It's Colors of the Month time! Hello and welcome back to Jenna Gets Creative. I
didn't end up having time in last month's schedule for Colors of the Month, so it's been a while now.
And by the way yes, I realize I JUST talked about trying to always use my Karin Brushmarker PRO
markers for Colors of the Month in my last art video and now you see my working with alcohol
markers. The colours chosen didn't match up very closely with Karin colours, and I don't like
trying to mix watercolours for limited palette challenges because Murphy's Law says you'll never,
ever mix enough and then you're screwed because you'll never mix the exact shade again.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Colors of the Month challenge, this is a limited
palette challenge issued by Marker Universe at the beginning of every month and we're encouraged to
create art using just those colours. This started out as the Copic Colors challenge in 2018 where
three Copic colours would be chosen, special run packs of Sketch and Ciao markers would be sold,
and people posted their art all over social media. Then Too withdrew all their middle man
distributor contracts for Copic products, Marker Universe had to start planning for the future,
and the challenge started to evolve. First it was renamed Colors of the Month and they
started suggesting shade names from other marker brands. Eventually Copic was phased out entirely.
At one point in 2020 they attempted selling special runs of Colours of the Month colours in
other brands but that didn't last long. Now in 2021 they're naming four colours instead of three
and not specifying brand shades at all, we're just being given HEX codes and told to go crazy.
For as long as it's been the Colors of the Month challenge we've been encouraged to mix and match
between brands, grab shades that are close enough, use mediums other than alcohol ink, and even go
digital. Even back as far as Copic Colors, adding black and white, mixing, diluting, and using less
than the full three or four specified colours has always been fair game as well. The challenge
is all about making art using the colours specified without adding additional colours.
I'll tell you what this month's colours are and which markers I'm using in
just a minute, but first let's talk about the giveaways I have coming up.
The first is the let's get Jenna monetized giveaway and that one will open for entries
once this channel has the watch hours I need to apply for monetization. The winner will receive
a small original artwork plus their choice of the bundle of art supplies I've set aside for a
giveaway, the duplicate fantasy genre books on my shelf, or a book depository order.
The second is the let's get Jenna to 2k giveaway and that one will open
once this channel reaches and holds onto at least 2,000 subscribers. That one will
be for the winner's choice of an Amazon gift card or a book depository order.
For both contests you do need to be subscribed to this channel and be at least 14 years old.
For all prizes except the Amazon gift card you'll also need to be willing and able to provide me
with your mailing address, and I'll ask for that privately once the winner is chosen.
More information for both giveaways is in the description box down below.
Marker Universe has dubbed this month's challenge colours carrot, blueberry, melon, and almond,
and I see now that they've chosen those names to go with a food theme but I still disagree with
the name choices. I'll comment on that in a sec. "Carrot," also labelled as a light coral/orange,
is HEX code F7A47F, and for this one I used Spectra ad 064
Peach. The hex colour is definitely more on the coral side of things, so carrot is a terrible
name. Carrot should be a truer orange, right? "Blueberry," also labelled dull navy, is HEX code
465975, and for this one I used Copic B45 Smoky Blue. I have no problem with this one being
called blueberry, but note that the actual Copic shade blue berry didn't match at all. Copic's sky
blue was close, but a little more saturated. "Melon," also labelled minty green, is HEX code
A3CC90, and for this one I used Spectra ad 088 Sage. Melon is a fine colour name and
this marker matched the HEX tile almost perfectly. Unfortunately I didn't remember until I was half
way through using it that I pretty much used this one up last year and haven't replaced
it yet! I juiced it up a bit with some regular rubbing alcohol, but I really need to remember
to buy a new one. I like this colour. This is the colour I couldn't match in the Karin markers.
"Almond," also labelled light yellow/orange, is HEX code FBCA6B, and for this one I used Copic
YR01 Peach Puff. I disagree with the colour name almond, as almond in art supplies usually referred
to something more like a light desaturated tan. It's normally a skin tone. The light orange/yellow
tile that comes up for the HEX code is more of a light peach, hence my marker choice.
As for the rest of my supplies today, this piece is drawn on a sheet of Transotype marker paper,
which is exactly the same as the 70gsm coated marker paper branded Copic. The sketch was
done using a Prismacolor Col-erase pencil in lavender, but I do believe by the time I hit
record I had done initial lining and erased so you shouldn't really have been able to see
the sketch. The initial lines were done using a Sakura Pigma Micron in black, 0.5mm nib size.
I did my final line art using a Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen in black and added some shiny spots to
the eye using a Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen. Today's piece is a semi-cartoony style
rooster illustration because why not. I stared at recent photos on Pixabay for
far too long looking for inspiration. Now, I said at the beginning of this video that I
skipped last month's colours of the month because I didn't have time in my schedule and that's true,
I didn't. There were 9 art video slots in my schedule last month, 5 of which were March Fandom
Mayhem and one was Art Addicts Alliance, so I only had 3 slots to schedule with anything else. I did
a No-Box Art Box, I received an actual ScrawlrBox, and I had the new pastel Ohuhu markers to review,
and just like that my schedule was full! But if I'm being honest, I wasn't inspired by last
month's colours either. I considered doubling it up with my March Fandom Mayhem pieces three
separate weeks, but I couldn't ever think of a fandom I wanted to draw that suited that palette.
This palette looks very similar to last month's palette, just more pastel, which is fitting
given Easter but it means I was almost equally uninspired when I opened that email this month.
I haven't been loving the four colour palette. It really doesn't feel like they're picking colours
that complement each other anymore, and although I know we can choose to use less of them, which one
do you drop to make the palette work better? I'd also like to point out that the emails they
send out announcing these colours show them off as little planets on a black background,
and the rest of the email is also on a black background so your eyes adjust to that and the
colours always end up looking more muted than they actually are. The colour they're calling almond
looks far more yellow on a black background, and the shade they're calling blueberry positioned
between carrot and melon against a black background looks like a desaturated teal.
THOSE colours work together better, but most of us doing this challenge aren't working in mediums
that do well on a black background to get those effects. It started as an alcohol marker challenge
and then the company introduced water based and watercolour markers to their suggestions.
Most of us original followers of the challenge are using those mediums.
So, yeah, not impressed with the way this is presented these days. Not inspired by the palettes
anymore. I'm seriously considering dropping this challenge from my regular video rotation.
Would anybody be upset by that? Is anyone else disenchanted with the challenge this year?
If you're looking for more to watch I've got some suggestions up on the left side of the screen
now. Don't forget to like, comment, maybe even subscribe, and if you like living life creatively,
whatever that means to you, I'd love to have you along for the ride. Bye guys!