First step: Randomness.
Take a bunch of colour pencils, markers, maybe even watercolour or gouache pans, or whatever colourful supplies you have. Place them in front of you.
Close your eyes! And select one.
Now open your eyes, and draw a filled triangle.
Repeat, drawing another triangle next to the first one, like you can see on the pictures above and below.
Repeat until you have a line of 8-10 triangles, then go on with another line, etc. In my example I made 4 lines, because I was impatient 😁️, but I think it’s better with at least 5-6 – and as many as you like / as long as you have pencils ;)
Step 2: Use your taste :)
Now look at your block of colours, and pay attention to the triangles that touch each other. You’re bound to find some interesting colour combinations!
That’s it, basically! Simple, right? :D
In this example I have restricted myself to 3-4 colours, but you could pick more if you like.
Also, I’ve noted the numbers that identify the colour pencils, and I have even photographed the pencils in the order I had picked them, so that I can re-use this colour block and maybe find new combinations in the future – when maybe I don’t have time to do step 1 :)
On the other hand you could be more relaxed about it, and pick a colour that may not exactly be the original one 😅️. Or possibly mix a similar colour in watercolour, gouache or the like.
Step 3: Draw / paint something! ;)
In this case I used the blind colour palette technique to give a bit of pep to one of my #doodleaday drawings :)
An example of re-using an old colour block
I learned this technique from the mailing-list of Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell’s The Illustrator’s Circle… more than 2 years ago, as you can see on this picture:
But the pencils on the photo are a new colour selection I did just a few days ago, and that I hadn’t found at the time :)
Also, I must admit that at the time I had not applied my palettes in any drawing 😅️. Maybe I had found too many, and didn’t know which to chose… The usual dilemma for me… I did use one of them some time later though, for a figure drawing session 😊️.
This is what I did with the recent colour selection, based on a photo that German illustrator and designer Sintje Focken recently posted on her Instagram.
This angle, the foreshortening, the hands, the hairstyle – I just had to draw it :)
So, what do you think of the blind colour palette technique? Did you try it? What did you draw?
Send me an email or show me on Instagram ;)