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  • #983178
    ZB3
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        Hi, everyone:

        The latest event in the saga of Jan’s Adventures in Polychromos involves a swatch chart. :D Today, I decided that if I were more familiar with the colors, I’d have more success in blending and making value transitions.

        I colored a swatch chart, scanned it, and made several files with labels. I don’t know if it’ll be valuable to anyone but me, but I decided to post it, just in case.

        In Colored Pencil Solutions, the authors advise taking swatches, cutting them apart, and pasting them on little cardboard organizers by color family or value or whatever. Then you can refer to these little organizers when you’re ready to do a drawing.
        That’s one thing I intend to do with the swatches.

        Or…if anyone is simply curious about what the Polychromos line consists of, here’s all the colors except the Cold Greys (6 values), the Warm Greys (6 values), White, Ivory, Black, Silver, Copper, and Gold. Those look pretty much as you’d expect them to look.

        The swatch colors aren’t exactly true to life of course. I decided to err on the side of caution, for fear of making the colors look garish. So, most are a bit more subdued than they are in real life.

        Thanks, Jan

        So, here’s File #1: The Polychromos Blues

        The journey is as important as the destination.
        #1005080
        ZB3
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            And here’s the Polychromos Greens:

            The journey is as important as the destination.
            #1005081
            ZB3
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                And the reds and yellows…

                The journey is as important as the destination.
                #1005072
                Elankat
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                    Wow. A lot of work on this one. This thread gets a 5 star rating from me. Thanks! :D

                    LeAnne
                    "What's my greatest work of art? My child."

                    Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a while. And, dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom! ~ William Wallace in Braveheart

                    #1005082
                    ZB3
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                        And the purples…

                        There’s a bit of confusion here, as my box had two pencils called “magenta.” I think there must be a mistake and one is supposed to be “crimson.” That’s why there’s question marks by two of the colors.

                        The journey is as important as the destination.
                        #1005083
                        ZB3
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                            Thanks, LeAnne!

                            And, finally, the Polychromos browns!

                            The journey is as important as the destination.
                            #1005076
                            Lissa
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                                What an excellent job! I would find these swatches very useful if I used that brand of pencil.

                                Lissa

                                My Art[/url] "What you are is God's gift to you. What you do with what you are is your gift to God." ~~ George Foster
                                #1005073
                                Big Jack
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                                    Jan
                                    WOW, thanks a bunch. I’m printing out the color swatches as I type this. I’m going to make a small square test spot besides some of yours to see if the colors survived the trip through cyber space. If the colors match I’ve got a wonderful resource and I thank you for all your work. If the colors got screwed up between your pencil and my printer, all I have to do is color in some squares. You have already done all the work of labeling and arranging. Again I thanik you.

                                    Leanne-This is definitly a 5 star thread.

                                    I just tested a few from each color group. Most seem very, very close depending on the pressure I used. The lighter shades, yellows, and light flesh were little off. Could be my printer.

                                    Jack

                                    Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books.
                                    J. E. Pournell

                                    #1005084
                                    ZB3
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                                        Hey, all:

                                        Thanks again, LeAnne, for the nice comment about the thread. :)

                                        Lissa, you never know…you might find yourself trying Polychromos one day. ;)

                                        Big Jack, I’m happy that you’ll be able to use the charts! I’ve got the swatches tacked onto the wall above my drawing table, and have already found them to be valuable. I can look at the color in the photo, match it to a color on the swatch chart…and I’m in business.

                                        In this month’s American Artist, there’s an article by a guy who recommends that you pick several colors close to the one you want and mix them, instead of using one hue. With the swatch chart, I can check out the possibilities in minutes.

                                        About the slightly off color…I couldn’t get the swatches to match the real thing exactly. And, every time I switched programs, the charts looked a bit different. So, I matched the colors as close as I could in Photoshop (figuring most people would print from either Photoshop or Elements) by bumping the levels sliders ever so slightly. :)

                                        Thanks again for comments!

                                        Jan

                                        The journey is as important as the destination.
                                        #1005069
                                        mel-ink
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                                            Jan, thanks for the helpful charts and for sharing your hard work!! I’ve thought about test-driving these pencils!! Now I may just have to think about doing that again…:D

                                            #1005085
                                            ZB3
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                                                You’re welcome, Mel, and thank you for the nice comment. :)

                                                I guess my needle is stuck or something, because I can’t quit playing with these swatches. I put the smaller files into one file, printed that file onto Rives paper, and noticed that my printer had really failed to accurately reproduce some of the colors although they looked okay on the screen — a little subdued, but okay.

                                                Anyway, I re-colored the swatches, using very heavy pressure this time. The file is too large to post, but if anyone wants a Polychromos all-in-one swatch chart, just click here .

                                                The chart looks awful on-screen, but prints out passably well. Names, numbers, and colors are legible.

                                                Instead of printing directly from the web page, you can also save the file and enlarge it in a program like Photoshop or Elements. For more brilliant color swatches, color over the printed blocks.

                                                The color number and name are below the swatch, and the hue, saturation, and value components of the color are on the right. HSV components were calculated in Procreate Painter (using an average of several readings) and might vary in other programs.

                                                Thanks, Jan

                                                The journey is as important as the destination.
                                                #1005086
                                                ZB3
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                                                    I just noticed the stars! :)

                                                    Thank you everyone, for the 5-star rating!

                                                    Jan

                                                    The journey is as important as the destination.
                                                    #1005077
                                                    Lissa
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                                                        Jan – I hope to get some some day…those and all the other brands available, as I’m sure that each have their advantages :)

                                                        Lissa

                                                        Lissa

                                                        My Art[/url] "What you are is God's gift to you. What you do with what you are is your gift to God." ~~ George Foster
                                                        #1005087
                                                        ZB3
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                                                            Hey, Lissa:

                                                            The way I discovered Polychromos is…I was buying Prismas in an art store in Savannah and noticed that Polychromos open stock was available. I picked up a few, liked them, got enthusiastic and ordered a whole set.

                                                            Whew! The Polychromos pencils were a lot harder to use than the Prismas! I’m still struggling to learn them, which is why I’m working so hard to familiarize myself with the colors. The process has helped!!! Actually, I think all this will help me be a better colored pencil artist in general. :)

                                                            Jan

                                                            The journey is as important as the destination.
                                                            #1005070
                                                            gnu
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                                                                [i]Originally posted by reverie [/i]
                                                                [B]And the purples…

                                                                There’s a bit of confusion here, as my box had two pencils called “magenta.” I think there must be a mistake and one is supposed to be “crimson.” That’s why there’s question marks by two of the colors. [/B]

                                                                Hi I just bought 20 polychromos today, and 133 is amongst them…(they were $1 each! yahoo!!)
                                                                the 133 is bordueaux wine red..according to me, and I picked the pencil colour from the screen, so it is the same colour…
                                                                thanks for all the hard work

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