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We’re still working our way through my list of frequently used colors.

Last week we talked about white and it really ended up being more like a shopping list of my favorite white pencils.

But I don’t want you to think I’m just throwing spammy links at you for weeks on end…

This week is more about thinking than buying.

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WARNING: NO VANILLA BEANS NEXT WEEK. NEXT ISSUE ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 4TH.

THE OTHER 30%

**MY FREQUENT COLOR LIST - IN THE FREE LIBRARY**

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Last week’s video, Colored Pencil Intervention, covered the dangers of buying every pencil ever made and how having every color at your fingertips can warp your sense of color.

But the real gold nugget was sharing my process for layering pencils to create unique colors rather than using a separate pencil for every color.

I also introduced the concept of “Core” colors.

Every artist in every medium has a core group of around 30 colors they work with daily.

Core colors are not favorite colors. Instead, we use core colors to CREATE our favorite colors.

You can download my personal Core list from the Free Download Library.

It’s not brand specific because I gravitate towards these same colors whether I’m working with marker, pencil, watercolor… if you ask me to experiment with any new media, the first things I go looking for are B60-ish, Sap, and Naples.

Now some of you saw that list and wondered—

Hey Amy, why are there only two grays and no black on the list?

Good question, let’s talk about that today.

I want to learn to be an artist so I’m going to start with the Copic gray markers, then I’ll slowly add color later.

Awesome. That sounds great!

How about the same plan with colored pencils?

I’ll start with just gray colored pencils and slowly add color later.

Welllll… ehhhh… uhhhh… I’m not sure that’s a great idea.

Why is it fine for markers but not colored pencils?

Simple.

Because gray colored pencils aren’t gray.

So here’s where I hop on a soapbox to preach about the dangers of pool halls, gambling dens, and swatch charts.

Maybe not, but I’ll do something I don’t usually do…

Today, I’ll finally be honest about why swatches are the work of the Devil.

See, normally if you show me your big book of color swatches, I’ll smile and politely change the subject, the same way I would if you ripped off your shirt to show me your new tattoo in memory of your dear departed “Mothre”.

You already did it. Nothin’ we can do about it now.

But we’re talking truth about gray colored pencils today…

Here’s where I can’t skip over the damage swatch charts do to your brain.

When you swatch, you swatch on white paper, right?

So with gray colored pencils, you get something like this:

This idea of the grayscale gets embedded into you head. You’ve got your dark gray pencil on one end and the pencils get lighter as we move towards the other end.

It leads to this logical idea:

Dark gray colored pencils are dark gray.

Medium gray pencils are medium gray.

Light gray pencils are light gray.

But here’s the problem— they’re not.

Here’s where I show off my psychic skills because many of you have done this before:

You’re coloring happily along, la-la-la…

And you can’t find the shady red color you want. You briefly consider shading with brown but then you remember “artists often shade with gray”.

Hmmm… Let’s be artistic!

You’ve got lots of gray colored pencils in your set but some of them are scary and dark. You only need a little bit of shade so you grab something medium to medium-light.

Nice and gentle…

JEEPERS CRIPES! WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED???

There is only one gray pencil that shades…

The rest of ‘em highlight places where the sun don’t shine.

via GIPHY

So what’s going on here?

Why does this happen?

It happens because gray pencils aren’t gray and all the colored pencil companies keep telling you this but you won’t listen.

Noooooo, you’re too busy swatching and reorganizing your swatches and checking your swatches before the project and then reswatching while you color and it’s all swatch, swatchity-swatch…

STOP!!!

Dark gray colored pencils are kinda dark gray.

Medium gray pencils are not medium gray.

Light gray pencils are not light gray.

And your swatch chart doesn’t say a darned thing about any of this.

I know you’ve seen this a million times right? But have you ever really looked at it?

Let’s look at little closer:

Ever wonder about that number?

Ever wonder about the other 30%?

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Meet my best friend, 90% Cool Gray.

When you see me coloring something black, I’m usually using this pencil.

When you see me shade, even when I only want a little bit o’ shade and even when I’m shading something pale like lilac or pink, if I’m doing it with gray, I’m still using this pencil.

I buy these pencils by the box and I go through about a box and a half every year. It’s a jack of all trades kind of pencil.

But it’s also scary dark, right? So you try not to touch it.

You grab a lighter gray instead. But that safe, subtle, light gray you’re grabbing isn’t really a gray pencil.

It’s a white pencil.

And white ain’t shade.

See, you think you’re getting this, because all the swatches say so:

Dark to light

But it’s actually this…

And this is what the name is trying to tell you:

Transparent to opaque

10% Grey is 90% white

20% Grey is 80% white

30% Grey is 70% white

50% Grey is 50% white

70% Grey is 30% white

They’re all just dirty white pencils.

90% gray doesn’t even belong in this family because it’s 90% gray and 10% transparent binder.

Everyone focuses on the gray. Which gray should I use? Warm? Cool? French?

Forget the gray, you need to be worried about the white!

White is an opaque pigment. The more you add, the more opaque the pencil gets.

This is a form study. I know you’ve seen these before. They’re part of every Drawing 101 class.

And as a colorist, you’re thinking, “Oh hey, that looks like fun. I can pull out all my gray pencils and color a sphere too!”

Which totally misses one of the major points of the exercise.

See this assignment isn’t done with one set of gray pencils, it’s done with ONE PENCIL.

90% Cool Grey is all you need, well… that and a little pressure control.

But as soon as you pull out all your dirty white pencils, you start putzing around with opacity and then some pencils start masking the others and some won’t stick to the previous layers…

It’s a mess.

Which is why there’s one shading gray pencil on my Core list.

Life is simpler this way but it also looks better too.

In the video, I said:

We don’t use colors for the color but for what the color can do.

But we also use certain pencils for their ingredients.

Or their not-ingredients.

The color is the least important part of a colored pencil and yet it’s the only thing you swatch.

I shade with the most transparent, darkest gray in any brand, any set.

One pencil, that’s all I need.

Why not shade with black?

Because black isn’t usually black. In cheaper sets, including some of your favorite Artzy-Castle-Scorpion brands… that pencil core has been dyed black.

In pigmented blacks, the color comes from carbon which doesn’t reflect light. So it’s black but it’s a dead black.

The darkest gray, as long as it doesn’t contain any white, is usually the more dynamic and interesting choice.

But Amy, I’ve taken classes with you and we used 70% gray in class…

That’s because I know half of you are too chicken to use 90% gray.

But also, pressure control is an issue for most students, so 70% is a safer option for the Hand of Thor folks. I use it under protest though; it always looks a little too highlighty for my taste.

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What about the other two grays on the list?

Well, sometimes I actually want to color something gray.

50% Cool is a standard gray which comes in handy for gray objects. I don’t love layering over the top of it because the white content really fills the tooth but it’ll do.

And Slate Grey is an excellent base for cast shadows.

Did you also notice that my list has a ton of blue and purples and yet I hardly ever color blue or purple objects?

Ah ha. I’m taking next week off but we’ll talk about that when I return.

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