I read Grit by Angela Duckworth, and it encouraged me to "Zero in on specific weaknesses and drill them relentlessly." I want to gain mastery of color, so I'm zeroing in on color theory and drilling it relentlessly.
In order to do that, I read about the color wheel and making color palettes. Here is simple yet effective advice.
For the first drills, I started with Primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and Secondary colors (green, orange, violet). The "Main" colors.
Now I am doing the Tertiary colors, the colors between the "Main" colors. I am only doing one color at a time, aka a Monochromatic color scheme.
Tertiary colors are more subtle, usually being influenced by the colors around them. Some common examples are Turquoise, a Blue-Green, and Maroon, a dark Red-Violet.
![Color Wheel, Color Theory, Color Palette, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_57c2cd7c919c40059e58acaaeca23de4~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_57c2cd7c919c40059e58acaaeca23de4~mv2.jpeg)
Today I am doing Yellow-Orange and using this advice.
![Color Theory, Color Palette, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_793a7b2007704cf49f5665b0be044dcd~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_320,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_793a7b2007704cf49f5665b0be044dcd~mv2.png)
Here is my "Most, some, a bit" palette.
![Color Theory, Color Palette, Monochromatic, Yellow-Orange, Yellow Orange, Golden Yellow, Gold, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_2d12ba150396495197963b5717325aa0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_2d12ba150396495197963b5717325aa0~mv2.jpg)
Next, I'm doing a challenge from design school. To start we pick four colors, and I have chosen four colors from the palette.
![Color Theory, Color Palette, Monochromatic, Yellow-Orange, Yellow Orange, Golden Yellow, Gold, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_7b010b36275c401f8057ec0f57cf9e95~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_7b010b36275c401f8057ec0f57cf9e95~mv2.jpg)
We were assigned to accurately transition from one color to the other, choosing the correct colors by eye. This improves our ability to see subtle differences in color and become better at choosing them. This is my attempt at transitioning between colors.
![Color Theory, Color Palette, Monochromatic, Yellow-Orange, Yellow Orange, Golden Yellow, Gold, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_d095843626af4aebaf224c4fe30c65e0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_d095843626af4aebaf224c4fe30c65e0~mv2.jpg)
For comparison to how accurate I was, this is the mathematically "proper" transition done by the computer. Can you spot any differences?
![Color Theory, Color Palette, Monochromatic, Yellow-Orange, Yellow Orange, Golden Yellow, Gold, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_bad575ea46e843aa842a54521ff4fc11~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_bad575ea46e843aa842a54521ff4fc11~mv2.jpg)
Finally, I want to have some fun, so I'm going to color in a coloring book.
![The Batman Adventures, Coloring Book, Batman The Animated Series, Comic, Batman, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_e54293c759084102827dfe2c2e45f3e0~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_1508,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_e54293c759084102827dfe2c2e45f3e0~mv2.png)
![The Batman Adventures, Coloring Book, Batman The Animated Series, Comic, Batman, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_b8c9ddd676794aa295305f1f4cbbcf0a~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_980,h_2120,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_b8c9ddd676794aa295305f1f4cbbcf0a~mv2.jpeg)
![The Batman Adventures, Coloring Book, Batman The Animated Series, Comic, Batman, Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_6374ffb7b4ea489caba009f8b195cb20~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_1511,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_6374ffb7b4ea489caba009f8b195cb20~mv2.png)
To color this in, I will be applying the palette colors in their "most, some, a bit" amounts. Can you see where each color fits in?
![The Batman Adventures, Coloring Book, Batman The Animated Series, Comic, Batman, Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, Color Theory, Color Palette, Monochromatic, Yellow-Orange, Yellow Orange, Golden Yellow, Gold, Grahamicus, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA, Legitsburgh, Pittsburgh Art, Pittsburgh Artist, Pittsburgh Visual Artist, Pittsburgh Fine Artist, Pittsburgh Graphic Designer, Art, Artist, Visual Art, Visual Artist, Fine Art, Fine Artist, Graphic Design, Graphic Designer, Adventure, Adventure Bandana, Local, Motivation, Inspiration, Bravery, Courage, Risk Taking, Take a Risk, Teacher, Unity](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_5e83cc9c28da49de8e78515e1e999fc5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1511,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_5e83cc9c28da49de8e78515e1e999fc5~mv2.jpg)
Note: The color palette isn't entirely accurate. Why? Because I'm learning! Her hair, the Batgirl emblem, and utility belt are chosen from the mathematically "proper" transition, bottom left 2nd up. The shadows in her hair and utility belt are a color outside the palette.
Final notes: From Nov. 19th, 2022 at the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, IL.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_f6665074ffcf4079a2c4f3fded8b2358~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_692,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_f6665074ffcf4079a2c4f3fded8b2358~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271c8d_84ced7b2cd3f4b2681b0fda66c669854~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1272,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/271c8d_84ced7b2cd3f4b2681b0fda66c669854~mv2.jpg)
Tune in next time!
-Grahamicus
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