Drawing and Color

Drawing with color can actually be the simplest of choices already exhibited by the other drawing galleries here in this overview: Even using only a black graphite pencil or a red Conté one is a choice. It can do a lot for mood, too, in a piece. But adding a fuller palette is a choice that brings new explorations: of color relativity, of compositional contributions by areas of color and how they draw the eye. The choice of palette, too, and its color wheel positions, can add vibration, mood and ways to draw the eye. Color also provides a way to work out saturation and value choices that translate to paint media. And sometimes, “drawing with paint” as a form of study is a great way to grow more accustomed to how the color and transparency will behave in a more traditional brushwork painting. You’ll see that practice ended up feeding the range of mark-making in the painting examples on this site, too.