COLORS IN

PROCREATE
ARTWITHFLO.COM
 Hi there! Thanks for picking up this book!

I’m Flo, a digital artist based in the

Netherlands. I have always loved drawing,
scribbling in my notes during classes when
I was younger and always eager to learn as
much as I could. About 12 years ago I found
out about digital drawing and fell in love

ABOUT
instantly!

I bought my first drawing tablet right away

and started practicing. I have learned a lot
since then and a few years ago I started
sharing my art and knowledge online on
Instagram and YouTube. That’s probably
how you found me!

I don’t just have a passion for drawing and

painting (mostly digital), but I also have a
passion for teaching. Creating art can bring
so much joy and it can be so relaxing. I love
sharing that! That’s why I have dedicated my
life to teaching drawing and painting skills
online!

Anyone can learn how to draw and

I’m happy to be able to help with that!

ARTWITHFLO.COM
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
It’s pretty much the standard question that
kids seem to ask. It shows the important role
that colors play in our lives. Colors can have
a great effect on our mood, feelings and
emotions.

The emotions a color evokes can be personal,

but there are also some effects of color that
have a universal meaning. Warm colors for
instance, like red, orange and yellow, can
evoke feelings of warmth, but also feelings of
anger. Cool colors like blue, purple and green
are associated with feelings of calm, but also
of sadness.

So, why do we artists care?

Using color in your artwork can be a powerful

tool. It can make your artwork look more
interesting and it can evoke specific feelings
in your audience. Colors are part of the visual
language that artists speak and can make
a drawing or painting easier to understand.

In this eBook, I would like to dive deeper

into color theory and how you can use it
as an artist. We’ll take a look at the color
spectrum, primary, secondary and tertiary
colors and how these colors can work
together. They can create harmony and
balance or give each other a boost. I will also
show you how you can easily come up with
color schemes in Procreate, making use of
color Harmonies.
HUE, VALUE, AND SATURATION
Every color you use in your artwork
has a hue, a value and a saturation.

So what are these?

 HUE
The hue is what we ask for as kids,
when we say “What’s your favorite
color?” The hue is the dominant
wavelength of a color, it’s a color
in its purest form.

So a hue can be yellow, red, blue,

green, etc.

VALUE
The value refers to the lightness
TINTS or darkness of a color.

When you add amounts of white

to pure blue, you’ll get tints of blue.

When you add amounts of black

to pure blue, you’ll get tones of blue.

TONES
SATURATION
Lastly, a color has a certain saturation or
intensity. When a color is 100% saturated,
you’re seeing the truest, purest form of that
color. Colors with high saturation appear to
be more vibrant and pure, while colors with
a low opacity appear to be more washed out.

And what about opacity?

When creating digital art, we also use

a certain opacity when painting with our
digital brushes. The percentage of opacity
tells us how transparent or opaque your
brush stroke will be. A low opacity will
give transparent strokes. Laying different
transparent strokes on top of each other
will result in a more opaque result though.
When making digital art, you can control the
opacity of your brush, of your layer, or both.
 THE COLOR WHEEL
You have probably heard of the color wheel.
It’s a great tool to get more insight in colors
and how they relate to each other.
 In this basic color wheel you see the blue create the secondary color purple.
primary colors, the secondary colors When you mix the secondary colors
and the tertiary colors. The primary with the primary colors, you’ll get the
colors are the purest colors, you can’t tertiary colors.
create them by mixing other colors.
You can mix the primary colors Colors that are opposite on the color
together to get all the other wheel are called complementary colors.
hues though.
By playing with the color wheel, you
Blue and yellow create the secondary can create some interesting effects in
color green, red and yellow create the your artwork. Complementary colors
secondary color orange and red and can boost each other for example.

PRIMARY
TERTIARY TERTIARY

SECONDARY
SECONDARY

TERTIARY TERTIARY

PRIMARY PRIMARY

TERTIARY TERTIARY
SECONDARY
COOL VS. WARM COLORS
We can split the color wheel in two Cool colors on the other side range
sides, the warm colors and the cool from shades of blue-green to blue-
colors. Warm colors are colors ranging violet and also includes most shades
from shades of red to yellow. These of gray. These colors are considered to
colors are also considered to be ‘active’ be ‘passive’ colors, they appear to be
colors, it feels like they are coming farther away. Cool colors can be very
towards you. calming and relaxing. Warm colors
often convey happiness and energy.

WARM

COOL
 PLAYING WITH COLORS
- COLOR HARMONIES -
You can play around with colors by using
one of the six color harmonies. Using these
will create visually pleasing images. The color
wheel can help you find these harmonies.
COMPLEMENTARY Complementary colors are each others
opposites on the color wheel. Using
complementary colors creates high
contrast in your image, but it can be
challenging to pull off successfully. Using
complementary colors is great when you
want something to pop in your image,
making your focal point stand out.
SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY Like complementary colors, the split
complementary color harmony uses colors
that are opposite on the color wheel. But
instead of using the colors that are direct
opposites, it uses a base color and the two
colors that are adjacent to the opposite
color of this base color. Using a split
complementary color harmony creates
an impact but is not as flashy as the
complementary color harmony.
ANALOGOUS An analogous color harmony is much
more calm to the eye than complementary
color harmonies. It uses colors that are next
to each other on the color wheel. It creates
an almost monochromatic look. These look
like color harmonies you’ll find in nature.
You can use analogous color harmonies
to create calm images. When using the
analogous color harmony, try sticking to
either warm or cool colors.
TRIADIC Colors in a triadic color harmony are
evenly spread over the color wheel. Like
yellow, red and blue for instance. When
using this color harmony, try letting one
color dominate and use the other two
colors as accents. You can use shades and
tints of the colors to make your artwork
appear more calm or you can go for fully
saturated colors for a more vibrant and
youthful look.
TETRADIC The tetradic color harmonies can be
split into two kinds, the square tetradic
color harmony and the rectangular color
harmony. These color harmonies use
four colors of two complementary pairs.
A color scheme using this harmony can
be very eye catching and offers a lot of
variety. It can also be hard to strike a
balance though. Try using one of the
colors as your main color and use the
others for accents for example. Also,
try to balance the warm and cool colors.
 When using a monochromatic color
MONOCHROMATIC harmony, you only use one color, but
with different shades and tints by adding
white and black. This color harmony
creates a sense of unity, but it can also
look a bit boring when there’s not enough
contrast between the light and dark hues.
 COLORS AND EMOTIONS
The subject and the composition of your
artwork can evoke emotions in your viewer,
but the use of colors in your artwork can help
as well. So what colors should you use in your
art if you want to evoke certain emotions?

The meaning of a color and the emotion

it evokes is often subjective, but there
are also some effects that are universal.
Here’s an overview of colors and the
effect they might have.
 RED
Red often gives a feeling of
warmth and is vibrant and
intense. It can evoke feelings
of love and comfort, but also
of aggression, depending on
the subject in your artwork.
Red is also associated with
passion and boldness, using red
for a character in your artwork
can give it as sense of power.
BLUE
This color is often associated
with feelings of calm and
serenity. On the other hand it can
also be associated with loneliness
and sadness. Blue is also known
to boost creativity in individuals.

YELLOW
This color feels bright and
intense, like the sun. It can
evoke feelings of warmth and
energy. On the other hand it
can also be a color that induces
irritation and aggression.

GREEN
The color green is associated
with nature, it gives a feeling
of calm, safety and luck. Green
is also associated with jealousy
and poison.
 PURPLE
This color evokes a sense
of mystery, spirituality
and imagination. Purple is
also seen as a royal color,
creating a sense of wealth.

ORANGE
Orange is a strong and energetic
color, it feels bright, happy and
uplifting. It can also seem too
bright and overwhelming though.
Orange is also associated with
autumn and Halloween.

BLACK
Black is often used as a symbol
of evil and in many cultures it
is associated with death and
mourning. This color also conveys
power though and can appear
sexy and mysterious.

WHITE
White often feels fresh and clean
and conveys a sense of purity
and peace, but in some cultures
it’s the color associated with
death and mourning. In Western
cultures the color is associated
with weddings and hospitals.
White is bright and can create
a sense of space in your artwork,
but on the other side, it can also
appear cold and clinical.
 COLORS IN PROCREATE
Picking colors that work well together might
seem challenging, but luckily Procreate
makes this a lot easier! Creating exciting color
palettes is a breeze when you use the tools
that are in the app.
 The color menu can be easily found, all you have to do is click the colored dot in the
upper right corner in the Procreate app. You can even detach your color menu and
move it all around your canvas! You’ll find five sub-menus in the color menu:

This part of the menu gives

you the same options as the
Disc, but instead of moving
around the circle, you can
use the sliders to adjust
the hue. You can pick the
brightness and saturation
by using the sliders or
by moving around the
square.

CLASSIC

DISC VALUE
The Color Disc is a great This part of the menu
way to easily pick colors, comes in handy when
the outside of the disc you want to replicate
shows all the hues and colors by either entering
the inner circle lets you the values next to the
change the saturation and sliders or by entering
brightness of the hue. a hexadecimal code.
HARMONY
The magic happens in the Harmony menu!
You can start experimenting and find
wonderful color combinations here. You
can switch between harmonies by simply
tapping the current harmony name. You can
go for Complementary, Split Complementary,
Analogous, Triadic and Tetradic.

Once you have picked one of these

harmonies, you can move around the
colors on the color wheel. The further you
go to the outside of the wheel, the more
saturated the colors will become.

To adjust the brightness, you can use

the slider at the bottom. Once you have
picked a color combination that you like,
you can play around with the hues in the
Classic menu, adjusting the saturation and
brightness while painting, to get a perfect
color harmony in your artwork.
PALETTES
You might want to save those wonderful
color combinations that you have found,
that’s where the Palettes come in handy!

By clicking the plus (+) sign in the upper

right corner, you can create a new palette
and simply drop in the colors that you like.
Give it a nice name and voila!

If you want to share your color palettes with

your friends or with the rest of the world, all
you have to do is swipe to the left on your
favorite palette and pick ‘Share’.
 Hopefully, reading this ebook has inspired
you to start experimenting with colors in
your artwork and create some awesome
color combinations.

You know the theory now, all you have to

do is put it into practice to get a feel for it.

FINAL
If you still struggle with finding nice color
combinations, then don’t forget to look

THOUGHTS
up the artworks of others. You can browse
Pinterest for instance and make a collection
of illustrations and photos that you like.
But you can also find inspiration in the
world around you, in clothes, in nature,
in museums, movies, etc.

Colors are everywhere!

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