How to Mix 1000+ Colors From 12 Pencils 

And depending on just what type of work you are doing you most likely never will. A lot depends on just what you are using colored pencils for. Yes it is much easier to get subtle blends of colors to get what you want with more color options. That is because you are actually doing your blending with already blended colors. Color A in the blend you are doing is already a blend of colors B, C and maybe D or more. One way to vary your color use is to try different types of subject matter. Personally I'll do landscapes, urban scenes, ships, structures themselves, foliage (I avoid flowers though), people (I'm terrible but I am learning). Pretty much anything*. And I never work from coloring books. I will find images online, save the image and then run it through a graphics program to extract a line image. I use Paint.net for this. It's a free down load and easy to use for this. Also there is a pencil blending app for smart phones, tablets and computers called Color Pencil Picker. There is a free version that will do anything the pay version will. You just have adds to slog through. *if somebody is just doing patterned images, mandalas, tesselations and the like all you really need is a cheap set of pencils or markers.

We’ve come a long way haven’t we. I started out with a pack of Crayola pencils. I think the pack of 12 in 2016.

Idk if this is will really fits in this conversation but I use pastel watercolours as a base layer and the second alyer with my 76 Colour pencils and using neons as a background for my stickers to make the illustration pop

@@AmritaSingh-is7lh nice technique 🙂

@@grannysharp772 crayola are pretty good for beginners ,but prismacolor are on another level and the 12 pack are pretty amazing for all your needs

36 sounds like the perfect size set!

Great point!

Holbein :-)

Luminance

If I can only have one I have them already - 150 Prismacolor. But I'd love to collect the Caren D'Ache and the Arteza sets!!

🦋🙌 prismacolors, no hesitation 🙌👍

Prisma color or polychromos

I’ve actually just bought myself a set to compare! I’m going to compare 20+ brands, so I’ve bought a few pencils from each, but a slightly larger set of the Luminance because they’ve been on my wishlist too, and this seems like the perfect excuse to finally try them 😊 I had to buy the smallest sets (or individual pencils) from most of the brands to keep within budget... but it was worth a slight splurge for the Luminance! I can’t wait to get them 😊

36 is a great number! I think 30-50 is a perfect set. I do like having more, but it’s not necessary.

Can you share the name of the colouring pencil course you took? That sounds intriguing.

@@barefacedquestions sorry no... It's no longer available they've changed everything up. But the idea is that with proper layering and blending you can get every colour which is find with my polychromos I can pretty much. I need a few more in the pink/purple range of colours but only a couple to get what I want.

@@barefacedquestions while the course is no longer available if you look up draw awesome: Phil Davies you can see some of what he does. On the blog he talks about 5 techniques to improve coloured pencil drawing which talks about this.

@@naughtscrossstitches Oh wow, thank you so much. Art Tutor was actually an art learning resource I really loved, but I wasn't into colored pencils back then. Somehow I had guessed you were referring to that site.

72 is more than enough! And they are beautiful pencils. You’ll enjoy them!!

Hi Kim! I hope you’re handling this lockdown ok. Crazy times. At least we can still craft!

Yes, paper makes a big difference! I actually just used printer paper in this video- I should have used better paper to show the colors better!

It’s easy to get carried away 🫣

Pretty much the standard 12 set actually!

I would try the same as I use for my minimal watercolour palette. This will require a lot of mixing for actual colouring but here's what I would try: warm and cool of each primary; a green for mixing with blues and yellows (and earths) to create lots of different greens; a couple of earth colours, to mix and tone down bright pure hues; and white. To reduce the amount of mixing needed you could add the other two secondary colours (you already have a green). Which handily makes 12 to fit in a standard case. Specific colours in Polychromos (cuz that's all I have) are: Blues: ultramarine (warm) and phthalo blue (cool), Yellows: dark cadmium yellow (w) and light cadmium yellow (c), Reds: deep scarlet red (w) and madder (c); Green: emerald green or dark phthalo green (as a green that's easier to use without mixing); Earths (a warm and a cool): maybe bistre (c) or walnut brown (c) and burnt ochre (w); Secondaries: cadmium orange and purple violet (you already have your green). A third blue--light phthalo blue--would give you more blue mixing options. With this kind of combo (even with just 8 or 9 of them) you can mix a huge range of colours, cools, neutrals, and warms, as well as both clear and moodier colours. These are JUST SUGGESTIONS. For every colour I named there are multiple other options you could use as your warm red, cool earth, etc. Maybe you happen to love the colours you get when you use Nougat for your earth colour and that's the only one you need. The fun of this is to experiment with different combos of primaries, earths, and greens to see what you get with each combo of nine (or 12). It's such a great exercise for getting to know what your colours can do. (You can't imagine the full range of each colour's potential until you have mixed/swatched.) Sarah's chart is perfect for doing these tests. I have done this extensively with watercolours but I haven't done this mixing test yet with my coloured pencils. But after watching this, I'm getting ready to do just that! Another way to approach this is to include the secondaries INSTEAD of the earths since you can tone down any colour with its complement. (This way you could fit in the third blue if you like the mixing choices that extra blue gives you.) Also I should note that I mostly buy my coloured pencils from open stock at my local art supply, so these choices probably don't exist in a set, although I notice that the Polychromos set of 12 very roughly approaches my 12 choices for a small, custom, all-round palette. But it includes two greens which is convenient but not as versatile and black which, to me, is a wasted choice for a minimal palette. Anyway, the bottom line is test, test, test. ;-) I plan to have a lot of fun with this! Hope you do too.

Heavier- but usually the first one is naturally heavier because it has the best opportunity to attach itself to the paper. So if you were to use the exact same pressure on both colors, the first would be the dominant. But if you used more pressure on the second color, that would become the dominant color

Haha sorry! Did you end up with some nice pencils anyway?

@@SarahRenaeClark At that time, no. Mom bought me the 12 color. But as I got older and got my own money, I can get good pencils. 😁

In reality if one calculates the cost vs hours of use (if you really use colored pencils at least regularly) even good quality pencils are an incredible bargain. Especially in comparision to some items people use as daily habits. I'm talking about things such as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, coffee (Starbucks and K cups add up). I'm not advocating for these habits or against them. We just need to ask ourselves are they worth it to us personally. As a starting basis for really good coloring experience to start with I would personally advocate that you start with ordinary pencils. The work can be done with a simple box store #2 pencil can be truely amazing. In fact you will learn far more about shading, highlights and shadows using a plain pencil than with any colored pencil. And if you need help find out if the local school system or library offer aldut classes in drawing. Or if any of your local big box art stores offer classes. Although that may be a problem right now.

Heavier layers will damage the paper and you won’t be able to add more layers. It takes some practice, but light layers are important, and you can add more pressure on the top layers when you know you don’t want to add more color. With the color mixing, you might just want to go back and forth between colors a few times if you are still seeing white underneath.

The Color Catalog is a PDF so you can save it to your iPad 😊 You could probably print pages at a library using a USB?

Yes it’s on the website. The link is in the video description.

@@SarahRenaeClark thank you for the reply. For some reason I can't download the mixing chart. Do I have to do something else?

Paper definitely makes a difference! I’m comparing Crayola against 25 other brands in my next video, and I’ll be testing a few different papers to see how they go on different surfaces, so check that out this week for my thoughts!

Add it to your cart, go to checkout, put in your email (that’s all it asks for) and it will email you the download link

“Key” as in the “key plate” that used to be used in printing, being black

@@SarahRenaeClark thanks so much!!! ♥️♥️♥️

Where are you located? Surely Crayola isn’t your only option. Have you seen my other pencil recommendation videos?

@@SarahRenaeClark I'm in Nigeria. It's a wonder we even have an art shop. No I haven't seen the pencil recommendation video, I could check it out

i agree

I’d suggest buying a white from Amazon or a craft store. You can buy a white Prismacolor pencil on its own- it’s the best for mixing colors, even with other brands

Both brands are wax-based. Although the paper I chose was terrible, so this doesn’t demonstrate the mixing as well as proper paper.

Admittedly, as an artist I’d rather have a bigger set of colors than mix everything when using a medium like pencils. But this is more of a fun exercise to see how different colors react and to help beginners who can’t afford larger sets right away. Although your reply has me curious - Do you mean that you would lose saturation with the extra layering of colors? If so, this would be the case with some pencils, but I think highly pigmented pencils (usually more expensive) can handle quite a lot of layering and mixing without losing their color intensity and saturation. My example wasn’t the best, partly because my paper was just simple printer paper with no tooth, which doesn’t allow much layering and color mixing! I’ll try this again one day with better paper to see how the results vary.

Hi Robert! Please email me at hello@sarahrenaeclark.com and I’ll see if I can help!

@@SarahRenaeClark Ok. I’ll take you up on that. And much appreciation to you.