Hot take: That pixel artist I met at the Phoenix Art Expo changed how I color everything

I was showing my latest piece at the Expo last March when this older guy named Dan walked up and pointed out I was only using 3 shades of blue for my sky. He sat down and showed me his palette of 8 hues he blended from scratch, and I honestly felt like a fool for never trying it. Has anyone else had a random stranger give you a tip that totally shifted your workflow?

3 comments

3 Comments

annas871mo ago

@averywilliams that's a good question, I think he showed me swatches of actual mixed colors on a plastic palette so he definitely mixed them himself. It's funny how the best advice often comes from people you'd never expect, like how my neighbor taught me a better way to sharpen my kitchen knives just by watching me struggle. Sometimes the biggest shifts in how we work come from someone who just takes a minute to show us a simpler path.

emery_lopez1mo ago

Wait, he had a whole palette with mixed swatches right there? That's wild, I don't think I've ever seen an artist actually do that for a demo, they usually just talk about it in theory. The fact he sat there and physically blended a full set of 8 hues from scratch is honestly kind of insane to me, like that takes serious dedication just to prove a point. Most people would just say "yeah you can mix these colors" and move on, but he went the extra mile with actual physical evidence.

averywilliams1mo ago

8 hues from scratch? Did he actually mix those himself or was he layering transparent glazes over each other?