When I saw the reference photo of fantastic artist Richard Banks in a Sktchy watercolor class, I wasn’t immediately inspired but decided to give it a try anyway. Maybe because I had nothing invested in the outcome, just in the learning process, I ended up liking the painting for what it is.
My first attempt at drawing him was pretty far off so I didn’t try to correct it, I just started over. I was satisfied with the second attempt above.
Even though his photo was mostly cool colors, I decided to try to use the Zorn Palette and see if I could make it work. The pigments I used were WN Ivory Black, Utrecht Cadmium Red Light, Holbein Yellow Ochre.
I did cheat slightly and did a preliminary very light wash of Winsor Blue/Green Shade over the whole sheet of paper. Typically with the Zorn palette, the black is used as a blue but this Ivory Black seemed way too warm for it to work.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
3 replies on “Handsome Artist as Grumpy Guy (Zorn Palette)”
you are truly amazing. i don’t think i’ve ever made a color palette when i paint 😂
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Sure you do. You’ve done whole series of paintings in black, plus a couple other colors, like an earthy yellow and red. I used to focus on capturing the exact colors in nature but lately I’ve been having fun just playing with different limited palettes to see what happens, what I can do with them.
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true but i don’t plan it as a color palette. just grab things i think i’ll use
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