Secil writes: Hello Lisa.
I’ve been following your channel for a while and even though I’m not a colored pencil artist I decided to try out polychromos. My main issue is that the colors are so vibrant and saturated that I can’t get the dull and dark colors that i use the most. How can you paint nature with those colors? You are truly an amazing artist.
This is actually one of the easiest things to do in painting or colored pencil! The answer is to use complimentary colors. The easiest way to explain this is that a colors complimentary color is what is exactly opposite on the color wheel. Red/Green, Yellow/Purple, Orange/Blue.
Is your green to WOW GREEN? Add a bit of red to the paint or layer some red over the green in colored pencil. Adding a colors complimentary color will neutralize it giving it a much softer, more muted tone.