What are the best colors to use on a duck?

You’ll see this kind question on all the online coloring discussion boards.

The Copic Marker groups all want the best blending combination.

What’s the best combo for a fire hydrant?

What’s a good G marker trio for grass?

The colored pencil groups ask the same question, but a little more subtle.

I’m coloring a shiny Black Lab. Should I be looking at the warm grays plus a black pencil or the cool grays?

Everyone wants to color-by-number.

Using someone else’s color recipe is why your coloring looks fake and flat.

Want to know the artist’s secret to realism? It doesn’t matter which markers or pencils you use.

It’s how you use them.

Using prepared color recipes leads to color-by-number projects which look fake & flat. Artists don’t worry about finding the best colors or smoothest blends. For realism, the trick is not what colors you use but how you use them. Let’s look at how Vanilla Arts helps to free you from your addiction to color recipes.

Patchwork coloring never looks real

What is patchwork coloring?

Someone gives you a color recipe, then shows you where to put each color.

Put the Y35 here. Put the Y32 next to it. Now add Y00 in this area…

You’re coloring in patches. Patches of color.

Sure, you blend the edges of each patch, nice and smooth. But if I had a pair of scissors, I could cut your project into large puzzle pieces of pure Y35, Y32, and Y00.

Patchwork coloring kinda-maybe-sorta works for beginners. It looks better than what you were doing before but does it look realistic?

No.

And it never will.

Realistic color is complex.

I don’t mean that realistic color is too hard to understand.

What I’m saying is that if you were to break my realistic duckling here into patches of color, the patches would be very, very small.

And none of the patches would be pure Y32 or Y35. My teeny tiny realistic patches would be more like Y35 softened by some Y32 plus a smidgen of weird blue with a hint of gray and maybe some…

Complex.

Realistic color is color that you can’t quite identify. You won’t see realistic color on your marker caps. Realistic color isn’t painted on the barrel of your pencils.

This is why artists do not blend.

Instead, we layer.

The Year of Technique

We do things different at Vanilla Arts Company.

You want to color better. We’re here to help you make it happen.

The right way.

Not by selling you a bunch of new project demos. Not by crankin’ out more pretty blending combinations or project recipes. Not by keeping your hands busy with cartoon projects that never engage your mind or your inner artist.

You’ve done all that. You know it doesn’t work.

This year, we’re building skills.

Layers of color form realism

Think back to Bob Ross and his painting program.

Remember his paint palette? Bob didn’t have 52 different blobs of paint on his palette, right? No, he used 5-8 colors per painting. Half the fun of the show was watching Bob mix a touch of Titanium White plus Alizarine Crimson with a touch of Phthalo Blue… Bob mixed paint, for every color in every episode.

For some reason, Copic and colored pencil people have never quite understood this mixing concept.

Instead of mixing the colors you need, you run out and buy a new marker or pencil.

All that pure color? It looks fake.

To color my Daisy Duckling project here, I started with a B60 marker.

But wait Amy, I don’t see any blue in this project! Where’s the blue?

Where is the blue? It’s everywhere!

The entire duckling, all his downy yellow feathers? I colored the feathers with layers of blue, yellow, and lavender. There’s blue under yellow, there’s yellow under blue, there’s lavender on top and lavender underneath…

Truly dimensional coloring, the stuff that you want to reach out and touch?

Realistic coloring requires a minimal number of markers because we layer and mix the colors.

The dirty secret about Copic Markers and colored pencils?

It’s not about the colors you own.

It’s the colors you create.

We’re learning to layer color!

Here at Vanilla Arts, we’ve got a whole month of projects and lessons to help you get more comfortable with the color laying process.

Color Daisy Duckling

Join me for a fun Copic Marker + Colored Pencil lesson in the Vanilla Workshop

Daisy Duckling was recorded live, now it’s a forever access class.

Edited classes with perfect narration tend to make the coloring process look faster, easier, and smoother than it really is.

Stop comparing yourself to the supermodel version of an artist!

Real time coloring with real mistakes and real fixes.

Class Printable Pack Includes:

• Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide

• Full color project sample

• Guide to Copic base

• Detailed color map

• Project inspiration references

Sunburst

Join me for a fun Copic Marker + Colored Pencil lesson in the Vanilla Workshop

Sunburst was recorded live, now it’s a Marker Painting Workshop!

Edited classes with perfect narration tend to make the coloring process look faster, easier, and smoother than it really is.

Stop comparing yourself to the supermodel version of an artist!

Real time coloring with real mistakes and real fixes.

Class Printable Pack Includes: 

• Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide

• Full color project sample

• Guide to Copic base

• Detailed color map

• Project inspiration references

Hints of Spring

Join me for a fun Copic Marker + Colored Pencil lesson in the Vanilla Workshop

Hints of Spring was recorded live, coming soon to Marker Painting Workshops!

Edited classes with perfect narration tend to make the coloring process look faster, easier, and smoother than it really is.

Stop comparing yourself to the supermodel version of an artist!

Real time coloring with real mistakes and real fixes.

Class Printable Pack Includes: 

• Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide

• Full color project sample

• Guide to Copic base

• Detailed color map

• Project inspiration references

Ink Frog

Join me for a fun Copic Marker + Colored Pencil lesson in the Vanilla Workshop

Ink Frog was recorded live, now it’s a Marker Painting Workshop.

Edited classes with perfect narration tend to make the coloring process look faster, easier, and smoother than it really is.

Stop comparing yourself to the supermodel version of an artist!

Real time coloring with real mistakes and real fixes.

Class Printable Pack Includes: 

• Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide

• Full color project sample

• Guide to Copic base

• Detailed color map

• Project inspiration references

And of course, we layer like crazy in our 12 Week Courses

Learn to layer colors for realism & artistry

We’re focusing on the layering technique in all our classes, across the website, and with the Vanilla Voice team.

This isn’t a technique that we use just once on a couple of novelty projects. Color layering is the kind of skill that moves your artistry to the next level.

We’re not just coloring fun stuff, we’re building skills to last a lifetime.

Select supplies used in Daisy Duckling:

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