Home › Forums › Explore Media › Colored Pencil › Polychromos Swatch Chart
- This topic has 24 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 20 years, 4 months ago by magnuscanis.
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November 28, 2002 at 8:45 pm #983178
Hi, everyone:
The latest event in the saga of Jan’s Adventures in Polychromos involves a swatch chart. 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.November 28, 2002 at 8:46 pm #1005080And here’s the Polychromos Greens:
The journey is as important as the destination.November 28, 2002 at 8:48 pm #1005081And the reds and yellows…
The journey is as important as the destination.November 28, 2002 at 8:51 pm #1005072Wow. A lot of work on this one. This thread gets a 5 star rating from me. Thanks!
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
November 28, 2002 at 8:51 pm #1005082And 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.November 28, 2002 at 8:53 pm #1005083Thanks, LeAnne!
And, finally, the Polychromos browns!
The journey is as important as the destination.November 28, 2002 at 9:34 pm #1005076November 28, 2002 at 9:58 pm #1005073Jan
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. PournellNovember 29, 2002 at 7:55 am #1005084Hey, 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.November 30, 2002 at 12:44 am #1005069Jan, 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
mel
my websiteNovember 30, 2002 at 7:43 am #1005085You’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.November 30, 2002 at 7:47 am #1005086I just noticed the stars!
Thank you everyone, for the 5-star rating!
Jan
The journey is as important as the destination.November 30, 2002 at 9:05 am #1005077November 30, 2002 at 12:44 pm #1005087Hey, 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.December 3, 2002 at 1:14 am #1005070[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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