The Benefits of a Limited Palette for Oil Painting

[@sends2aaron]

I really appreciate people such as this gentleman here, who are willing to provide quality instruction to us for free

[@sends2aaron]

​@@boonemaddox8609 Shut the fuck up.

[@jeanninevandam9419]

Thanks!

[@TheDavedevil619]

🙌🙌🙌

[@jamesthrift6194]

I agree. I’m trying to learn to oil paint and I find him very helpful

[@ronschlorff7089]

You have transformed my computer into an "art school", of the type I've always wanted to take, but could never find!! Thank you so much!

[@robart.costales]

You are an incredible teacher! I took a half year painting course without understanding color theory, and if I had just watched one of your videos, I would have been set. Time to get painting again!

[@romanhorak5503]

Painting with a limited pallet has made life easier and my work has taken on a more subtle, natural look.

[@milanoslzla4710]

Ahoj, Romane, pan Carder to ma skvele sestavene. Ta jeho limitovana paleta dava siroke moznosti. Chci si jeho vyber barev tez vyzkouset. Zdravi a pohodu preje Milan.

[@roseb9819]

Me too, I was skeptical at first but it really changes the nature of your painting

[@koolaidimmunity4032]

I want to thank you for sharing both your painting and teaching talents with us. There are lots of paint mixing and color theory videos out there but yours is the best.

[@aveviktoria4899]

jest Pan wspaniały. Jedyna osoba chyba na youtube, która tak łatwo potrafi wytłumaczyć zasadę kolorów. Jestem zachwycona Pana umiejętnością przekazywania wiedzy. Będę polecać każdej osobie ten kanał, która jest zainteresowana malarstwem!!

[@dreadnaught3894]

For me. this was 20 minutes well spent - straight forward essential information well presented and easily understood. Thank you very much indeed.

[@eileenneumann9855]

This has been the most brilliant explanation on mixing colours I have ever heard.THANK YOU!

[@KagLuvsInu]

This is great advice for someone who paints from life and wants things to look natural and cohesive. I personally use a limited palette because I struggle with color matching and I feel like it helps when I limit myself.

[@timothythomas7222]

The best demonstration and explanation on color mixing I've seen on the web. Great video!

[@Max-dd7du]

I watched this years ago now, and it made a marked difference in my work since and I have recommended it to others. Thanks Mr Carder!

[@headingoutside]

You are such a good teacher! Thank you.

[@wishccr]

I’m getting back to oil painting after a long hiatus. I took some lessons from a local amateur artist and came away very frustrated. I had so many colors on my palette that I was confused and my paintings looked garish. After watching the videos about using a limited palette and following the steps to create the value steps for a painting, my painting improved immediately. The colors look more natural, and it was much more fun to lay the colors down on the canvas. Thank you, Mr. Carder.

[@bplatz829]

+P Tremblay You have to first understand the limited pallete before you can even attempt to understand the expanded pallete.

[@danielashbeck7638]

P Tremblay w

[@donattellod4748]

im a fairly new painter this video taught me a lot and saved me money too :) Just wanted to say thank you

[@Filtersloth]

god damn your videos are good! so much good clear information packed in. I don't normally comment on videos but I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you putting them up.

[@_61514]

To me it is the best youtube channel ever!! Thank you so much for all the videos and great advices. We all appreciate very much! Can't wait to order your Geneva oil colors, hope it will be available internationally very soon :) Greetings from Poland

[@vickyweeks8897]

I don't know that I would have ever been confident enough to pick up a brush if not for this guy. Awesome tutorials and very easy to understand. Thank you for your contribution.

[@lucianocortopassi3098]

So good!!!

[@Psypomp]

I love that you use a laminated reference photo so you can check your colors. I use my laptop to view photos in full screen, but it's not the same, and I suspect the luminosity of the screen affects the tones.

[@kkuugglleesskkooeerr]

In addition to all the other positive comments which I agree with - thank you very much for not using background music!

[@Leocalamb2]

You just got a new subscriber. Thank you so much for this video. Art supplies are really expensive where I come from, so as a self taught artist, it’s great to know that I can still make beautiful artwork with a limited palette.

[@paulpardee]

Probably the most useful art video I have ever watched

[@DrawMixPaint]

Rakshita Bhargava A small amount of clove leaf oil (an essential oil) and, depending on the color, either cold-pressed linseed oil or refined linseed oil.

[@paulabendall]

Wonderfully understadable

[@pepegallardo4584]

. Mjjv ml

[@dawnasharelle]

do you tone down with white?

[@lallope]

+aintnobodygottimefadat white or complementing color(opposite color) to neutralize the intensity of the color

[@williamgrant6029]

Draw Mix Paint papring cavas

[@eldiablo4131]

So much knowledge you provide for free...thanks for your instruction. Procrastination...is for me the hardest subject to deal with, when it comes to start painting..I'm the laziest man in the world..!!! when it comes to clean up time...I find it harder than actually painting..!! Friends tell me that I'm a 'a natural' about my paintings, but deep down, I know I'm missing 'something' so I have to take some classes..thanks for allowing me to comment.

[@rebeccaa9257]

Color is something I really struggled with and since I’ve been watching your videos, I understand the concept a lot more than before.

[@0ff_13lvck4]

I was a painting major in college and let me say, in the 3 years (I dropped out because I was running out of money as I was paying cash, and I didn't feel like I was learning enough to justify taking out loans) I spent learning oils and watercolor I never got to learn anything like this. I didn't have any successful paintings, but since I've been watching your instruction things are a lot clearer for me on how to obtain a sense of believable color and value. Thanks so much for your clear and straightforward approach.

[@martilewis]

Mark, you always provide encouragement to me with your tutorials. Thanks so much for being such a great teacher

[@metaljoseph]

This was honestly one of the most helpful videos, especially for beginners. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge!

[@javierrico7542]

You're videos have helped me have more confidence in my values and colors than any time spent at school with all the regular teachings. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

[@someblokecalleddave1]

Genius! Quality content, you just saved me a shed load of money and months of faffing about with the wrong paints. I feel like I'm ready now to forge ahead with confidence with the two paintings I've got planned!

[@ghitano11]

Well explained! I liked the usage of pictures to capture the exact color.

[@danthompson1m]

I think your art is a pretty good argument for a limited palette. But I've been reading several authors who advocate a split primary system - warm and cool primaries for a total of six, plus white and umbers and siennas to dampen the hues. The main argument seems to be that this prevents "muddyness" - by mixing the appropriate shifted primary to make secondary and tertiary colors (as well as balanced primaries). My question is - how might we get colors that are too muddy, and how can this be avoided, when working with a limited palette?

[@paintingpete741]

One of the best explanations of mixing colors I've ever seen. Can't wait to go and apply it to my too bright paintings. ;)

[@careytaylornoble8613]

OMG this video is a revelation - I have been trying to "deconstruct" my acrylic paintings...from the beginning. My favorite painter is John Singer Sargent. And I live close by to the most amazing painting of his....Fumee d'amber gris...at The Clark. I am so crazy about your videos! New to this website...but it might be saving me as an artist. I've been floundering around for months. Thank you again!

[@felipetejeda7545]

I just started painting and have been completely lost, this is sooooo helpful! Thank you!!

[@ericdettwiler5656]

Very encouraging colour mixing teaching ! So precious and SIMPLE - all great ingrediants of a good teacher ! Much appreciated 👍👍 Thank you !

[@SheasBathLab]

Thank you for teaching. You are the best I've seen. All too often what's taught is not comprehensive enough. Thank you for doing this and being so detailed.

[@dericbytes]

Your color mixing advice made me finally understand how to get the colours I wanted. Thanks

[@plummetplum]

Damn I've just bought a load of paints, wish I had heard this first. Enjoying your channel thank you.

[@josephcozad314]

I was taught early on, that there is no such thing as a paint that is a pure blue/red/yellow, neither shifting left or right on the color wheel. Therefore I have used a dual color palette with "warm" blue/red/yellow and "cool" blue/red/yellow... "warm" being that the blue is more green, the red is more orange, and the yellow more orange... "cool" being that the blue is more violet, red is more violet, and yellow is more green. In my palette color choices the shifts are very subtle. I also don't use any neutrals preferring instead to create my own. Funny though I find I tend to use more of the cool colors than the warms, or mixing cools with warms, rarely using warms except in intense light conditions. I wonder if you could comment on this idea of a dual color limited palette vs the single color advocated in the demo?

[@spoddie]

The problem is contrary to what every artist says, red and blue are not primary colours, the correct colours are magneta and cyan. Dual primaries helps.

[@BigHenFor]

@@spoddie Sorry but there are two versions of the colour wheel. For Print there is CMYk, for artists and everyone else there is Red , Blue , and Yellow . This is why high end student and professional paint colours rarely refer to primaries. So, working with say a palette of Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red, and Ultramarine Blue can still work, rather than just needing to seek out cyan, magenta, and yellow. Do what works best using your theoretical knowledge of the pros and cons of each, such as, as the fact that pthalo blue is too intense to replicate nature - it's a thug that overpowers a lot of mixes, or that hansa yellow can be underwhelming as a stand alone colour but when used in mixes transmutes them with subtlety and depth. I'm working with a limited palette + cyan and magenta, and creating reference charts. If you tried the same exercise including tints, tones and shades with all 3 process colours, and a naturalistic palette of earth colours, you'll have a complete understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each.

[@mommab8205]

I wish I could take a screenshot of your video and insert it. by the time I reached your 19:43, without ever mixing colors past what I was taught in 4-grade art class and never painting anything other than High School pep-rally and, later in life, yard sale signs, I was confident that I could mix every color of your face, hair, and shirt!

[@uploads87]

Thank you very much for providing your profound knowledge here on youtube! This is going to boost my development in understanding colour matching quite significantly!

[@ripintandon]

you are amazing. Thank you for making this video. Nobody ever simplified the color mixing like you.

[@imitalian1963]

I'm looking for the video on what to do with that package of 35 Acrylic paints I got for Christmas! That would be awesome. You could name it "So you have all these Acrylic Colors. How to use them." I see all sorts of videos about the limited palette but not much on that cheap package that still needs to be used.... I truly enjoyed this and many of your videos. I haven't pressed my "like" button so many times in a week ever!!

[@NickyAspey]

I'm just starting with painting and your classes are helping me a lot! Easy to understand and well explained, thank you!

[@nick1f]

Your videos are extremely useful. I knew a limited palette can create a large range of colors, but I didn't know it is so versatile!

[@calvancandy8384]

+Nick F Yeah same here, I only work with these colours now and I have a print out of the colour wheel which never lets me down.

[@arthurboccuti858]

Best oil painting instruction videos I seen ever, and I’m almost 72 years old. Painting since 1970. For beginners to pros. Watch one an see what I mean. a

[@pianistasurrealista]

Very tutorial on the use of primary colors, I am learning to master the handling, the use and the way to apply color, you learn a lot by watching your videos. Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

[@israeldiaz2392]

this tutorial is very good, works even for Acrylic color.

[@BryanCoombes]

+Israel Diaz ...yes, or gouache, and even water color

[@keylupveintisiete7552]

Israel Diaz It's color theory, it works for color in general

[@lauramessy]

@@keylupveintisiete7552 lol

[@narikim8368]

Since acrylic paints would dry fast and not rewet, I think it is less convenient than other mediums in working with this limited palette approach.

[@ronschlorff7089]

@@narikim8368 true, different mediums for different paintings. Try them all, on a variety of subjects, you'll be a better painter with each one in the end, because you'll know their strengths and weaknesses, and exploit or avoid them, and reduce frustration in you painting experience, overall.

[@dottiburke40]

Thank you for this video. You have made color mixing so much easier!

[@joannavandeneijnden5437]

When making color steps do you just add white once you have the right base color?

[@allenvoss7977]

I love using this plus cool primary’s. This gives me a split complement palette of warm and cool colors. Way more versatile .

[@AnnetteKalfon]

Thank you for your classes, I can listen to you for hours.....Bless You!

[@tukakuga]

this channel has really boosted my confidence in color mixing. thank you sm! i was wondering if the paper at 12:45 of how to mix yellow ochre and the like is still available to view?

[@alpha1arts795]

I love The Limited palette approach great work. Thanks.

[@leelashlee4505]

Mark, thank you for your wonderful & free videos! I am fairly new to painting (3 years) and have watched lots of videos. You are by far the most helpful and down to earth. Plus you show us how to make items for our own studio!! Amazing. I can't find the video on how to make the brush holder. Please let me know so I can make one. Thank you for all you do! Lee

[@DrawMixPaint]

Lee Lashlee I do talk about the brush holder in Episode 6 of my Q&A show (kzbin.info/www/bejne/in_PiGhmYst8Y80) but I haven't made a video about how to build one yet. I will probably do that soon, and I am also getting ready to release a Geneva brush holder that is even better than the one I currently use.

[@40markava]

I have your Geneva paints, I cant wait to try them. It will be a new experience due to the difference of the premixed medium.

[@jeffa6780]

I'm your newest FAN! Very exciting color solutions using a simple approach. Love it.

[@nickthombley675]

WOW!!!!! Incredible how easy Your explanation is to understand!

[@AriesArtist8]

I'm glad I found this video...I've been doing a limited pallet..made things much easier

[@ronhochhalter3491]

I'd like to see how you would create the chrome in the first still life photo

[@jeosportsph6716]

Thanks bro I really love your demonstration bec I learned a lot from u., from Philippines.

[@amisa_euris]

Wow, I'm from the Philippines too. It's so great to know that someone from my country also watches his videos

[@BarBaraWhorleyCrawfordESS]

I’m so sorry to read about the fire at your headquarters. My heart goes out to you and your team. ❤️🙏

[@BarBaraWhorleyCrawfordESS]

Do you know when Geneva paints will be available for ordering? I know you are starting all over to rebuild, just curious and look so forward to trying these amazing paints. ❤️🖌🖼

[@robertjurgens2082]

wow thank you I'm a new artist and bought many different color tubes you made it so simple to understand mixing colors.

[@ericashmusic8889]

That's a great tip & point to note.. DMP,..I did sort of know this,- but only just really struck home !!! the angle of brush stroke, has an apparent effect on the shade. v' important when working on canvas .Great !

[@adnanjam]

wow can't believe I am getting this quality education for free! Really appreciate it and very good way of explaining with examples. Thanks

[@SquidkidMega]

learnt more from this video than from three years of art school....thank you so much :D

[@OwliSketches]

I just LOVE how you explain everything

[@heathkitchen4315]

05:20 How to paint a vampire.

[@janjamesramos247]

exactly haha

[@57Galadriel]

Would be helpful to know what the names of the basic colours are - big differentce between Ultramarine and Pthalo Blue for instance or Cadmium Red and Vermillion.

[@moonshadowe]

Thank you so much for this video. I just received a set of gouache paints that were recommended to me. I was really put off by them because they have these peculiar (what I call kool-aid) colors. Really they are "power" colors. I think I can use the knowledge here to get some decent shades out of them now. Fingers crossed.

[@syedasoulathamdany9424]

The most useful demo I have ever watch!!!!! Thank u

[@FloorclothWhimsy]

Draw Mix Paint- First let me Thank you so much for your instructional videos, your artwork is lovely. I have been a painter now for 10 years and an artist for 63 years, my medium now is acrylics. When I show my work people will ask me if my paintings are oil and of course when I say no, they are acrylics, they first flinch and then say oh or ask questions about them. I had a one man who wanted to see what the paints look like, so I now always have a tube of "Golden" paint with me for shows. The question I have for you is there a reason that you prefer to use oils over acrylics other than the drying time which is a very big difference. The reason I started watching your videos is because I have been thinking about switching to oils. The one issue for me is that I'm used to paint drying quickly, I paint in many thin layers using glazing medium added to heavy body paints. I am just curious as I have only gotten the answer of "drying time" from other artist friends who love oil. Again, Thanks for sharing all your artist knowledge!

[@Legotron]

I love your videos, easy to follow, clear and understandable explanations. Saved to playlist.

[@beverleychristiansen8121]

Thank you so much. You have taken away the fear i have always had of how to figure out to make a color!

[@darmb]

Great stuff, just what I needed to start painting.

[@SOKANfenghuang]

Thank you for these wonderful tutorials. You're offering Geneva colors of your own creation, but they're not available in Europe. What alternative colors do you suggest?

[@shiellouisstark2310]

Really like you demo on mixing colors thanks.

[@love2knit-draw-travel]

Thank you for excellent video. I am going to be creating my palette using your advice and have some oil paints availabel already which I want to use. Would you use lemmon yellow or cadmium yellow? Cadium red or Alizarin red? Thank you!

[@shahzadqurashi7728]

Sir ur videos are best ever on the net!

[@troyingram716]

I'm just a beginner but I got rid of mud by getting secondary colors. Now I am wondering, should I get store bought neutrals like permanent mauve. Then what are the next colors I should buy.

[@monkiemind1596]

Thanks for all your videos ,their great! I’m using gamblin oil paint at the moment alizarin crimson and Cad red, my question is how to get the red to remain red but alter the value without it turning pink or orange if I’m using cad red, even a slight hint of white or yellow alters the redness making it difficult to paint certain objects in varying degrees Could it be the paint leaning towards another colour to begin? Any help is appreciated

[@willdixon9525]

Thanks for sharing this video with us, very helpful.

[@RonaPerl23]

Thank you so much! Your instructions are so comprehensive. I have been painting and studying painting for many many years and a simple concept like this just got away from me. I love working with a limited palette, it gives me so much clarity. One question though - doesn't Alizarin Crimson shift a bit towards blue?

[@HattoriHanzoVol1]

hi, do you have an alternative for the yellow color for Michael Harding and Old Holland

[@bob_daniels_art]

Thanks for your time with producing these videos! They're unbelievably helpful! I know this was 7 years ago but I can not find that mixing sheet o your sites. Has it been removed? Thanks!

[@GittaBro]

Thank you, Mark! As always I have learned so much!

[@teriperson363]

Thank you ! I am SO glad you cover this video !!

[@guy25590]

Hello , thank you so much for the video. I have a question which is very urgent for me. I can see that in the video you demonstrate the use of comlementary colors and thats what I especially do as well in this days, lately I've started teaching painting and I am a bit confused about a issue in the color mixing theory, I know its worikng the complementary colors but I also learned abount many living artist that prefere to use limited colors of low saturated colors in order to reach any point in the color wheel (and value). this painters mix their colors with neutral grey or less chromatic colors of the same hue (also thats what they do in the academies in Florence). When I think about it more and more I think its a much more intutive and natural way of working (when I think about un-saturated for example reddish- blue I think of red whith the add of some black plus blue and not red plush green-blue). I believe in simplify the method of painting as you can so you can see even the little subtleties. I think that when I paint I mostly use the dark less chromatic colors in order to take off the value but then I am using complementary colors to bring it to the right chroma, If I would paint from imagination I would use the method of less chromatic colors but in real life I am using mostly complementary colors. What do you think about it? do you think its better to teach one of the methods? both? (also when I paint with paint which is not a liquid as color pencils the complemenaty color wont really work so it can get my students confused, ) and by the way I know that with broken colors complementaries can be intersting, but for realism I think it can confuse some people including me. Please let me know what do you think about it?

[@artsandjazz]

Awesome to find this video as I only recently discovered that painters such as Rembrandt used a very limited palette in his old age. I'd have saved tons of money on both acrylic and oil paint colors had I found this video years ago. Your explanations in this video were very informative and especially helpful to me. Now I'm going to see if you have any books in print, as well. Thank you very much!

[@DrawMixPaint]

artsandjazz No physical books, but I have tons of information in my online course (free) on drawmixpaint.com, as well as many many hours of video, also on drawmixpaint.com.

[@j0nnyism]

Can I pick any blue green and yellow as long as they’re close to primary or can I use more subdued colours for appropriate subjects? Maybe using a green with landscape for example?

[@ravdizwatch1554]

what paints should i buy for the power color? cadmium red and what more?

[@whatever6255]

First time trying oil painting and i really enjoyed it due to your amazing videos ^^ ! Thank you very much !

[@TRACYxBEAKER]

Thank you for this absolutely wonderful and helpful video, I feel enlightened!

[@MrTripletts]

Thank you...excellent video on mixing so many questions answered. :D

[@EulogyfortheAngels]

I'm curious why you advocate Cad Yellow and Pyrrole/Permanent Alizarin over Cad Red and Yellow Ochre.

[@ericashmusic8889]

By very long experience, this teacher has found these selected colours to be sufficient to obtain the very highest number of colour shades,simply & quickly- Priceless information & given for free !! to anyone who seeks & watches.

[@blackeesh463]

@@ericashmusic8889 yeah but the original comment refered to Zorns palette as opposed to this,this man is very experienced,true,but Zorn is one of the all time greats.

[@Scubadog_]

This is extremely helpful! My teacher had us buy 17 different tubes of colour just to start painting, and let me tell you, for someone just starting out on a small budget, it's a bit of a hit. I don't even know if I've even opened some of them.

[@rocifier]

what pigments do you use? "blue" "yellow" etc are not very specific. thanks for your video.

[@candycake9531]

I'm pretty sure in his video how to mix every olor,with oils, he says the colors Edit: I checked and the colors are pyrrole rubine or alizarin crimson works (red) , french ultramarine (blue) , cadmium yellow (yellow) , burnt umber (brown) , and titanium white (white)

[@Soil_Bound]

Candy Cake you know, you went through the trouble to find this for them, the least they could do is thank you. I appreciate knowing the pigments. Thank you.

[@candycake9531]

your very much welcome

[@granmabern5283]

Thankyou, Candy Cake!

[@darlenesudderth1525]

Hi Mark. I couldnt find the color mixing print out on the website you show here at the 12:44 mark. Can you tell me where to find it? Thanks so much!!

[@ChilliFedor]

I would use a serulian blue rather than ultramarine to keep the spectrum more neutral so theres more mixing space in both directions.

[@makEKnickers]

Great video! Can anyone tell me if this concept can be used for other brands of paints specifically acrylic paints? Thanks!

[@svllal.cornelivs2443]

This is a great KZbin lesson, youre a great teacher