Time to share a favorite freebie with you—a free color wheel template.
Every time I talk about using the complementary method of drawing, color wheels come up. If you’ve been an artist for a while, you probably know what a color is.
But maybe you’ve never made one of your own.
Now’s the time!
To get you started, I decided to offer you a tool you might not have, but do need: A free color wheel. While I’m at it, I’m also including a free value scale template.
Free Color Wheel Template
This is the same template used in the EmptyEasel.com article, Making a Color Wheel with Colored Pencil, but with a few improvements. It can be used for a standard color wheel or as a project-specific color wheel.
The template is a jpg file and should be accessible through any photo manipulation program. All you have to do is open it, print it, and start filling in the slices.
The value scale is a 10-part scale that can be used to create gray scale or color values. It can also be used to create a palette for two colors. My sample shows blue, but you can use any colors or color combinations with this template.
This is a great tool for practicing pencil control and pressure levels. It also is ideal for deciding how light or dark to make something. Just lay it over your reference photo to see how light or dark an area is, then shade your drawing until it matches.
The download includes instructions.
The template is a doc file and should be accessible through most Microsoft Word versions or any word processing software that can translate Microsoft Word.
I never thought it would happen. I mean, what do I know that anyone else would want to learn, let alone pay to learn from me? But it has happened, and I find myself thinking about all the twists and turns that led to this place, and about why I teach colored pencil in the first place.
How I Learned to Make Art
When I first began making art way back in the 1960s, there was no such thing as the internet. At least not for public use. I learned how to paint by painting every paint-by-number kit that featured a horse. Every Christmas, I got one or two and they were the highlight of the season.
After working my way through all known kits and painting them the way they were supposed to be painted, I started making changes. Small at first, then bigger.
A different color here or there.
A changed leg position.
Maybe a change to the background.
One day, my mother suggested I try making my own drawing and painting that instead of looking for another paint-by-number. A window opened on a whole new world. I’ve been drawing and painting ever since.
I could have gone to art school had I wanted to. But by the time I graduated high school, I already knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
I wanted to draw horses to look as life-like as I could make them. I wanted to paint portraits.
Since abstract art was all the rage at the time, I was more or less on my own. I learned how to draw and paint by trial and error.
When I picked up colored pencils a few years later, it was the same process.
Why I Teach Colored Pencil
A lot of what I’ve learned about drawing and painting horses has come by trial and error. I can’t tell you how many paintings I started over because some method didn’t work or because I made poor choices. I don’t regret those obstacles. Every single one contributed to the artist I am today.
But those obstacles become even more useful if they can be used to help others avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls.
Or reach their artistic goals more quickly and without the detours I experienced.
If even one new artist succeeds because of something they learned here, then all my work—including the mistakes—has been worth it.
And that’s the primary reason I teach.
From the beginning, my online colored pencil courses have been designed to provide to you what I wish I’d had years ago. Personalized instruction on the subject and style of my choice offered by someone whose work I admired and wanted to emulate.
And a way of hopefully avoiding some of the time-consuming trial-and-error learning I experienced.
What You Gain From an Online Colored Pencil Course
I don’t know if I’m an artist whose work you admire. The fact that you’re reading this post suggests that maybe I am.
Nor do I know if you want to learn what I can teach.
What I do know is that the instruction you’ll get is personalized. One-on-one correspondence by email. Personalized help with drawing, and personalized critiques of your work-in-progress during the course and, if you like, afterward as well.
While I hope you share my love of the form and art of horses, my larger hope is that you’ll find something of value in the course itself. Whether you want to learn a new medium, try your hand with a new subject, or just want to brush up on existing skills, there is something here for you.
If a course isn’t your cup of tea, but you could use help with a specific project, try a personalized art critique. You’ll get the same one-on-one help, but only for a single project, be it painting or drawing. Any subject*. Any medium.
About Carrie
Carrie has been making art for most of her life and has been painting portraits of horses and other animals since selling her first portrait in Junior High. She specializes in up-close-and-personal portraits and moment-in-time images, with a special interest in horse racing of all types.
Her focus is now on teaching colored pencil and, by special request, oil painting.
Her medium of choice is colored pencil.
She writes regularly for the online art magazine, EmptyEasel.com. Topics include the artist’s life, the business of art, and, of course, colored pencil and oil painting.
Thank you, and we hope to sign you up today.
*The artist’s specialties are with horses and other animals and with landscapes. Other subjects will be considered except for nudes and offensive subjects. If you have a question, please contact the artist.
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