For me, part of the fun of colouring is choosing which colours to use. How about you?
You might expect to find your colouring palette in your crayons box. So did I until I discovered an unusual shade of blue in my peg basket. See the pale blue peg under the yellow near the top? That’s the one I wanted.
Find Inspiration Everywhere.
Peg baskets aren’t the only crazy places colours can be found. Button tins are treasure troves of colour. Book covers, record sleeves, magazines – keep your eyes open for colours.
Get your colour palette spot on and you’ll transform an average piece of colouring to something of great beauty. You know from experience that having just one colour out of place can spoil the whole piece.
Putting your colour palette together takes more than simply spinning a colour wheel. Like I said, find inspiration everywhere. Look in the most unlikely places – your colouring box won’t always have the answer.
I found this site when searching for inspiration: click here. It explains the different colour choices and goes into detail on shades – most interesting 🙂
Mood of the Piece.
When putting your colour palette together, think about the mood you want the piece to create. Are you hoping to create something wild and vibrant, maybe a little more calm and serene? Reflect the mood in the colours you choose.
Avoid mixing warm and cold colours by making sure the colours in your palette complement each other. Warm colours include reds, oranges, some pinks, beiges and browns. Cool colours include blues, purple, greens and some pinks.
This is where a colour wheel comes into its own. Checking which colours work together is much easier with a colour wheel. Take it from someone who’s made some glaring mess-ups with wrong colours!
Keep Colours to a Minimum.
Using lots of different colours can make a piece “busy”. You want the piece to have life but not to have it smack people in the chops when they see it.
The more colours you have in your palette, the greater chance of a colour clash. For example, I put salmon pink with burnt orange and bright red in the same square inch. It was gross. It looked like someone had puked on the design. Horrible!
I learned my lesson and keep colours to around eight and try to stay below ten.
You can, of course, increase your palette by using different pressures with your crayons. The lighter your touch, the paler the shade.
The basic palette stays the same but you can change the depth of colours by using different pressures. This is a sneaky tip often missed.
Remember to keep a neutral shade like cream, grey or brown in your palette. One of these can make your brighter colours really stand out.
You might’ve been told not to use black for colouring. I certainly was. Poppycock! It’s your piece, you use any colours you choose. Black is the ultimate neutral shade.
What tips do you have for choosing a colour palette?
Let us know in the comments section.
Warmly,
Shan
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