COLOR THEORY - My Ideal Palette and Color Mixing Strategies for realistic Colors

In this video, I talk about about the pigments I prefer for my palette and explain my color mixing strategies for realistic paintings.
Learn more about color theory ➡ ADVANCED PAINTING COURSE ON COLOR AND PAINT - A 9HR COURSE :
www.florentfarges.com/the-art...
Free pdf of the color wheel
www.florentfarges.com/wp-cont...
➡ Free Resources for artists :
www.florentfarges.com/education
Like and subscribe !
***
➡ Thank you for supporting me on Patreon!
/ florentfarges
➡ LEARN OIL PAINTING - A 7 HOURS VIDEO COURSE :
www.florentfarges.com/the-pra...
➡ ADVANCED PAINTING COURSE ON COLOR AND PAINT - A 9HR COURSE :
www.florentfarges.com/the-art...
✔ Social media :
Facebook :
/ florentfargesarts
Instagram :
/ florentfarges.arts
Support me on PATREON and access real-time tutorials with commentary (and more) :
/ florentfarges
If you want to connect with me, the best option is to use the contact form on my website.
Write me :
www.florentfarges.com/contact
***
About me (bio) :
Website :
www.florentfarges.com
I am an artist living and working in France. I learned the techniques of the Atelier of the Nineteenth century and now I try to share some of my knowledge with the rest of the world, because I think that beauty still has an important role to play in artistic creation. I do mostly drawing and oil painting, and my goal is always to provide techniques, thoughts and explanations that can be useful to anyone, from beginners to more advanced artists.
The material I use most of the time (not necessarily in this video) :
Drawing
Equipement
✓ Kneaded eraser
✓ Plumb line
✓ Small mirror
✓ An old synthetic brush
✓ Masking tape
✓ Cutter
✓ Sandpaper or sanding block
✓ Mahlstick or Hand rest (DIY)
✓ Level ruler
Graphite
✓ Pencils 2H, HB and 2B
Charcoal
✓ If available: Nitram charcoals (H, HB and B)
✓ Square charcoals
✓ Natural charcoal box
Black and white chalk
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
✓ Square Conté noir : HB and 2B
✓ Chalk or pencil holder
✓ Pencil sketch Conté Pierre noire : H and HB
Sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté : Blood and blood Medici
✓ Crayon Polychromos Faber-Castel : sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor and Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt)
✓ Titanium white PW6
✓ Yellow ochre PY42
✓ Burnt Sienna PR101 or PBr7
✓ Venetian red or English red PR101
✓ Permanent Alizarin crimson PV19 or PR177 or Quinacridone Rose PV19
✓ Cobalt teal blue PG50
✓ French ultramarine blue PB29
✓ Raw umber PBr7
✓ Burnt umber PBr7
✓ Ivory Black PBk9
Brushes
✓ About ten filbert hog bristle brushes sizes n° 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
✓ Some flat brushes
✓ Round sable brush or round Kolinsky sable n° 4, 8, 10, 12 (from the size of the nail (about one inch) or synthetic imitation
Medium
✓ Linseed stand oil
✓ Odourless mineral spirits
✓ Safflower oil
Surface
✓ Linen canvas, fine grain universal coating
✓ For studies : Canson oil-acrylic oil paper Figueras
Others
✓ Palette
✓ Foam and spalter brushes
✓ Palette knife in the shape of a water drop, no souldering
✓ A few small pots, containers, jars...
✓ Paper towels
***
#art #palette #color
***
Thanks for watching !

[@smiley_crafts]

That you give away your color wheel for free tells me you truly want to help others not just make a fast buck off us “wannabe” artists. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. May you be blessed throughout your career!

[@babba7117]

Cannot believe that this information is available for free! God bless you!

[@1974gladiateur]

We will charge you next time 😂

[@babba7117]

@@1974gladiateur :P

[@cauzeone1]

Totally agree. In Addition.....( Would you make a Specific video w mediums and drying times....i.e. I have paintings that Rrrrrr peeling and chipping / flaking from layering that I've spent 10+ years on.

[@cauzeone1]

I need some help with going forward at this point. Lost so much confidence painting after seeing those Paintings I have spent that much time on. 🤞🤞🤞 And I thought I had right.

[@cauzeone1]

I can show examples. Reply please I could use a hand up. I'm just so beatdown by this....

[@StevenRud]

This channel is amazing, I absolutely love the way you present the topics, great narration, nice editing, great camera work, the extreme close up shots of the colors are sensational! Keep up the great work. Cheers!👍🏻🍀😎

[@DCweldingAndArt]

Brother, this was one of the BEST made color theory/pallete videos out there. Excellent! Along side Andrew Tischler pallette vid. My pallette is the same... Lead + Titanium white, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Trans Red + Yellow Oxide, Yellow Ocher, (sometimes Gen naples yellow M. Harding) Cad yellow light, Cad red light, cad red deep(sometimes), Quin magenta(always), Cobalt teal, and Ultramarine(sometimes Curelean) Blue, and thalo green....all Blue Ridge Oils, Windsor pro grade, Gamblin artists, or Rublev oils

[@fatemaalbalooshi1980]

Your professional approach and delivery of information is incredible. I paint as a hoppy and I listen to you intently God bless you, I learned so much from you 💋🙏🏻

[@kentjensen4504]

Florent, you are very talented and likable, and your channel is pure gold.

[@anthonypc1]

Most of this I've learned before, but the way you explain things makes it worth re-learning.

[@janettekendall3667]

Thank you for making your videos available. I often watch them more than once.

[@rosered103]

As I do also!

[@apostalote]

I really like Venetian read. I rarely use it because I have a tendency not to use the reds on my palette, but I have a tube of it and I’ve played with it. Lovely colour, great for flesh tones

[@amandap2903]

You are so wonderful to a beginner artist! Thank you for all you do! I plan to buy the poster of your color wheel because it has so much information I need on it!

[@amarynth100]

love the feeling and passion you nurture towards art .inspires me so much.beautiful video

[@anurabo-banura1768]

The quality is amazing! Great work!

[@AhaliaVideos]

Thank you so much for this and all your videos!!! I have downloaded the pdf . 🙏 Thanks for sharing it for free. You are a blessing!!!!! May you be very very very happy and healthy always .

[@kaygeenair]

Thank you very much for the detailing of colours.

[@giancarlozavattinart9898]

Florent you’re an incredible master on still life paint!!You match it so realistic!!

[@SmartMeditationFilms]

Thank you! You are a blessing to everyone!

[@deledition6335]

Thank you. Your videos and courses are amazing, very detailed, to the point of just what I need to know. Many thanks...

[@sadden05]

I just love your approach to teaching. As a novice, your videos are so invaluable

[@Pharcodra]

i really enjoy your videos about color theory.

[@nikkiswenson54]

Thank you, Florent! Good advise and updates of paint colors!

[@philsmith7398]

Brilliant! Very generous of you my friend.

[@vanessag.4636]

Thank you Florent! Very interesting and so helpful. Especially appreciated the information on toxicity and it's future in our colour choices. I have seen many warnings; It helps to know that there are alternatives!!! Great work as always! Loved the still life!!! 💖🖌️🖼️🎨💖

[@alisonjvincent-davies5809]

Your comments during this video fit in so much with my own, from my earlier painting experience as a technical illustrator; now that I am at a later stage in my career, where I want explore and enjoy the use of colour, what you have taught here, is going to be so useful for myself personally, so I thank you sincerely. I have only recently come across your advice videos, but I will now view many more, as I think our styles are so similar, I believe that they will help my exploration and my consequent enjoyment.

[@jinxmas]

Thank you for your candid approach in information!! Bravo

[@stevefranklin9176]

Simply excellent. Thanks Florent.

[@helentretyakova7888]

This video was so helpful thank you so much!

[@bkt334]

Thank you again for all this hugely valuable information.

[@cowboyyoga]

Thank you! Thank you for being such a great and kind teacher. )))

[@mountainside26]

Florent, your videos have taught so many of us so much, and your joy is infectious. Thank you.

[@tatogiusegesualdi7682]

Very useful, as always! Thank you 🙏🏻❤️

[@JaneIndigoMoore]

Amazingly informative and detailed. Thank you !

[@Lideeh]

even if I'm getting more into watercolour that video was really helpful with this important colour information.Thank you!

[@AI-xs4fp]

Bar none, one of the best palette videos. Great theory and ultimate flexiblity.

[@forrest603]

Amazing, and really useful information here. Thank you!

[@santone1849]

This is amazing Florent thank you so much when I have the money definitely going for your course thank you

[@angelinacano8454]

Thank you for this great lesson. God bless you every day.

[@SpokenBroke]

I loved the explanation for Cobalt Turquoise because just looking at a tube one tends to overlook the range of color mixes it enables.

[@ryanpkelleher]

Outstanding video. Thank you!

[@veronikabogusch7781]

Thanks so much for sharing it with us! ❤

[@saintbikerart8987]

Thanks for inspiring us keep going to your talent ☝🖌 happy new year i hope more videos to come in this year 😀

[@ginabadeaux9319]

i love this painting you are making i enjoy your videos thank you

[@InLawsAttic]

Just joined patreon, will increase it when able, thank you so much for all your videos!! I will be studying all.

[@alexandrasanches2473]

You are uncredible!... THANKYOU!

[@james6401]

Great show, thanks. I like how you refer to the various qualities of the paint but I've rarely heard anyone talking in detail about the handling properties of various pigments, I thought I was the only one noticing these things!

[@Starzzdust]

✨Thank you ✨this so helpful !

[@priscillaallen5276]

Watching this it was so easy to confuse what was the subject and what was the painting. Brilliant :)

[@leonardpereira7031]

Thank you for sharing, your paintings are beautiful I checked out your website. Inspiring to make me want to start painting

[@genreartwithjb5095]

Finding success with the Reilly Palette, I also enjoy using a modified Zorn palette. Zorn is a good palette for beginners bc it takes a lot of overthinking out of the equation

[@renskeschilt1614]

Great vid! For my portrait paintings I use a palette of Flake white replacement, transoxide yellow, transoxide red, vermillion, alizarin red permanent, viridian green, raw umber. Sometimes adding, ultra marine, naples yellow. For landscapes etc: the more modern cad hues and kobalt blue/ceruleum blue, titanium white. I never premix, I find it tedious and am not very organised!

[@reneerose9730]

Cobalt teal is one of my fav paint colour in the world!! I salivate.

[@juanpablozapataartist.zapa2202]

Thank you so much. Very instructive 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@SoyFernandaGarat]

Thank you for these videos. ♡

[@jecacava8823]

wow!! just amazing information, I need to keep watching your videos to keep learning.. you are a very unique and real, great artist..

[@harindranugraha]

Thanks for sharing your colour mix tips. Its very helpfull for me. You are supercool as always 🔥🔥🔥

[@Megan-mm8hi]

Oh YES, awesome palette ♡

[@noureddineart8471]

So helpful dear artist thanks a lot 💐🌷⚘💎

[@rosannaprescott7596]

Thank you I so enjoyed this. God bless you

[@christiangeier6297]

great video! I always love to see which pigment are used by others! I have my palette separated in left an right, with white in the middle. on the right hand side: sometimes unbleached titanium dioxide, yellow ochre, sometimes transparent yellow oxide, transparent oxide red, indian red, burnt umber, sometimes ivory black. on the left hand side: cadmium yellow light, sometimes a transparent yellow, cadmium red light, quinacridone magenta (pr122), ultramarine blue, phthalo blue green shade or cobalt teal (both good cyan ;-) ) and last but not least sometimes a green like viridian, phthalogreen or greengold.

[@nadia-bb5mn]

Glad to see you use phthalo green. I love it and there are so many artists who say to stay away from it.

[@DreamwalkerTenesha]

I have never used a color wheel before in my life and have no idea what I’m looking at but thank you for this video anyway!!

[@arensalazar3969]

Wow! Cool.. thanks for sharing 👍🏻

[@carpenterhillstudios8327]

So glad you nit only mention but use Munsell. Magenta and Cyan were integral to the freshman color and light course. You make the discussion not only rational but sensible. As to my palette. Because pigments naturally vary in transparency, I have an extensive shelf of paints. my palette is very dynamic and many times there might be more than one pan set up. This has evolved over time as I have learned more about the pigments. I am fortunate to live quite close to a well-known artists paint company and they take my phone calls. thank you for being an artist's artist and sharing your knowedge.

[@erina4586]

God Bless You & Thank You😃I Love Titanuim White.

[@uvonnejones-most9276]

Thank you, for sharing this wonderful information. :-)

[@MohammedAnsariRiz]

Another excellent video full of information. I love how the color wheel shows where each tube color belongs. Do you have any chart showing the colors in order of transparencies, and another showing the transparency of the colors. That will be so helpful.

[@Chester6209]

Thank you so much!

[@aspiringpainter5609]

I loved you brother. Thank you 🌷

[@ArtemisPie]

Zinc white for glazes and titanium for highlights have always worked for me.

[@Moe-zo4fm]

I also use Ultramarine blue it is beautiful, also phthalo green,and titanium white. This was a very good video, thank you for all your videos.

[@fennycruz6714]

Thank you sooo much!

[@malathart1352]

Thank you for the video is very helpfull. I use white titanium altemerian blue. .cademion red and yellow . Yellow ochre. Brunet brown . Black. Cobalt blue . And terquize .

[@estheralibert9776]

J'adore vos vidéos !! Elles sont top ! Et super anglais au passage !

[@sarahdowling2478]

I'm a graphite artist wanting to go into oil painting so watching you to learn about what I need and how to begin is amazing and I know I will be super ready.

[@JOSEPH-vs2gc]

There's another channel that has a completely different approach called "Draw mix Paint". He only uses the primaries RYB plus burnt umber and white. Only 5 colors. The thing is he can pretty much do the same thing this guy does with realism, with the exception of the super bright colors like cobalt teal blue. May be an easier approach, but really do as you wish.

[@apostalote]

That’s a very bright yellow ochre, wow.

[@1976kinan]

Thank you, very useful

[@77danah]

Thank you so much ♥️

[@MrsBifflechips]

I've never used flake white, but I did use scarlet vermillion in one small painting. The amount of care I took to only put the vermillion on canvas, brush and waste jar (which then went to hazardous waste depot) meant that it was a higher anxiety project than usual. It's a strong but co-operative pigment - not overwhelming like the phthalos. I will never use it again, but I'm glad I did. Thank you so much for these videos!

[@greatsewing6061]

Very informative.

[@causeway318]

Titanium white, cad yellow lemon, yellow ochre, burnt umber, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, cad red light, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, viridian green & sap green give me most of the colors I need for portraits. I have been experimenting with more transparent paints for glazing with neo megilp. But that cyan is sooo beautiful, it will definitely be one of my next buys!

[@huntsail3727]

Great video!

[@allenvoss7977]

I use a split complement palette of warm and cool. Red yellow blue burnt umber and white. Lots of different yellows. Cobalt teal also.

[@sathwikchandra5241]

Thank you ❤️

[@amritaacharya6675]

Thank u so much😊

[@carmenmg6438]

I loved it ! TY so much

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're so welcome.

[@NatashaB000]

Hi Florent, I watched your oil painting medium video and you did say how you can’t stand the smell of alkyd based mediums, I personally would recommend you try the gamblins solvent free fluid it is and alkyd resin however it’s made from safflower oil and it’s consistency is very similar to liquin fine details by Winsor and Newton.

[@sarayousry9388]

Thank you so much

[@giovannisiano574]

Well... When I was using acrylics I had quite a good selection of color tubes. The convenience of having pre-mixed colors, coupled with the difficulty of mixing acrylics and the quick drying time, somehow force you to have many colors. With oils have dramatically reduced the quantity. I don't use cyan yet, I use manganese blue, and don't use the phtalo green as don't find the need yet but more or less I have the same or similar colors as you do. In any case, thanks a lot for your good suggestions. Oh...forgot - I have Sap Green too which I think is quite useful.

[@tba1879]

Gamblin makes a lead white substitute which is a titanium white with the traditional handling properties of lead white.

[@zakkziegler111]

Lead white is absolutely amazing on a palette. It just offers an amazing amount of flexibility and basically does everything Titanium white doesn't. You're severely limited when it comes to glazing and scumbling without lead white. You can definitely do some incredible things with it.

[@henryglennon3864]

It also tastes great!

[@twitchy5710]

@@henryglennon3864 I think Van Gogh preferred the yellows.

[@aungkthant]

Thank you.

[@hectorherrera8316]

Thanks a lot!

[@Art4StartbyOK]

Thank you 🙏 god bless you

[@mona2242]

Great video! I wish you’d offer one on ‘ colour mixing’… thanks

[@JB-xi5ek]

Talking of science, with Winsor and Newton Alkyd 80 range, I mixed every color with every other color, then ditto plus titanium white giving a matrix of about 3,000 colors, then sorted in primary groups and put in album. I only mix the colors for each part of a painting. Then the A4 mixes, at the end of a session seal them in polythene and put them in the freezer. Colours remain fresh, for me, up to a month.

[@canalcerrado2433]

Great info

[@melindawolfUS]

Can you show us how you set up and light your still lifes? That example peice you're working on is gorgeous!

[@dennisfox6208]

I like the video. It was very informative. Thanks for the free color charts. I'm curious as to your pallette. What is it mad e from? Glass, metal or what.

[@terriprecha2526]

thank you

[@whatvloves7879]

I love watching your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills! Can i ask, if I do not know how to draw, is it still possible to paint realistic images? Is there a technique for that? Or just quit 😅

[@naedolor]

Hi. Old Holland sells Cremnitz White, the best white there ever was. I went to my local art supply shop and straight asked them if they can bring me some and surprisingly they said yes. I waited about two weeks and I managed to buy two cans. The price was around 50 euros per can and the cans were not that big, however there is enough quantity for me to be happy for awhile. For reference, I live in the EU, Romania. The lead white is the only white that will not chalk up light pastel colors and bar none the best white for use in glazing. My 2 cents.

[@dimitrispapadimitriou5622]

Lithopone white PW5 ( I have a tube from Lukas) is the best white for glazing in my opinion. I don't have much experience with it ( I started using it only recently) , but it was a pleasant surprise . I like also the way it mixes with other colours. I'm using lithopone when I want more saturated mixes and for subtle glazing. It's also non toxic and does not have the issues of the zinc oxides. I'll see how it goes..