A good color wheel is helpful any time you’re making color decisions in your art. This holds true whether you’re working with a limited number of colors (a limited palette) or with many colors. Instead of buying a color wheel, it is much more helpful to make your own. Not only will it be a useful studio tool, but making a color wheel is an excellent way to learn how colors mix with each other.

The template below features primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Its outer “ring” is for color applied with heavy pressure, the middle ring is for color applied with light pressure, and the center ring is for showing how each color mixes with its opposite (complementary) color.

Step 1: Primary colorsPrimary colors are colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors. There are three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. All other colors are combinations of these colors. For this demonstration, I used Process Red, Non Photo Blue, and Lemon Yellow and applied color into each of the slices labeled “Primary.”I used light pressure in the inside rings. For the outside ring, I used heavier pressure and multiple layers, then burnished with the colorless blender.

To finish the outer ring, I applied alternating layers of Process Red and Non Photo Blue at medium pressure. I then used heavy pressure to add a final layer of each color, then burnished the outer ring with the colorless blender.Green and Orange were added to the color wheel in the same way, using Lemon Yellow and Process Red to make Orange and Lemon Yellow and Non Photo Blue to make Green.Finish this step by adding each color to the inner ring of its complement. Using light or medium pressure, glaze Lemon Yellow over the inner ring of the purple slice and so on. Each color should be glazed over its complement. Yellow should be glazed over the inner ring of the purple slice and purple should be glazed over the inner ring of the Yellow ring. The difference will be subtle, but you will see a difference in the resulting two colors.Do the same with the secondary colors. Layer each of the colors that make up the secondary color over the complementary color. Keep the pressure about the same for each color to get the most accurate results possible. You can also burnish the inner ring when all the necessary colors have been applied to that area.NOTE: Make sure to clean the colorless blender between colors to avoid carrying the color from one slice into the next. This is especially important if you burnish darker colors first. It is better to begin burnishing with the lightest colors, but you still need to clean the colorless blender frequently.

Step 2: Secondary colorsSecondary colors are a one-to-one mix of two primary colors. For example, one layer of yellow and one layer of red produce orange.I added secondary colors to my color wheel by glazing (using light pressure to apply color) a single layer of two primaries into the secondary slice between them. I glazed one layer of Process Red into the secondary slice at the bottom of the wheel. I then glazed Non Photo Blue over the same slice to create purple. I used light to medium pressure with both colors.

Step 3: Tertiary colorsTertiary colors are the combination of one secondary and one primary color.

For example, Blue-Green is a combination of Green (secondary color) and Blue (primary color).

One easy way to remember what colors to layer is to remember that there are three layers of color in a tertiary color. Blue and Yellow (secondary color Green) and Blue (primary color Blue). To mix a tertiary color, layer blue-yellow-blue.Glaze one layer of Non Photo Blue into the appropriate tertiary slice between Green and Blue on the color wheel. Use light to medium pressure. Next, use light to medium pressure to glaze Lemon Yellow over the blue, followed by another layer of Non Photo Blue, also with light to medium pressure. Finish the outer ring with blue-yellow-blue with a medium to heavy pressure followed by burnishing with the colorless blender.

Do each of the remaining tertiary colors the same way. Then complete the color wheel by glazing the complement of each color over the color’s inside ring. Notice that the complement of a tertiary color is always another tertiary color. The complement of Blue Green is Red Orange, so red-yellow-red needs to be glazed over the complementary ring of Blue Green and blue-yellow-green needs to be glazed over the complementary ring of Red Orange.

Add the complements to the color wheel. If you prefer, you can then burnish each section. If you choose to burnish the color wheel, burnish section by section. Otherwise, you will pull color into the adjacent areas.

This a finished color wheel. The outside ring shows each color at full strength and burnished. The second ring is each color with light pressure and no burnishing. The next ring shows what each color looks like with its complement glazed over it.

Using stock colorsYou can also create a color wheel using stock colors. This final color wheel was created using Lemon

Yellow, Crimson Lake, and Non Photo Blue for the primaries; and Orange, Grass Green, and Purple for the secondary colors. I then created tertiary colors by layering the colors that were on either side.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. Making a color wheel from three colors is helpful in learning the range of color and value possible with just the primaries. It is a time intensive process requiring layering, careful decision making, and planning.

Using stock pencils wherever possible is a major time saver. Each of the primary groups contain many colors, however. Learning which reds to mix with which blues to get the desired purples can also be time consuming.

The complementary underpainting technique is a multi-part drawing technique for colored pencil artists. . . it involves first putting down the complementary color of the color you intend to use, and then glazing that second color over the top, often with multiple layers.

The reason why complementary colors are important, is because when you place two complementary colors side by side it creates a visual “sizzle.” Pure complements are often paired at or near the center of interest in a painting, in order to draw the viewers’ eyes.

When you put a color’s complement beneath that color, it changes that color. Since light passes through all layers of transparent color, your eyes and brain will mix the colors to create a new color. A complementary underpainting deepens and enriches the surface color in way that is next to impossible using a single color.

To make these colors richer and more interesting, an underpainting of their complementary colors will be applied.

For example, this is a set of three circles, each one in a primary color. Scarlet Lake (Prismacolor PC 923), Ultramarine (Prismacolor PC902), and Canary Yellow (Prismacolor 916).

Step One:The first step is deciding what color to use for

the under painting. This is where your color wheel comes in handy. Find the spot on the wheel that most closely matches the color you want to use. Then, look across the wheel to see what its complementary color is.

This is an underpainting for each of the primary colors.

The colors used are Grass Green (Prismacolor PC909) for the underpainting on the red circle, Orange (Prismacolor PC918) for the underpainting on the blue circle, Purple (Prismacolor 931) for the underpainting on the left-yellow circle, and Lilac (Prismacolor PC 956) for the underpainting for the right-yellow circle. Light to medium-light pressure was used and the darker values were created using multiple layers (not pressure).

NOTE: For light-value colors (yellow, for example), you may want to keep the under painting light. In the example above there are two circles for yellow, to give you an idea of what a dark underpainting would look like versus a light underpainting.

Step 2: Adding color over the topStart adding layers of your primary colors over the underpainting just as you would apply it with any other method. Begin light and build color through multiple layers or use one or two layers of heavier color.Here are the circles I started above. The colors I used at this step are: Crimson Red (Prismacolor PC924) for the red circle, True Blue (Prismacolor PC903) for the blue circle; and Canary Yellow (PC916) for the yellow circles.

* Remember the two purple underpaintings with different values? There is about the same amount of Canary Yellow on each circle and it was applied with the same strokes and pressure. The difference is due entirely to the underpainting.

Step 3: Polishing and blending the colorsThe circles were finished with Scarlet

Lake (Prismacolor PC 923), Ultramarine (Prismacolor PC902), and Canary Yellow (Prismacolor 916). This time around, heavy pressure along with multiple layers was used in the darker areas and in the highlights medium pressure and one layer was used.

The red and blue circles we’re BURNISHED using a colorless blender.

The yellow circles were BURNISHED with Canary Yellow.

Remember, to burnish you must use heavy preassure & enough pressure to physically blend the colors on the paper. Pigment is also ground down into the tooth of the paper, creating rich, saturated colors with no paper showing through.

Step 2: Adding color over the topStart adding layers of your primary colors over the underpainting just as you would apply it with any other method. Begin light and build color through multiple layers or use one or two layers of heavier color.Here are the circles I started above. The colors I used at this step are: Crimson Red (Prismacolor PC924) for the red circle, True Blue (Prismacolor PC903) for the blue circle; and Canary Yellow (PC916) for the yellow circles.

* Remember the two purple underpaintings with different values? There is about the same amount of Canary Yellow on each circle and it was applied with the same strokes and pressure. The difference is due entirely to the underpainting.

Step 3: Polishing and blending the colorsThe circles were finished with Scarlet Lake (Prismacolor PC 923), Ultramarine (Prismacolor

PC902), and Canary Yellow (Prismacolor 916). This time around, heavy pressure along with multiple layers was used in the darker areas and in the highlights medium pressure and one layer was used.

The red and blue circles we’re BURNISHED using a colorless blender. The yellow circles were BURNISHED with Canary Yellow.

Remember, to burnish you must use heavy preassure & enough pressure to physically blend the colors on the paper. Pigment is also ground down into the tooth of the paper, creating rich, saturated colors with no paper showing through.