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April 22, 2012 at 7:44 pm #989608
This might seem like an odd question when it is so easy to get loads of coloured pencil colours but I’m wondering what your absolute favourite colours would be, colours that you could use as a ‘limited palette’? I do a lot of sketching as journalism, mostly with watercolour media for colouring but I’d like to try coloured pencil. The problem is that it’s not practical to take a large set with me.
Windsoriana: Featuring the cultural life of Windsor and Essex county, Ontario through the lives of its writers, artists, musicians and more.
April 23, 2012 at 12:47 am #1160629Hi Adaraworkshop,
What type of subject matter do you typically sketch?
A portrait artist will typically have a different palette from a landscape artist, or a wildlife artist, or a floral artist.Also, do you know what brand of colored pencils you will be purchasing?
With those two pieces of information I think we’ll be able to offer more helpful suggestions.That said, you can do a lot with a simple palette of the primary colors. Check out this thread where pinkrybns used only red, blue, yellow, and white:
https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278475
[FONT="Arial"] Petra
[FONT="Tahoma"]“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
Welcome! CP Library - Info on Supplies and Techniques Uploading Images InfoApril 23, 2012 at 10:08 am #1160635That thread is fantastic! Really inspiring work, and so delicately done too.
I’ll be getting Prismacolor Premiere softcores. Not the Verithin line (yet). Subject matter is very broad. The urban scenes I cover are often street scenes, or set in parks so there’s a combination of figure work and landscape. As a painter, I use a split compliment palette plus earths which works terribly well for everything. Judging from the thread you linked to, it looks like a similar palette might work for CPs too.
Windsoriana: Featuring the cultural life of Windsor and Essex county, Ontario through the lives of its writers, artists, musicians and more.
April 23, 2012 at 12:41 pm #1160630That thread is fantastic! Really inspiring work, and so delicately done too.
I’ll be getting Prismacolor Premiere softcores. Not the Verithin line (yet). Subject matter is very broad. The urban scenes I cover are often street scenes, or set in parks so there’s a combination of figure work and landscape. As a painter, I use a split compliment palette plus earths which works terribly well for everything. Judging from the thread you linked to, it looks like a similar palette might work for CPs too.
Yes, I’m sure a split complementary palette will work in cp’s as well. You are basically using the same pigments as when you paint, only in a different form. The only thing to keep in mind is that it takes a lot of layering and blending to “mix” colors using cp. So I recommend getting as many colors as will be convenient for you to carry; this will save you time and work.
Thus far I’ve done mostly a wide range of still life and a city scape. Just now getting into people in cp, so if you need flesh tones I’ll let others advise you there. I also haven’t done a lot with brown thus far, but if you pick colors similar to what you use in painting you should be fine.
I have the Prismacolor Premieres, and here are some of my “go to” colors:
– Black Grape (awesome for shadows)
– Greyed Lavender
– Cream (really the palest yellow that prismacolor makes)
– White (this one is an absolute must)
– Canary Yellow
– Cool Gray 90%
– Cool Gray 70%
– 70% French Gray (This is a warm gray)
– Tuscan Red
– Poppy Red (great for layering under other colors to create a warm glow)
– Crimson Red
– Indigo Blue
– Sky Blue Light
– Apple Green
– Dark GreenMy black pencil gets very little use. Black cp applied by itself tends to look odd and unrealistic. So I like to create blacks by layering dark red with dark green or dark blue, or all three together. If you are creating quick sketches however, black could come in useful.
Hope this helps a little, and also hope you will have a chance to post your cp work here!
[FONT="Arial"] Petra
[FONT="Tahoma"]“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
Welcome! CP Library - Info on Supplies and Techniques Uploading Images InfoApril 23, 2012 at 2:37 pm #1160636Thanks! You’ve given me a lot to think about. I hadn’t thought of the darker purple for shadows. I’ve seen someone use grey coloured pencil to knock down chroma. My set (which just arrived today!) doesn’t have grey but I’ll be sure to include it on my open-stock wish list.
I bought a global arts pencil case with the pencils, and have loaded it up. I did order ultramarine, since that is one of my go-to colours for painting. I made a guess re: colour temperature but I guess I’ll work out any kinks with trial and error.
So this is my CP palette to start with, on the go:
Ultramarine
True Blue
Dark Green
Apple Green
Canary Yellow
Spanish Orange
Peach
Orange
Poppy Red
Crimson Red
Mulberry
Violet
White
Tuscan Red
Dark Brown
Goldenrod
Sienna BrownCP was always a challenge for me when I was in art class, but I didn’t have these softer pencils then. I’ll experiment and post the results.
Thanks for all of your help!
Windsoriana: Featuring the cultural life of Windsor and Essex county, Ontario through the lives of its writers, artists, musicians and more.
April 23, 2012 at 11:20 pm #1160631Thanks! You’ve given me a lot to think about. I hadn’t thought of the darker purple for shadows. I’ve seen someone use grey coloured pencil to knock down chroma. My set (which just arrived today!) doesn’t have grey but I’ll be sure to include it on my open-stock wish list.
I bought a global arts pencil case with the pencils, and have loaded it up. I did order ultramarine, since that is one of my go-to colours for painting. I made a guess re: colour temperature but I guess I’ll work out any kinks with trial and error.
So this is my CP palette to start with, on the go:
Ultramarine
True Blue
Dark Green
Apple Green
Canary Yellow
Spanish Orange
Peach
Orange
Poppy Red
Crimson Red
Mulberry
Violet
White
Tuscan Red
Dark Brown
Goldenrod
Sienna BrownCP was always a challenge for me when I was in art class, but I didn’t have these softer pencils then. I’ll experiment and post the results.
Thanks for all of your help!
You are welcome.
That looks like an excellent palette for traveling!
Yes, having good pencils makes all the difference in the world, as does having good paper.
Happy penciling![FONT="Arial"] Petra
[FONT="Tahoma"]“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
Welcome! CP Library - Info on Supplies and Techniques Uploading Images InfoApril 24, 2012 at 8:34 am #1160634You can get some nice, fairly compact pencil cases[/URL] that will allow you to carry a fair selection of colors. While you can layer to build colors you want, that does take considerably more time. In a sketching situation, I tend to want to do minimal layering, so I like to have a fair selection of colors.
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InstagramSaveApril 24, 2012 at 5:57 pm #1160632I have the Prismacolor Premieres, and here are some of my “go to” colors:
– Black Grape (awesome for shadows)my favourite colour
When I sketch I normally use, a dark blue, a light blue, a red, a dark green a light green, a yellow/orange and a couple of greys. no specific colour name, just what ever I think will work that day
small tins work well for carrying them, I prefer the pencil wraps. And usually have a few with different shades in them, so usually have enough colours.
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April 25, 2012 at 5:04 pm #1160637Thanks for the great tips everyone! I’ve heard so many people singing the praises of grape for shadows, I’ll have to give it a whirl. As for pencil cases, I have one of the Global Arts cases, which is terrific, but it has all of my sketching supplies. So the first half is all pens, brushpens, graphite pencils, and so on. I also have some Derwent Inktense. I figure I could mix washes from them to put the CP over.
I’m really happy with my first outing. I used a reference photo from the Portrait forum. I’ll try a landscape too just to see if the palette is flexible enough. I think I used: goldenrod, poppy red, crimson red, tuscan red, dark brown, sienna brown, ultramarine, and a fleck or two of black. This is on Moleskine paper.Do you usually use cold press paper with CP?
Windsoriana: Featuring the cultural life of Windsor and Essex county, Ontario through the lives of its writers, artists, musicians and more.
April 25, 2012 at 6:09 pm #1160633you can use any paper with cps, its all down to personal preference. really smooth paper can be hard to work on, very difficult to get the layers you need with cp.
cp works really well over the inktense pencils, but that does depend on the paper you use. the more texture the paper has, the harder it is to use coloured pencils on, not impossible, just harder
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April 29, 2012 at 9:54 am #1160628I dont know yet (i dont have all pencils form my brands when i get someday maybe few full sets (maybe three full sets) i can think more this becouse then i know which hues are very close in reality) but one best factory made sets (i dont have all hues what it have but base colours what i have i know it,an how they blend) is 24 colour set form here and their 25 colour “limited edition” which looks like have few my all time favorites in any brand.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/faber-castell-polychromos-pencil-sets/#photos
ps. and this colour range even more (i mean works in these even better) when we use watersoluble pencils. actually if i have money only 12 colour set and i can choice all of them i choice 12 faber-castell watersoluble line baded few colours on it. i cannot make one kind bright hues (like bright magenta) with it but i cannot make cran d’ache small set same kind mixes ( mean when i get yellow pencil and blue pencil i get some kind greens what is hard tell better but works more like paints what i have) which means with faber-castell i never suprised i think when i mix coloured pencils but with cran d’ache some mixes gives weird suprises. and in this f-c 12/24/25 sets have few hues what are to me essential. i cannot name them anyway not soon i try look my “Portable set” give names for some of them. and derwent artist series small boxes looks usefull for landscapes. -
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