Vanilla Beans: Bite Sized
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We’ve been talking about vacations and breaks here in this weekly newsletter.
But really, we’re just being honest about life.
It happens to every colorer, sometimes several times a year— planned and unplanned events make it impossible for you to color regularly.
Why do we keep pretending this isn’t a thing?
And why do we gloss over the real consequences of our unproductive periods?
Maybe it’s just me, once again saying the uncomfortable part out loud… but several of you haven’t picked up a marker in months now.
I think it’s good to be honest about backsliding skills and how normal it is to feel frustrated.
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BITE SIZED
Last week, I insisted the “20 minute” approach to coloring is a stinkin’ load of horsepucky.
And I know, a lot of people felt squidgy in their seats because you’ve been sold the idea that normal coloring is twenty minutes here and there.
Folks, it takes me 20 minutes find my coloring glasses, move my chair to where it won’t roll into the bleepin’ divot in my carpet, and then I’ve still gotta figure out why there’s an R27 in the mug of markers I’ve been using to color brown cookies.
At the 20 minute mark of every coloring session, I’ve got diddly-squat.
Which is why I call shenanigans on twenty minutes.
Don’t you dare start the clock until after I dink around for a good half hour and then I’ll need another ten minutes to warm up my hands and get my creaky fingers moving.
Twenty minutes is quite literally nothing.
Zero ink on paper.
But I get your frustration— you don’t have a ton of time and now here I am, stomping all over what feels like the only way you can color at all.
Shouldn’t you take advantage of every moment that pops up?
Yes. you should grab every minute you can.
Did I just backtrack on everything I said last week? Have I changed my mind?
Nope, you missed a little something buried in the article. Here’s the juicy bit, one more time…
The kind of coloring you like to do.
You start a new project and that project is the kind of coloring you like to do.
Most colorists? Y’all do something really strange.
See when an artist sits down to draw or paint, most of the time, we’re doodling. We’re sketching. We’re doing little experiments to plan for something bigger. A good 65% of what I do is ideation and preparation. Thinking, dreaming, planning, and figuring out what’s going to look good.
The remaining 35% of my time is spent working on an actual project.
But not colorists.
Nope. You spend 100% of your time working on a masterpiece.
Here’s that stamp you’ve been dying to color. Here’s the next page in your favorite coloring book. Here’s a tutorial you’ve been saving for this very moment.
You color it once, then you’re off like a squirrel to color the next nut.
And since you only ever work on framable or giftable showpieces, it’s always gotta be special. A large image. Or a small image made special with a fancy background. Seventeen of your best techniques using all your favorite colors.
When you have 20 minutes you do the kind of coloring you always do.
Coloring your next Mona Lisa.
That’s why 20 minutes at a time looks terrible.
Because you can’t color big things with little time.
Artists spend 65% of their art time not making art.
Part of that not-arting is something called a Study.
Now every artist is different and we do studies differently, but generally speaking, a study is a quick visual exploration of a single subject.
You’ve seen studies before, usually in sketchbooks. A quick drawing of a face. A small rendering of a landscape. A fast sketch of a puppy chasing a ball.
Or this cookie.
Colorists sign up for my classes because they like the project. It’s cute or beautiful or something you’d be so stinkin’ proud to hang on your fridge.
But I don’t teach masterpieces. I teach exercises. We don’t make art, we practice skills which you can use later to make your own art. For beginner and intermediate students, my class projects are studies.
And guess how long a marker study takes?
Just the pure coloring part minus all the screwing around?
Uhm… about 20-30 minutes.
If you only have a little time to give… Stop thinking so darned big. Definitely stop treating every project like it’s your next magnum opus.
When time is tight but you still want to practice, learn, and grow?
Don’t start coloring a dozen craggy chocolate chip cookies on a wrinkled tea towel with dozens of zig-zagging stripes.
Color a cookie. One simple cookie.
Color a study.
Bite sized learning.
Studies are the perfect, low pressure way to keep your skills alive and your mind in the zone until you have time to do more.
Next week, we’ll talk about studies at every skill level.
IF YOU LIKED TODAY’S ARTICLE, SUPPORT FUTURE FREE LESSONS
LET’S STUDY A COOKIE!
Who doesn’t love a deep, dark, chocolaty cookie?
How cute! I’ll pull out all my dark brown markers and pencils…
Hello, Cookie! is an exercise in color accuracy. Before you color this cookie in every dark brown you own and then whip out a white gel pen for highlights… can we talk?
Because this cookie is anything but brown!
Hello Cookie is now available at Color Wonk
Learn to color deep, deep darks for food illustration.
A PEEK INSIDE COLOR WONK
Let’s take a look at the Library menu page inside ColorWonk.com. This page shows subscribers all the various projects they can color today.
And actually, I’ve broken the classes into a dozen different categories because there are so many classes to choose from.
But I want to show you one section, about halfway down the page… and this is a category I plan to expand a lot this winter…
Huh. Isn’t that interesting?
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CURRENT PASSWORD: RubberDuckie
SUPPLIES USED IN “HELLO, COOKIE!”
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