Color Palettes: A Beginner's Guide to Coloring with Maturity & Sophistication

Do You Have Color Instinct?

Some people have a knack for color palettes. They decorate their home with unique style rather than copying decor ideas from Pinterest. They make bold fashion statements rather than buying what's on the mannequin. Even their coloring projects look polished and professional.

Don't feel bad, most people are not born with an awesome sense of color.

For many colorers, a cohesive color palette is the hardest piece of the puzzle. You can blend like a pro and you're top-notch at the techniques...

And yet most of your projects feel juvenile or just plain loud due to color confusion.

Will it always be this way? Are you doomed to mediocre, unprofessional looking projects?

The Grab-Bag

Most colorers work their way through an image object by object.

First we color one egg, then the other, then the basket, then the rabbit, then the grass, then the sky. We grab completely new blending combinations for every item as we need them, without thinking about the larger composition or how the colors interact with each other.

Color grabbing leads to a circus or a color-riot. Disjointed coloring robs your project of a focal point. Your viewers can't tell what to look at because the eye keeps getting dragged from color to color.

It's sad to see great coloring get overshadowed by distracting color combinations.

But making cohesive color palettes can be hard!

Relax. You are not doomed. You can learn to work with color.

Introducing a new series for colorers:

You can learn to create and use artistic color palettes.

Let me show you how I approach color palettes as an artist.

Today, let's look at the easiest way to get your feet wet.

Behold, the Miracle!

Back in the stone-age before the internet tubes got to flowing, we had sit down at a desk style classes in color theory. Color theory is essential to art training because painting and drawing are visual mediums. Artists want you to want to look at our work.

Yes, color attracts your attention but it also guides your eye to key areas in the painting and color helps transmit a message or feeling.

Bad color usage drives people away. And not to be ignored: unappealing art doesn't sell well!

Color theory helps clarify the mood or theme of your art.

Sounds big, eh?

Sounds like more than a casual colorer wants to tackle, right?

Relax, I'm not about to recommend that every crafter enroll in a color theory class and I won't make you check out big confusing books from the library!

The internet has simplified the learning process for you. We now have entire websites devoted to collecting and cataloging color palettes. For free!

Websites like Design-Seeds, Sarah Renae Clark, and COLOURlovers offer color theory newbies a chance to learn by playing rather than sitting through lectures.

I heartily recommend color palette sites to students who want to improve the maturity of their projects. The thinking and the planning... all the brainy stuff about what matches and what coordinates... it's all been done for you.

The key is learning to use these sites effectively!

Start with a Plan

When you first go to a palette website, it's easy to get blown away. For anyone who loves color, these sites are mezmerizing. Hours can zip by while I'm drooling over rainbows.

The key is to enter the website knowing what you want BEFORE opening the door to temptation.

"I'm coloring an Easter stamp and I want to use a pale orange!"

That's your mission. Stick to it! Don't get sucked into looking at autumnal purple color palettes, right?

Right? Hey, stop looking at all the pretty color palettes up there.

You back with me now? Okay.

Start with a roadmap and you won't get lost.

Next Tip: Skip the Circus

Most color palette websites offer 4, 5, or 6 colors per palette. And what I"m about to say might sound a little crazy, but here goes:

Avoid all the color palettes with 4, 5, or 6 different colors!

Look, I know this kind of variety palette is really, really tempting. When it comes to color, the more color the better, eh?

But how is this palette any different than blindly grabbing five of your favorite Copics?

The color circus method isn't working for you already, so don't keep doing it!

Here's the problem, many palette websites feature a beautiful photograph. Below it, they'll give you five gorgeous colors found in the photo. But if you put your hand over the photograph and look at the palette all by itself, suddenly the palette makes no sense.

What does the tangerine color have to do with spring green or bright yellow? They don't have any relationship; there's no sense of purpose. These could have been five random crayons found in your kitchen junk drawer.

Colors in a palette need to make sense as a group.

Otherwise, they're not really a palette.

Avoid the Paint Chips

The second most common type of palette you'll find is a Value Grouping.

Here we have the same blue shown in a range of strengths. Each blue has a little more white in it but the hue never changes.

Value Groups are hard to work with

... because they don't offer many options. 

This palette would work for an ocean but what color would you use for the sandy beach or the starfish that washed ashore?

It's a pretty collection of colors but it's not very useful. 

And frankly, it's not all that exciting.

Sometimes you'll find Value Groupings with a pop at the end. A "pop" is a color that stands out and contrasts with the larger group. Pops add zing or interest to an otherwise ho-hum collection.

These palettes are a lot better than a straight grouping but they're almost as limiting as the original range.

If you can find a use for the Value with a Pop style palette, they can be quite striking in art... but finding the right kind of image to use them on?  That's quite a challenge.

The Best of Both Worlds

What happens when you combine the joy of the color circus with a few value groups AND a pop?

This is the holy graille!

Let's call this Mixed Assets. These are the color palettes I search for and the kind I use in my projects.

And when I create my own palettes, they look a lot like this.

Here we have two major colors (tangerine and aqua) plus value versions of each and a little pop of green to spice it up.

We have lots of options here!

A floral bouquet could feature large tiger lily blossoms with tiny aqua florets and greenery. I can see a gold fish swimming in a tank with a green sentiment stamp. How about a stack of duckies?

Or wouldn't this make for the most mature and sophisticated group of bubblegum balls in an orange machine?

If you need more colors, say for a background, you can always find a third or fourth value for any of the original colors. We can add a darker aqua or a yellowy-orange so pale, that it almost reads as white. These new colors aren't shown in the original palette but because they relate, they'll fit right in.

The potential of the Mixed Asset palette is endless!

This is how you avoid the childish "I just grabbed a bunch of random colors" look. Your project won't look random because viewers can sense your color plan.

Speaking of Values...

Notice anything else about my Mixed Assets palette?

Don't fall into the Pit of Pointless Pale Pastels.

Remember how we used to decorate baby nurseries in pale pastels but that has that fallen out of fashion recently?

It's because pastels are not the least bit mentally stimulating. 

There's no there there.

Do you want that card to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND AND THE MOST AWESOMEST PERSON ON EARTH!!!!"

Or do you want it to say "Ho hum, have a pretty good day... if you feel like it, but don't go out of your way... zzzzzzz"

A lively and stimulating color palette will have a range of values. Some bold and bright, some light and airy. Find a balance of values.

Yin and yang. Salt and pepper. Sweet and sour. The bold colors help you appreciate the softs and the softies keep the bold ones in check. It's a zen thing.

If you're using Copic Markers and all your markers end in a number smaller than 3, you have a snoozer on your hands!

Adding Neutrals

Many colorers are hesitant to use pre-planned color palettes because they feel locked down and constrained.

What if you need more colors than you find in the original palette?

That's where experimentation and artistry come into play. Color palettes are a bit of guidance keeping you from that schizophrenic, disjointed look but you're not locked into coloring a sandy beach with a green pencil just because there's nothing else left in the palette!

I add neutrals to my images all the time! Sandy beiges or taupes work really well. For my egg illustration, I added soft dove grays and even some muted violet and lavender.

This isn't your kindergartener's crayon box anymore! Adding neutrals amplifies the maturity of any color palette.

Experiment and Play!

Pre-made color palettes are a great way to dabble in color theory and to learn about color by physically using it.

I don't know about you but I'm a visual learner. Tell me something and I'll forget. Show me and I'm more likely to remember. But let me do it with my own hands and that knowledge is cemented for life!

Experimentation is the best way for most artistic people to learn.

And trust me, playing is a lot more fun than sitting through professorial slide shows or painting an endless series of 1" swatch tiles.

What absolutely floors me about our modern color palette websites is the endless selection available! My textbooks had about 20 samples in the back index. If I recall, there were a few books of nothing but color palettes... but as a poor art student, they were beyond my pocketbook.

Technology is a wonderful thing!

Set up a Pinterest board for color palettes which appeal to you and use them in a few upcoming projects. I guarantee they will help you add order, cohesiveness, and a sense of professionalism to your coloring.

Hang on, we're not done yet!

Join me for Part Two, where I show you how to begin creating your own custom color palettes without using the websites.

Let the play time begin!

Yes, I want Beans!

Vibrant Copic Color: Finding Balance for Bold Colors

A clown Car crash?

We've all been there.

You pull out your favorite color marker for a brand new stamp. Maybe it's Ruby Red, Emerald Green, or Ultramarine Blue.

Oh, glorious color! So yummy.

But the stamp image has lots of little pieces and elements to it, and every one of those things needs another color.

So you end up grabbing lots of other markers, just to make it work.

And when you're done, it looks like the aftermath of a Crayola factory explosion.

Color riots happen to the best of us!

They're a bit embarrassing because you're not an eight year old girl. Adults are supposed to have better color sense and mature taste...

...right?

A simple color like Ultramarine Blue can take over and dominate any image. It's so loud and attention hogging that suddenly all you see is glowing blue.

"Gem tones" are the nice name for vibrant extroverted color.

"Obnoxious" is a little closer to the truth though.

I suspect this is why Copic sells so many 0, 00, and 000 markers. People want to use bolder colors but they can't figure out how to do it with sophistication and taste.

But the world is full vibrancy!

And darn it, we want to use our favorite color!

Finding balance is the key to using extroverted color. Balanced color palettes add serenity and restore order to lively color.

But color palettes can be intimidating. You've seen pre-made color palettes on Pinterest and other websites... but creating your own color palettes? That sounds hard!

So let me ask you...

How's that grabbin' colors at random method woking out for you?

Four simple steps...

Yes, I use four simple steps when I design new color palettes for student projects and those for my professional artwork.

And it's not hard. You don't need an advanced degree or a genius I.Q. to do it.

1. Minimize

2. Neutralize

3. Balance

4. Desaturate

That sounds fancy but I can show you how to do it in just one lesson!

You can learn to balance your vibrant Copic Markers and Colored Pencils to create mature and sophisticated coloring projects!

Take the next step!

Vanilla Arts Company is everything that comes after blending lessons.

Perfect for card-makers, paper-crafters, stampers, and colorers who dream of coloring with realism.

For almost a decade, Amy Shulke and her Vanilla Arts support team have made fine art techniques accessible and understandable to marker and colored pencil hobbyists. People like you who want more than follow-the-leader style tutorials.

We help students to improve their technical skills and powers of observation. Most VAC students do not realize they're secretly learning how to draw and paint. We live for the light bulb moments, when a student finally sees the world not just in color but with light and shadow, line and form.

Let’s tap into that talent you’ve been hiding. It’s there, waiting for you.

Become the artist you were always meant to be!

Yes, I want Beans!

Artistic Coloring: What Color is it? Your Brain Lies!

What color is an elephant?

I know what you’re going to say.

And you’re wrong.

Go look.

Google “elephant” and look at the photographs. Don’t just say “oh how cute!” I want you to really look at the color of the elephants on your screen.

Some of the photos show grayish elephants but by far, most wild elephants look to be a range of muted browns and dusty taupes. Some even have pink splotches on their face and ears.

But, but, but… but elephants are supposed to be gray.

I know. It’s a common mistake.

Most Copic colorers use gray markers to color elephants because the elephants stuck in your brain from childhood are gray. So you might grab a few N markers to get the job done, some would grab the C markers since the cool bluish grays are so pretty.

A rare few would have pulled out their W grays. Not because they’re thinking about brown elephants but because there’s some silly Copic rule floating around out there that says “If the object is alive, use a W gray”.

So all living things that are gray are warm gray?

Really?

Tell that to the koala, the gorilla, and my Russian Blue cat. I guess they’re all dead because they sure aren’t Ws.

Your brain lies 

It makes generalizations, it takes shortcuts, it believes the illustrations it sees in children’s picture books.

It tells you to follow stupid rules about warm and cool grays.

You can't trust your brain when it comes to color.

Which is why you’re going to be shocked when I tell you that pumpkins and school buses are basically the same exact color.

I know. That’s a hard one to wrap your brain around. Give it a moment.

We all make color assumptions

Chalk it up to faulty memory, general laziness, or the fact that we tend to believe everything our kindergarten teacher said.

Yep, that sweet lady lied to you too. She was the one who started a lot of this bunkum, that elephants are gray, that pumpkins are orange, and that clouds are white.

Clouds are not white?

Boy, this day is just full of revelations, isn't it?

One way to add artistry to your coloring...

... is to stop coloring stereotypes and start looking at the color things actually are.

Which means that you might want to rethink using that black marker to color hair.

Aww, geeze... my brain lied about hair too?

Yep.

The weird thing is that when you color things the color they actually are in real life, people get all excited about what you’ve done.

“Wow, that looks so real!”

“You’re so creative!”

“She’s such a talented artist!”

Uhm, yeah. As if it takes great talent and skill to use the eyeballs you were born with.

So I have an assignment for you

This is really simple. It won’t take more than a few minutes a day. No special tools, no travel required. In fact, you can do it on the sly at work and no one will even know you’re doing it.

I want you to start taking little color tours.

Look a the color of objects around you. I mean really look.

What kind of yellow is that pencil? 

What Copic marker matches your living room walls? Would you use the same marker in the corners of the room?

What color is ketchup and can you find two more things that are the exact same color?

Exercises like this will stretch your definition of color.

Most people have a very limited color vocabulary. They stop at “Robins have a red breast” and never define what kind of red.

When you start paying attention, you’re going to discover something interesting:

The more you look, the more you see. 

People wonder at my color choices

It's very rare that I don't throw some odd colors into the blend.

The geranium image here uses a bright blue underneath green and there’s a bold purple over the red.

I’m not a genius and I don’t have magical coloring powers. An angel didn’t descend from above and bop me over the head with his harp until I agreed to use dark purple on red.

I got it from looking at an actual, real life geranium long enough to understand the colors I was seeing.

I was color touring.

It may look like I'm day dreaming, or (if I remember to close my mouth while thinking) it will look as if I’m meditating. But actually, I’m exercising my sense of color.

The more you look at color, the more color you see

You’ll see hidden blues and violets everywhere. You’ll see hints of pink or yellow in things that are sitting in sunshine. There are skies and tree trunks that will move you to tears.

The more color you see, the more color you can add to your projects.

This skill is not going to hit you all at once. It takes time to develop a sensitivity to color.

And the number one thing standing in your way?

 An over-reliance on the standard Copic blending trios.

Because nothing in this world is R29 - 27 - 24.

The R20 series is not a combination found in nature and you’re fooling yourself if you use it to color fire trucks, ketchup, bricks, strawberries, stop signs, and geraniums.

When you expand your color vocabulary and start paying attention to the subtle differences in the reds around you, you’re naturally going to start using color more intelligently in your projects.

That’s artistry.

Expand your awareness of color and your unique color style will emerge.

Color like an artist. Not like a kindergartener.    

You can do this!

Yes, I want Beans!