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How do you color?

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How do you approach coloring in a new design?

Do you pick your color palette in advance? Plan out how it’s going to look? Go where the whim takes you?

For me, it usually depends on where I am when I’m ready to color in a bit. Sometimes I’ll have my whole pen collection at hand, and poke around until one of the colors catches my attention. Other times, I only have a couple of ballpoints, so I’ll do some shading in black or blue – or in this case, black, orange and purple: (I added the green and red later.)

Artist: Kathryn Marlin, Book: Garden Paths & Forest Trails Coloring Day Planner 2017
I don’t generally color everything in one sitting, though! This cat got its color over two days of meetings where I needed to listen but not say a whole lot, but often I’ll only have time to color in something tiny, before going on to the next task at home or work. This picture will probably take me the rest of the month to finish.
When coloring in my own designs, I often start with a pattern and color palette in mind, but if it takes too long I’ll get bored with following my initial plans. That’s how this study in blue squares wound up with polka dots and some red/orange/green hues. 🙂

What about you? Have you ever had a picture turn out differently than you planned?

Thanks for reading!

-Anthea

PS: The proofs for the new book should ship in the next week or so. Sign up in the sidebar to get an email when Scintillant Squares is available for purchase, and to get a free 3-page PDF excerpt!