How to Create Original Color Palettes - Marker, Pencil, Watercolor
CREATE YOUR OWN COLOR PALETTES
What part of coloring do you struggle with most?
Whenever I ask this question, I get a lot of the same answer from students and subscribers at every skill level.
What’s your greatest weakness?
Choosing colors.
And here’s the thing, when students say “choosing colors” I don’t think they mean choosing markers or pencils for blending combinations.
They mean choosing colors for color palettes.
So let’s do it.
Let’s talk about how color palettes are created.
And before the end of today’s video we’ll make several color palettes, completely from scratch.
“Merry Ornaments”. Copic Marker + Holbein Colored Pencil on Strathmore 300 Smooth Bristol Board. 8 × 8” by the author, Amy Shulke.
WATCH: CHOOSING COLORS
Latest Video - Creating easy color palettes
(supply list at bottom of this article)
Video not playing?
If your device blocks embedded video, click here to watch at YouTube.
LEARN MARKER + PENCIL COLORING TECHNIQUES
Marker with a dash of colored pencil…
The Blend - A 12 week online course for beginners/intermediates which focuses solely on smooth blending with Copic Markers. Learn to blend or improve your current blending technique with this intensive skill building approach to coloring.
Enrollment open January through June.
Colored pencil with a touch of marker…
The Point - A 12 week online course for beginners/intermediates which focuses on efficient techniques for Prismacolor colored pencils. Learn to layer colors with confidence and artistry through this intensive skill building approach to coloring.
Enrollment open July through December.
TECHNIQUES USED IN “MERRY ORNAMENTS”
The following techniques can be spotted in the CHOOSING COLORS video:
The smooth-fade background was created with a combination of one marker and one colored pencil. Pressure control makes the fade possible.
I use the method demonstrated in the video to create the Merry Ornament color palette starting from traditional Christmas red and green.
The snowballs and glitter ornaments use a pointillism technique to create the gritty texture and random glints of light seen in real snow and glitter.
The golden stars and ornaments reflect color from nearby objects adding extra realism. I use a technique called color kissing to simulate this effect.
Remember, the reason bubble tutorials rarely look realistic when used in combination with more than just other bubbles is because real bubbles are just as reflective as the gold ornaments. Real bubbles act like mirrors, do your bubbles do the same?
FREE DOWNLOAD:
COLOR PALETTE WORKSHEET
Learn to create color palettes with Amy, then practice using our free worksheet.
Amy has lots of FREE downloads waiting for you in her Download Library. Subscribe to the Vanilla Beans Newsletter for access to the Color Palette Worksheet plus lots of helpful learning aids.
NOTE: You must confirm your subscription to access the free worksheets, charts, and color wheels.
The freebies are in the library. The library link is in the newsletter. The current password is also in the newsletter.
Readers who read get the free stuff.
MERRY, MERRY
Let’s deck the halls or maybe just do some Christmas coloring.
I admit it, I love Christmas ornaments— but I’m a little weird because I love the round glass and glitter baubles most people treat as disposable tree-filler. I love the warped, upside down, and unexpected reflections in their surface and that stuff is super fun to color!
Merry Ornaments is an artist-grade digital stamp perfect for realistic coloring, now available at my line art site, Sketch-Garden.com
PURCHASE INCLUDES FULL SUPPLY LIST FOR EACH ORNAMENT COLOR
Watch me color glass baubles in the video, then color your own using my style and supplies or develop your own unique twist.
Merry Ornaments digital stamp comes in two line colors: black lined version for easy coloring and disappearing gray lines for realism.
AS SEEN IN TODAY’S VIDEO
MORE CHRISTMAS PROJECTS
(click the pic for more info)
ADVANCED COLORING
INTERMEDIATE COLORING
WE TEST COPIC INK
BEAUTIFUL COLOR PALETTES
UNDERPAINT RECIPE ARCHIVE