Colored Pencil Step by Step

Making the Best of a Limited Palette

with Debra Yaun

An artist may choose a limited palette (just a few colors) for convenience, experimentation, or the desire to express a particular mood in a scene (such as using only blues and greens to depict a somber mood). Working with a limited palette can also force you to think creatively—you must carefully plan your values, blend and build up colors that you don’t have in your palette, and use special techniques to achieve the effects you want. It’s certainly simpler to depict a colorful subject with a huge selection of colors, but consider challenging yourself by working with a limited palette. In this example of a colorful parrot (and in all of her lessons in this book), Debra Yaun admirably extracts ...