My sketching palette setup in 2021

[@carolgehman6036]

So glad you are posting again. I thought you were quitting social media. So glad you are still here! 🙂

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you Carol! 🙂 I'm staying on KZbin, I have removed all annoying scroll and comment features with the help of a plugin and it's a much nicer place this way!

[@Dawnasy]

Thank you Julia! I appreciate your art and knowledge and process you share here. As I make more time to paint and learn, I am hopeful to become more motivated to go in-depth with my own palette choices. I use to get overwhelmed when I first was learning and I feel as though I am developing a feel for what I like. Your guidance is most appreciated🤗

[@NatureSketchbook]

You're welcome, I'm glad my videos are helpful to you! 😊I completely understand the overwhelm concerning palettes - I felt that too when I started out. It's great that at some point one tends to develop habits and likes for certain colors - usually a basic setup does a good job. I'm a big fan of not overcomplicating things more than needed.

[@philipdown3147]

Greatly appreciating Julia for sharing how you've planned out what colours you have in your pallets, thankyou as I have not chosen a preferred choice of colours yet but at the moment have 18 colours. Thanks greatly appreciated stay safe and healthy

[@NatureSketchbook]

Hope you are well Philip. :-) 18 colors sounds good to me!

[@rosejames1436]

Thank you so much for all of this great information! I’m such a novice and find it so helpful to know why you chose certain colors and some of their unique qualities.

[@NatureSketchbook]

You're welcome, I'm glad to hear this is helpful! :-)

[@roksannastephens4375]

Lovely Julia, thanks for sharing your tips. Love these smaller size pallette trays. Thank you for sharing your hue choice along with brand as well, they are lovely. Love making up my own pallette when I can afford to purchase separately. Payne's Grey is my fave 'black' to use when not creating my own. Great hearing from you, hope all is well.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you Roksanna. What do you mix into your self-made black?

[@roksannastephens4375]

@@NatureSketchbook Depending on the black, (warm/ cool) or wanting it to match my painting color more inunifying I start with ultramarine blue, then add reds and greens; sometimes raw/burnt umber, and or sepia. Even Payne's Grey sometimes. In college we weren't allowed to use black out of the tube, we had to create our own for depth and richness. What colors do you use to create your own homemade blacks?

[@NatureSketchbook]

@@roksannastephens4375 For a dark gray phthalo green and quin. rose, for a slightly lighter gray ultramarine blue/indanthrene blue and burnt siena or similar earth colors.

[@roksannastephens4375]

@@NatureSketchbook beautiful thank you

[@dannychen1064]

thank you for sharing your palettes Julia. Picking colors for a palette is always overwhelming to me! I want so many colors but there's not enough room lol. I want a core essential palette but what about all the fancy colors that I really like? the struggle goes on and on. I learned to mix a premixed black from wetcanvas called "phthalo black": lots of perylene maroon, a little phthalo green and a little phthalo blue. You can get a neutral grey dark if you get the right ratio. In this way there's no black pigment in this darkener color. It turns out transparent. But since it is a 3-pigment color, I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

[@NatureSketchbook]

I know this - choosing colors for a palette is an ongoing process for me too, as much as I wish it wasn't. Phthalo Black sounds like a good mix to me, I'll try it out. There are commercial gray and black mixes that have two or three pigments and I've never had a problem. I find that using colors with several pigments isn't a problem if you know how to combine them. Since black is a color I rarely mix into anything else I'm fine with it being a multi-pigment mix. :-)

[@dannychen1064]

@@NatureSketchbook I can be okay with 2-pigment color, but I heard that the more pigments, the muddier it gets when mixed with other color? 3 to me seems a bit too much, even though they are all transparent pigment.