Colored Pencil Color Basics

Ready to explore color? In this lesson, artist and instructor Susan Rubin introduces essential color theory through one of the most approachable mediums: colored pencil. With only six pencils, Susan shows how you can create a full spectrum of hues.

By making a color wheel, you’ll learn important terms such as secondary and analogous color, while also gaining a better sense of how mixtures behave. Susan explains how this knowledge helps you predict results as you layer and blend.

As you work, she demonstrates strokes that create a 3D texture and guides you through an intentional layering process for mixing colors. Once complete, your color wheel becomes a useful reference for building an even wider range of colors.

You’ll also learn how to record your mixtures and see why the order of your colored pencil layers can significantly change the final result.