A Beginner's Color Palette: Limited vs Semi-Limited

Across the internet which oil painting colors are the most important colors for a beginner to purchase is an oddly hot topic of debate. Do you have a severely limited palette with just one option for red, blue, and yellow? Or do you just get it ALL THE COLORS!

Maybe something in-between could be a good compromise, a semi-limited palette maybe? I personally fall into the semi-limited camp, but before I get to why that is, let's quickly define some palette options and their pros and cons.

Maximalist Color Palette: All the Colors!

There are really only cons to having all of the colors; for both a beginner and a professional. Having every color at your finger tips can encourage not only waste and overwhelm, but can also cause mixing of colors and an inconsistent color harmony throughout your work.

Limited Color Palette: Red, Blue, Yellow and White

A truly limited palette will consist of four to six colors. It will always include a red, blue, yellow, and white; on occasion a brown or black will be recommended to round out the palette. Black is usually a rare addition as you can easily mix it using equal parts of the three primaries.

Pros: A limited palette forces the artist to practice color mixing, reduces the chance of over mixing or "mudding" your colors, and helps maintain a visual color harmony.

Cons: The primary idea behind a limited palette is that you should be able to mix any color you want with just red, blue, and yellow. This technically is true, except that physical pigments are part of what is called subtractive color. There is no true red, blue, or yellow that you can use to mix all of the colors you might need or want.

Also, a limited palette does not address a paint's transparency or color temperature, which can lead to frustrations when rendering light and shadows.

Semi Limited Palette: Warm and Cool options for Red, Blue, and Yellow

A good semi-limited palette will still restrict the artist, but help to ease beginning frustrations by providing a warm and cool color option for all primaries. To see my recommendations click here.

When to add a New Color:

A good indication of when it is time to purchase a new color is if you find yourself consistently mixing a specific color over and over again. Purchasing the pre-made version of your mix will save time and money.

Why I recommend a Semi-Limited Palette:

I didn't start using oils until college. When I first started my professor only allowed us to use a limited palette consisting of cadmium yellow, quinacridone red, pthalo blue, burnt sienna, and titanium white.

While a useful palette, I also got so angry using it. Let me show you why:

This was one of the first paintings I did in oil. It is a copy of a Caravaggio, maybe? I think we had to create our own composition using his fruit? Anyways, those damn cherries made me so angry. I hated them and I still hate them a little bit.

For the life of me, I could not get my red to stay bright and advance towards the foreground without it turning pink. I could not figure out why. I asked and asked and I did not get an satisfactory answer.

So I went looking and a couple of years later found the answer myself:

Quinacridone red is transparent (which is the only red I was "allowed" to purchase). Transparent paints will always recede. I needed a full-bodied, opaque red to get those cherries to pop (ha! did not intend on that little inappropriate paint humor).

This is why I write my blog, for anyone who needs fast painting help without having to pay for it or spending months trying to find it. If you have questions for me or thoughts about your own palette preferences, send me a note or let's chat in the comments!

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This post is a rewrite of a post from my original blog: Color Palettes: Limited vs Semi-Limited.