Colour Picker
If choosing specific colours or values is something you find challenging, the eye dropper tool can be really useful.
This digital tool can pin point colours you pick when clicking anywhere on your reference photograph.
Using the link to the free colour picker I have provided here or any app or editing programme, you can follow these simple steps.
- Open the desired photograph you wish to use.
- Use the eye dropper tool and click anywhere on the photograph of a colour you wish to pin point.
- You’ll then be shown that colour in a separate box or somewhere on the screen along with a colour wheel. The colour wheel will enable you to see whether the selected colour is warm or cool and identify whether it has a yellow, blue, green etc tint. This can be a game changer when trying to narrow down pencil colour options.
I only recommend to use simply colour pickers as some specific artist colour apps can overly complicate the colour selection process.
There are apps that give a very specific pencil colour name and even list the brands so that artists can use that exact suggested pencil/paint colour.
This is actually very counterproductive in my opinion. What may initially seem like a very easy option of choosing colours, can soon turn into a process of confusion or incorrect suggestions because these apps do not take into account the layering process of building colour that realistic art requires.
These apps that give specific pencil or paint recommendations are simply basing it on the theory of that one colour in that exact place. But when drawing art, we don’t use just one layer. We build colour and values to create depth and shape of our paintings and drawings. Like sculpting, we are trying to capture as much 3D form as possible on a flat surface. Simply putting one colour in place creates the opposite effect resulting in a flat, 2D portrait.
Whereas, using a simple colour picker like this one I’ve linked in this resource centre, can be used any time you feel you need guidance on where that colour sits on the colour wheel. That on it’s own immediately narrows down the pencil and paints we would use and simplifies the process.
With that in mind, I wanted to provide a free, no download required option that I feel doesn’t make the drawing & painting process more overwhelming.
I often discuss in my tutorials how obsessing about specific colours in reference photographs isn’t as important as the values of that colour. Contrast should be the top priority but if the colour wheel system is used (which I demonstrate in majority of my tutorials) then a simple eye colour picker does the job perfectly.
If you’re struggling to identify colours, where they sit on the colour wheel, the differences between warm vs cool etc then a eye dropper tool can be very effective. The more confidence and experience you gain the more you paint & draw you’ll find you won’t refer to these tools as much but it’s nice to know they’re always there if needed.
