Most colorers learn to color from other colorers, and this leads to a lot of segregated thinking in the coloring world.
"Today's tutorial demonstrates how to color magical unicorns with Copic Markers. Tune in tomorrow when we color tropical fish with Distress Ink. Next week, I'll show you how to color a landscape with Polychromos pencils!"
That's flying solo. Using one product per project. Using one brand per project.
I never fly solo.
Never.
And it makes a gigantic difference
"I wish I could color like that artist on YouTube!"
All adult colorers have coloring heroes, inspirational Copic Marker or colored pencil geniuses whom we'd gladly trade places with. We love the look of their coloring projects and oh man, if only we had that kind of skill!
We'd give anything to be that talented, to be kissed by the coloring gods.
Talent. We chalk it up to talent. "That person is talented."
But you're wrong. It's not the talent you admire.
It's the color.
What you love in someone else's coloring usually has nothing to do with…
Sorry, not that kind of weight problem. Do you have a Copic weight problem?
You are not alone. You color something like flowers and your blends are flawless. You use your best techniques and all of your skill. Basically, the stars align and it might be the best coloring you've ever done.
And yet your flower blossoms look like they each weigh about 90 pounds. There's nothing light or delicate about your project. It's leaden and heavy….
Copic Marker fans love color. Colored pencil people love color.
That's why you color, right?
For most of you, it's rainbow, rainbow, rainbow all the time.
Bright reds, brilliant blues, verdant greens... bring on the color, baby!
Because I teach a lot of classes and I want my presentations to be unique, I do a lot of internet surfing; looking at other project photos and tutorials so that I'm not repeating tired concepts and techniques that have been done to death.
In that research, I see a lot of bold and vivid colors being used.
But not a lot of neutrals.
It seems that many colorers are afraid of the toned down and slightly muddy colors.
So you write them off as unimportant.
Bland and boring. Browns and beiges and foggy grays.
Zzzzzzzzzzz
What a snoozefest!
I think that's really sad.
Neutrals are some of the most interesting and complex colors available to artists. Many artists spend years, even decades learning to hand mix perfect neutral colors. If a whole bunch of artists are spending that much time studying one specific thing? Well, that's a sign. There must be something pretty darned important about neutrals.
So why aren't you using them in your coloring projects?
It's not that neutral color palettes are boring, it's that you're using them wrong!
Do you want to improve the look of your coloring projects?
Are you searching for that polished professional look?
Are you tired of coloring like a circus clown or a 12 year old Disney Princess wanna-be?
Neutrals!
Neutrals are the solution!
Adding more neutrals to your projects is not hard.
Don't build it up to be more taxing than it ought to be.
Four simple keys...
Just four? Yep.
I have four little tricks that I use to add life and zest to my neutral color palettes!
Expand your definition of neutral - supplement the palette with near-neutrals like violet grays and dusty yellows.
Use a full range of color values - don't get stuck at the zero end of the Copic color set!
Don't skip texture and pattern - smooth & plain is boring no matter what color you use!
Add some spice - find pop colors to provide some kicky interest
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