I don’t often discuss color picker programs because I don’t use them very often.
But they can be useful, and today’s question comes from a reader who is looking for a good color picker. Here’s the question.
I have a question about these colour-picker programs. Could you do a post on them? Do they list colours only for Faber, or also for other brands (I have a few)? Thanks!
Color Picker Programs for Colored Pencils
The quick answer to this question is that any photo editor is capable of being a color picker tool. In the past, I’ve used Irfanview, Photoshop, GIMP, and now Affinity to pick colors for artwork and graphic design. All of them are versatile and easy to use, though they do vary in what they offer.
The downside—if there is a downside—is that they don’t give color names for specific brands of pencils. They don’t give color names at all. Instead, they show a sample of the isolated color and (in some apps) the hex code.
It’s up to me to find the best match among all the pencils I use. I can think of several colors among all my pencils to match the blue in the illustration above.
And the fact is that if you do a quick search for color pickers for artists, most of them won’t even be for fine artists. Instead, they’re geared more toward interior design, graphic design, and web design. Yes. They can be useful.
No. They will not list color names for various brands of pencils.
A Few of the Color Pickers I Found
I did a couple of searches using the key phrase “color pickers for artists” and “colored pickers for colored pencils.” There were a lot of results, but as I mentioned above, only a few of them actually provide what this reader is asking about.
But there were so many options, that I chose four to highlight in this post.
The Color Catalog Series from Sarah Renae Clark*
Let me begin with a color picking system that goes beyond simple color picking. Artist Sarah Renae Clark developed The Color Catalog a few years ago and it was so popular, she followed up with The Color Catalog II, and The Color Catalog Companion.
She developed these tools initially for coloring book artists, but they are also very helpful for any kind of design work involving colors.
Even fine art.
The Color Catalog Companion supports Prismacolor, Faber-Castell, Caran d’Ache, Black Widow, Derwent (including Inktense,) Copic Markers, Ohuhu Markers, Spectrum Noir Markers, and Tombow Dual Brush Pens.
The Color Catalogs are $29 each and the Companion is $45. The bundle of all three is $57.
* Contains affiliate links.
Palette Generator
This is a free-to-use online app. You upload an image, select the area to sample, and the program shows you the colors in the selection.
I uploaded a photo, selected an area, and received the color samples shown here.
No pencil brands are listed because this is not an artist’s tool in particular.
But if you know your colors fairly well, you can match your pencils with these swatches. For example, I have a pretty good idea which Faber-Castell Polychromos, Prismacolor, or other pencils I have in stock are good matches for these samples.
Since this is an online tool, you can use it for free on any computer or mobile device.
Colored Pencil Picker: The Ultimate Drawing Tool
This is one of the tools I found that does show color names for Prismacolor, Faber-Castell, Caran d’Ache and Arteza.
It also allows for mixing up to three colors, provides an image grid, a mix ratio and more.
It’s a free app from Google Play, but it’s compatible with Android only.
I didn’t test this app because there isn’t a Mac-based version available. But if you use an Android device, this could be a good app to test.
(If you do test it, let us know what you thought of it.)
Those Are My Selections for Color Picker Programs
Notice I didn’t say recommendations. I can’t recommend any of these color picker apps for the very simple reason that I’ve never used them.
But they are good starting points.
And I hope they are either exactly what you’re looking for, or that they lead you to exactly what you’re looking for.
Got a question? Ask Carrie!
I have tried to use the app Color Picker several times and I have trouble finding the main colors on the picture. It gives you the three colors on a spasific spot and it veries quite a bit as you move the bulls eye.
Robert,
Identifying specific colors in each area is the purpose of most color pickers.
The main colors in each picture will usually be color families such as red, green, yellow, blue, and so on.
Color pickers then tell you what specific color variations are present in each area.
Carrie,
I think you need to find a way to try the Colored Pencil Picker app (which is also available on the Apple app store). With the app, you can zoom in to a tiny area of the photo, seemingly all the same hue and tint or shade, and as you move the bulls-eye selector tool around, pixel by pixel, the recommended pencils will change. The recommendations will be two or three pencils blended, with all three pencils, and the blending ratios, changing dramatically with imperceptible differences in the target color and imperceptible differences in the recommendation result color. A wonderful learning experience in how many different ways, often dramatically different ways, there can be to achieve virtually equivalent results. It may also help one decide whether the biggest and best set of pencils is worth getting. I do wish it allowed one to combine sets from different makers, or add particularly useful singles to smaller sets, but it is well worth trying out, and paying for the IAP is an easy next step.
Alan,
Thank you for the suggestion. I have heard of that app. I especially like the idea of using the app to decide how big of a set to buy before making a purchase. That’s a great use that I hadn’t previously considered.
If any readers are looking for such an app and you use an Apple device, you might want to check this out.
For myself, color picker apps are something I use only when nothing else works. I’ve been using colored pencils for so long that I’m more comfortable with color swatches and experimenting with colors, than with relying on technology. I guess that shows my age (65)! For my purposes, my favorite photo editors do a great job.
For the younger, more tech-savvy artists among us, Alan’s suggestion is a very good one.
So thank you for sharing it, Alan, and thank you for reading!
should I do crayon or color pencil
Erica,
Thank you for reading this post and for your question.
Whether you use crayons or colored pencils is entirely up to you and what you want to accomplish with your art. So I can’t give you a one-size-fits-all answer. But here are some guidelines.
1. Crayons are not made with any concern for lightfastness. Some of the colors may be lightfast, but there’s no way to know. The top brands of colored pencils are made with some thought to lightfastness. Not all the colors are equally lightfast, but you will be able to tell which ones are and which ones aren’t.
2. Crayons contain a lot more wax than even the cheapest colored pencils. That means you’re going to end up with a lot of wax on the paper and that means that you’ll be able to layer fewer times with crayons than with colored pencils.
3. Crayons are usually much larger than colored pencils. It’s more difficult to get needle sharp points on crayons and, since they’re so soft, they don’t stay sharp very long.
4. You would think that crayons would blend more easily than colored pencils because of all the wax in them, but I have tried drawing a landscape with crayons and I found them very difficult to blend. I didn’t actually finish that project, since it was just an experiment.
In my opinion (and this is just my opinion), if you want to create long-lasting fine art that doesn’t fade, then artist grade colored pencils are your best choice.
If you’re making art for your own enjoyment, then you can use crayons or whatever colored pencils you want or have on hand.
I hope I’ve answered your question, or at least given you enough information to help you decide.
Thank you again for reading and for asking your question.