7 Colors, 1 Brush

cover art.png

This series originated as a way to learn Procreate on my iPad Pro. The app has a ton of features and can be overwhelming, so to simplify things, I limited myself to a small toolset. Here’s the recipe: I use the same resolution for all of these (3000x4000), I choose a portrait image I like (these are all form Unsplash), choose one brush to use for everything, and choose a color palette of 7 colors. The colors can’t be arbitrary though, they have to have a succession of value representing light to dark. I put each color on its own layer, matching that value order.

to create some continuity in the series, I isolated the figure from the background and chose 1 of the 7 colors as a solid background color. This series has 7 portraits, each using a background color in a different part of the value range.

For the brushes, I wanted to choose a range of options to challenge myself, there’s fine pencil brushes, textured paint brushes, and more. The title of each piece is the name of the brush used.

Table of Contents

TAMAR

TAMAR 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: TAMAR
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 9th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Painting > Tamar

#181641, #162454, #14377A, #00667B, #008D7B, #C7C78F, #3E9C8B1

DERWENT

DERWENT 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: DERWENT
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 13th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Sketching > Derwent

#35053B, #5A180B, #8E1D28, #AC2A2C, #D44F33, #EEAE64, #F4F1DE

TARRALEAH

TARRALEAH 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: TARRALEAH
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 28th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Artistic > Tarraleah

#10251F, #0C4834, #335C41, #007554, #DD5921, #FF835E, #FFFBEE

TINDERBOX

TINDERBOX 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: TINDERBOX
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 17th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Inking > Tinderbox

#00304B, #48293E, #961E2F, #EC0015, #E25864, #D39EB5, #BFE1FE

SALAMANCA

SALAMANCA 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: SALAMANCA
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 15th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Painting > Salamanca

#4B0B56, #3E517A, #26858E, #A7923B, #E19100, #DFAE52, #C8D3DD

EAGLEHAWK

EAGLEHAWK 3000x4000.jpg

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Title: EAGLEHAWK
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 27th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Drawing > Eaglehawk

#26263B, #743C47, #BB4F52, #C77960, #B7AE6F, #AAE37C, #F7D3CF

FREYCINET

FREYCINET 3000x4000.jpg

Insta 3.png

Title: FREYCINET
Artist: Luke McCready
Date: March 24th, 2021
Medium: Digital Drawing
Size: 3000 x 4000 pixels

Brush & Palette

Drawing > Freycinet

#001A2B, #454762, #6B657B, #BF7F8E, #F29199, #FFC692, #FFE1DD