Mike A.,  Hooker green is equal to the phthalo green shown in the left column, second grouping.  A medium red-brown earthtone is equal to the venetian red, right column, third section!

Mike A. and his wood carving club are currently working as a group through our Canada Goose Relief Wood Carving Project – a great step-by-step project for any beginning wood carver.  He sent an email yesterday asking several questions on the paint colors used in this tutorial.  So, I am posting my favorite color chart guide here on our blog for Mike.

The chart is grouped into several areas for easy reference.

Left hand column, top shows the basic gray tones for neutral shading.  French gray tends towards a beige-gray or brown-gray coloring, and Paynes gray tends towards a glue-gray or gunmetal tone.  The second group shows the dark color tones used in colored pencil work for complimentary shading, where the compliment of the final color of an area is used to create the shadow tones.  The third section is my favorite graduated colorings for yellow.  The bottom group in the left hand column shows my skin tone colors.

In the right hand column, the top section shows my muted tone shading colors.  The remaining sections show my chosen graduated tones for pink, red, purple, blue, and green.

Every paint, pencil, and pastel company has their own unique names for their colors. I would recommend that you keep a copy of this painting guide on your computer.  You can print a copy, then write the manufacturer’s names of the paints you already own beside the matching color swatch.

To learn more about working with colors – hues, compliments, tones, and values – please visit our tutorial Who is R.G. Biv?  For working with watercolors for your pyrography projects, please see Watercolors and Wood Burning.  For more information on how to paint your wood carvings, you will want to take time reading our Painting Your Wood Carving tutorial.

Click on the color reference chart for a full-sized image.  Right hand click to save to your Desktop.

irish

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