Color Swatching
Why you should Swatch All of Your Art Media
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I started swatching my art media not too long ago. And I am working toward swatching all of my colored media!
This morning I swatched my brand new set of Uni Posca Paint Pens, this was good because my only experience with them in the past is marking queen bees, from when I was a beekeeper. 🤣
I found that they are scratchy on my typical paper, Archer & Olive notebooks, and so they will likely be best on top layers. They are so scratchy that they will peel the paper if I go over a second time when the marker is still wet.
Last night I felt like being creative but didn’t really have the brain power, so I swatches my Prismacolor Premier colored pencils. That was a good time! And now I have a good reference for when I run out of a color and need to reorder.
A little while back I swatched my super cheap Gouache set, just to see what it was like painting with it.
I always advocate swatching your art media. This is so beneficial! I always had done it on paper in a notebook but this is the first time I’m doing it on cards, and placing them on a ring for easy access. I got this idea from the ever popular Fodder School.
Swatching your colors is so important because you will then see the actual color of the product. Often times the outside color code does not match what actually is put on paper. Additionally there are many paint products that will dry a lighter or darker color than when you first put it on paper.
I also recommend using the paper you use regularly for art to make your swatches on. And if you use many different papers, maybe do similar to what I did and make a card, glue strips of your other paper to it, and swatch on top of that. This will show you how your medium behaves on all your different paper types.
I do have a couple videos on my YouTube channel How to Make Color Swatch Cards and Swatching my Cheap Gouache. You should check them out! I’ll put them at the bottom of the post.
Overall swatching your art media and swatching onto paper you like and use, will give you more control over your art because you won’t have to guess how your mediums will behave.
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