Tools to create colour

There are many tools to create colour. Which tool you should use depends on what tools you have been using up to now, and what you prefer to use. You should use what you prefer, but if you have no clue yet, you can pick something close to what you have been using already. For example, if you have been using pencils, you could try to use coloured pencils. If you have been using a drawing tablet and digital art, then you can simply pick any colour.

Different types of mediums (tools) you can try out

If you are using traditional mediums like coloured pencils or paint, you will want to learn the primary colours, red, yellow, blue. If you want to work with coloured pencils you are in luck, I have an old blog post from my old deviantArt days collating my experiences and advice around coloured pencils from other users on deviantArt.

My attempt at mixing colours with coloured pencils

For digital art, we look more at visible light with red, green, blue (RGB). Otherwise we also look at cyan, magenta, yellow, key (CMYK) for printing.

RGB and CMYK colours

More on light

The colour of the main light source will affect the colours of the things in your drawing or scene.

As examples, painting 174's primary light source is the main character. Her skins emits a fiery glow, lighting everything around her with warm, orange light. In painting 175, this futuristic cityscape is lit with many coloured lights, but predominantly cool blue light from below in this scene.

Speaking of many colours, you can also have more than one light source, and the colours of the lights might be different. In this situation you will want to consider which is the primary light source and which is the secondary light source. Alternatively they could be equally important in your scene. Which lighting situation is the case depends on the story you want to tell.

98. Godzilla 2

In the scene in painting 98, the main light source seems to be the green light emanating from the left side of the scene. There is a secondary yellow light coming from the sky on the right hand side. This second light source adds additional yellow highlights to the left side of the subject.

Aside from direct light from your light sources, there is also reflective light. What colour do things take on? That depends on what they are near and what type of surface they are.

Illustration of reflective light under the neck

Illustration of reflective light under the helmet

For example, metallic surfaces tend to pick up more of the colour of the things around them, some metallic surfaces are even mirror-like, picking up the surroundings not only in terms of colour, but in terms of acting like a mirror too.

Illustration of highly reflective nature of metal surfaces

Colour language

Different colours have different meanings.

Different colours with different connotations

But what the different colours mean also depend on the context and culture you are in. For example, red is associated with luck and fortune in Chinese culture instead of danger or anger.

Red is also special in how visually striking it is to humans. Perhaps this due deep-rooted associations to our blood and possible danger. I like to use red often, but usually sparingly in order to really catch the attention of the audience.

230. Sky elevators

The 80/20 ratio for colour

As with value, we want to be mindful of how much we use of the different colours in our subject or scene. The 80/20 ratio applies to the use of different colours.

153. Portal to a magical world 2

In painting 153, the main colour is blue, with the center being the opposing colour on the colour wheel, orange. The ratio is not exactly 80/20, but closer to 66/33. Following the rule of thirds in composition, the blue portal sits within the 4 focal points at the intersection of the different lines.

But the ratio also applies to different intensities of a colour, in other words the colour saturation.

213. The Robot and the Princess

In painting 213, I wanted the focus to be on the princess, but I also wanted it to be clear that this princess was in her home. Therefore the banners and carpet are red like her dress, indicating the princess belongs to this place. I made her dress have a higher saturation to pull attention to her, to stand out on the carpet she is walking on. I also used composition techniques (leading lines) to draw attention to the princess (and the robot). The carpet leads our eyes towards the pair, as do the bases of the two lion statues. Additionally, I used framing to further exaggerate this effect, framing the princess and the robot with the two pillars on the the opposite sides of the canvas.

The colour combinations we learned in the video, and the other tips we learn, are not strict rules. What matters the most is the story we want to tell, and the feeling we want to evoke. Here is an example of a scene that is not balanced according to the colour wheel.

162. Vivid Dream

In painting 162, I wanted to emphasise the fact that this scene came from a dream I experienced one night. Therefore, I used only purple to give the scene an otherworldly feeling, much like how I felt while in this dream.

Exercise: returning to the beginning

Combine everything you have learned up to now from all the lessons. Draw a scene in full colour that tells a story about your subject, the first one you drew in lesson 1, storytelling. Take a look at it and think about what their story is, and draw a scene telling that story in full colour. Let this drawing be a milestone to compare your art skills to when you started this series.

Expand to see all the steps.

246. Determination

Next steps

That's it for these lessons. If you completed all the exercises you are now level 1!

What should you do next?

Keep having fun!

You can continue to learn the art fundamentals we covered in this series by reviewing the lessons and practicing the exercises over and over.

You can also delve into more art fundamentals like anatomy or perspective. What you want to learn depends on what you want to be able to do with your art.

You can also continue learning from references.

Learn from all around you as you live life, be mindful of your surroundings. Look around when you are outside, study the world around you. Learn from photographs you take, photographs you find on the internet, artwork and artists on the internet that inspire you, artwork at your local museums or art galleries.

This painting was inspired by a trip to the Panorama Mesdag in the Hague.

228. A war far away

Learn from other resources on the internet:

• Proko has a very detailed and robust tutorial series on the human anatomy, though he does say that students should start with his lessons on gesture instead

• Marc Brunet is an internet art legend and has his YouTube Art School and related tutorial videos

• Sycra and ModernDayJames both have excellent tutorials

• For painters, I found Cesar Santo's videos highly inspirational, particularly his sketchbook tour with Proko

• Last but not least, the late grandmaster Kim Jung Gi has inspired countless aspiring artists, professionals and legendary artists alike with his vast knowledge and consequent ability to draw anything without references. There are tutorials online.

Learn from local classes if you find the instructor to be good, and if you can afford it. I made this oil painting in a class that I attended with a friend in Rotterdam.

Oil painting of a flower

Join art communities in your local area, or online. For example, there are subreddits like r/Artadvice, r/BeginnerArtists and r/learnart that can help beginner artists. There are more, and its up to you to find the communities that you find the most suitable to you.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial series, and continue to explore the wonderful world of making art! If you have any questions about what we covered in this tutorial series, you are more than welcome to leave them in these blog posts or under my YouTube videos, and I will try to answer them as best I can.

If you found this tutorial series helpful and would like to support my work, please consider liking my YouTube videos or subscribing to my channel. Your support means a lot to me! If you’d like to go the extra mile and can easily afford it, you can also leave a tip on my Ko-fi page. Thank you for your support!