book page with Hairspray. Here is how you do it.
Hold your finished coloring book page 12 inches to 18 inches away from the Hairspray. Give quick, short bursts while waving the Hairspray back and forth. Be very careful to not "soak" your coloring book page; as a light coating is ALL you need to protect from normal smudges!

6. Wrap it up.  

Imagine you have been coloring for an hour straight, without any breaks. Everything seems fine, and you go to sleep; only to wake up the next day with your thumb sore. Now, instead of going to color in your coloring book like you want to, you have to wait for your thumb to heal.

It happens more often than you think; it's effortless to get "hypnotized" by your meditative state during coloring and not realize the pain you are putting your hands through. It's crucial both for your overall health and for the quality of your work that you take good care of yourself. That includes preventative measures. Here's what you do.

Wrap a standard Band-Aid around your thumb. Simple. Effective. It provides a "cushion" to absorb all that back and forth coloring pressure. You'll thank me later.

7. This one is so obvious, it hurts.  

Get yourself an Electric Sharpener to save hand strength. This hack is probably the least impressive of the "7 Secret Coloring Life Hacks Everyone NEEDS To Know"; but it is also one of the most important. When you are coloring, you spend about 10% of your time sharpening and re-sharpening your colored pencils. Over and over. Again and again. All that "turning" and "gripping" on the sharpener takes its toll not only on your fingers; but also on your finished work.

Invest in yourself and invest in your health, and get yourself an electric pencil sharpener. Next time your colored pencil starts going dull during use; sharpening it won't be a chore. You may even enjoy it; and your work will be crisper, clearer, and overall better.

8. Prevent broken leads

If you are using a wax-based colored pencil, and chances are you are - this hack will save you tons of frustration and time. Have you ever been going to sharpen a broken pencil only to see that it keeps breaking off every time you go to use it? Often this is due to them being dropped or handled roughly in shipping. But fret not for we have the solution! Place the pencils on a cookie tray in the oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for no more than 10 minutes. Once done, let them cool before use. Allowing time to cool will allow the wax to rebind itself together and prevent those annoying cracks that cause you to have to stop and sharpen away until all you have left is a little nub of a pencil that you can barely color with at all.

If you are looking to save even more time on this, you can pop your wax-based pencils in the microwave for around 45 seconds for a quick fix, let them cool and get back to coloring!