Color Palette Detour - Part One
Vanilla Beans Newsletter. Saturday, February 14, 2026
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DETOUR!!!
Last week, I recommended Sarah Renae Clark’s Color Cubes for hobbyists.
If you like coloring but you don’t like-like coloring, then the idea of learning color theory is probably way deeper than you want to go. If that’s you, pre-made palettes like the Color Cubes can be a stress-free way to improve the quality of your color selection.
On the other hand, if you’re in it for the long haul but color theory has you feeling a little lost, Color Cubes are a gentle entry point.
Lordy-be, I did not expect the flood of email!
A bunch of you have cubes sitting right next to your color wheel in your Big Drawer of Shame and Regret.
You spoke and I’m listening— You really-really don’t use your cubes… then I realized why.
There are a ton of videos showing how to unbox a Color Cube (duh) but very few people teach how to use them. YouTubers and TikTokkers treat them like challenge cards which is dumb.
So before we begin all the deeper Color Theory lessons I had planned, I think we need to learn more about how to use pre-made color palettes.
Trust me, even if you don’t own a cube and have zero plans to buy one, you’re about to learn a lot about color palettes which will in turn make the color theory lessons here easier.
I wouldn’t detour if I didn’t think it was totally worth it.
COLOR PALETTE DETOUR - PART ONE
Now before we talk about pre-made color palettes, let’s get one thing out of the way:
I’m NOT hawking Color Cubes.
I’ll reference the cubes a lot in the next couple weeks but that’s because I sincerely think they’re an excellent color palette resource for beginners and hobbyists.
Relax, this is not a Color Cube infomercial, which you’ll quickly notice when I eventually discuss several problems with the Color Cube system. Every product has flaws and as grown adults, we can rationally discuss the pros and cons, right?
And let’s get this out of the way:
DISCLOSURE: I’m an affiliate for Color Cubes. If you use my links, I receive a small percentage of the sale.
Do you need a Color Cube today? Nope.
Do you need ALL the color cubes? Noooooo.
Are there other commercial palette resources that’ll work? Yep.
Do I recommend Color Cubes despite some reservations? Hellz yeah.
Hang on, Amy. You keep using the term “color palette”. What do you mean?
Sweet and simple, a color palette is a group of 3 to 6 colors which look really good together.
If you’ve ever felt disappointed with the jumble of colors your latest project, it’s because you’re lacking the direction and professionalism an edited color palette can provide. When you use too many colors or disjointed colors— a project can feel unplanned and scatter-brained. Sound familiar?
But it’s not just large color sets. Small selections of color can clash or even bore people to death.
Coming up with a “cohesive” or pleasing color palette can be incredibly difficult for beginners which is why pre-made palette collections like the Color Cube are so helpful.
Pssttt… pent up frustration with poor color choices is usually why colorists try to learn color theory in the first place. Some of you want to better shade colors but for most people, palettes are the first and most obvious color theory problem.
But aren’t there free online color palette generators and palette apps?
Yes. Here are some of my favorites palette sites:
Design-Seeds Coolors Adobe Color - See Trends and Generator
ColourLovers Paper Heart Design Co. Vanilla Arts’ Copic Palettes
But here’s the problem with online and app color palette resources:
On an app or website, you’re looking at digital color, not physical color. And holy cow, there’s a BIG difference!
One of my very capable advanced students drove herself crazy this week, desperately trying to match markers to the vivid colors she saw in the class photo reference.
It’s impossible. Never gonna happen. Real color can’t compete with the vibrancy and boldness of digital color.
Digital color is pure light, beaming straight into your brain.
Conversely, real ink on real paper looks dull and almost sleepy in comparison because physical color is reflected light. Bounced light waves move slower and they’re missing large chunks of the spectrum. By the time these waves find your eyeballs, they’re exhausted.
There’s no contest— digital color always looks better.
Which means you will automatically, ALWAYS be disappointed with your project.
Having something in your hand that is directly relatable to the real color of real art supplies is totally worth it.
Being able to compare real color to real color makes color selection easier but it also keeps you out of that padded cell your husband built in the basement.
What about color palette books? I’ve seen them on Amazon and art stores and they’re cheaper than Color Cubes.
Yes! I’ll link to a couple of books below which seem to meet my standards but I still prefer the Color Cubes over books. Here’s why—
Tell me, which is your favorite color palette?
Feeling overwhelmed?
Most books (and many digital color sites) squish too many palettes onto a page. It floods your senses and makes it hard to focus.
And yes, that’s an actual page from an actual book which I do not recommend.
Plus, the strength, vibrancy, even the temperature of one palette can radically alter how you see the palette next to it.
The beauty of the Color Cubes is that it’s one palette per card. You’re seeing the palette in isolation, the same way viewers will see your finished project.
Cube cards are also portable. You can lay similar palettes side by side to debate which is best for the project. With a book, you’ve gotta flip back and forth between pages and stick bookmarks everywhere… it’s friction.
You can also clip a Color Cube card to your project, pin it to your vision board, or tape it to the dog’s forehead. Ya can’t do that with a stinkin’ book.
If you do use a book, find one with only one palette per page and be prepared to break the spine and abuse the heck out of it.
Also keep in mind that one Color Cube contains 250 palettes. An inexpensive book with only 40 palettes may not be the bargain you thought.
While we’re on the subject of how we see color…
Color Cube cards do two things right.
But first, NEVER trust any color palette displayed on a black background. Color on black creates the Velvet Elvis effect. Black makes every color look like a hunka hunka burning love.
And eh-hem… same goes for all those templates and swatch boxes with little black outlines.
Black is a strong value and it skews everything it touches.
In a perfect world, we want every color in the palette to be placed directly next to each other with no border around it. All five colors, snuggled up cozy with no spaces.
Because that’s how we see colors in your art; color touching color.
We want to see how colors interact before they hit the paper— you may want to rethink two colors which deliberately fight or make their neighbor glow obnoxiously
The next best option is a thin white border. The thinner, the better.
White does make colors seem darker in comparison but it’s similar to what you’ll see on the page as you color. We’re all kinda used to seeing colors against white.
But the thing I really like about cube cards for beginner students is the way Sarah has run the colors on the backside right off the edge with zero margin.
This allows you to place the color directly up against a photo reference, a real life object, or against your art. There’s no border to hide whether it’s a match.
Bravo, Sarah!
Pssttt… this is why we use the Essential Color Card Deck in my Color Coach classes. They provide pure color from edge to edge.
Okay, I’ve gone on longer than I planned, so I’m going to save the truly terrible topic for next week.
But I know you.
And I know at least 73.2% of you readers are Eager Beavers who have been scheming for the last five paragraphs about how to make your own Color Cube cards.
You’re gettin’ all crafty, thinking about a cute mini 3-ring binder with hand colored cards and you’ll make a stylish printable template with spaces for the brand, name, and number…
Maybe spaces for the same palette in marker and pencil?
STOP IT RIGHT NOW. GET YOUR BUTT BACK IN THE CHAIR. YES, I’M TALKING TO YOU, MISS MISSIE!
Can you make your own color palette collection?
Of course.
Should you?
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.
Look, I’m gonna be blunt & brutal:
Do you want to make color palettes or do you want to color?
You can’t do both.
You can spend the next several months designing and printing the templates, finding the perfect websites to steal palettes from, and coloring a pitifully small number of pretty but repetitive and unchallenging swatch cards which will fade or smear in less than a year.
Or you can take that time, energy, and all the supposedly free art supplies (which you actually bought, so they’re not really free)…
You can use your time to become a better colorist who uses color palettes like a pro.
I know what I’d vote for.
This is a No-Beaver zone, folks.
Oh, and I’m not kidding.
Next week’s color palette lesson will be specifically about the Color Cube…
And I’m about to make your blood run cold.
IF YOU LIKED TODAY’S ARTICLE, SUPPORT FUTURE FREE LESSONS
Need a little rainbow therapy?
Oh, Amy! I love the color here— but hey, you just said we should use color palettes and there’s more than five colors here???
Nesting Basket covers my tips and process for using tons of color. There’s definitely a trick to preventing the circus distraction.
Plus, we’ll simplify the yarn details in a way that makes it look like you colored every strand separately, but you didn’t. Crazy, eh?
Plus, we’ve got birds!
I feel better already.
Nesting Basket is only available through Color Wonk
A whole history of classic courses are waiting for you. Instant access including study exercises.
Real art lessons, not nifty novelty techniques
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RECOMMENDED COLOR PALETTE PRODUCTS?
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I don’t own either book but I’ve been looking at the Joanna Stone series for a while now, just never pulled the trigger. I just spotted the Palette Earth book today, looking for a Joanna Stone link. Both books give us a photo plus a color palette which is important. They also give every palette adequate breathing room. Maybe too much room? My hesitation with Joanna’s books is they look thin and you’ll need a bunch of ‘em to match what you get in just one Color Cube.
