Quiet Pastels Color Palette + Lettering Inspiration. Grab this free color palette, check out the lettering pieces I created with it, and then use it to make some of your own!
Quiet Pastels Color Palette
Last month, I worked with the Pink Sky Color Palette. This month I’ve been working with some super pretty pastels. ?
Over on my Instagram, most posts include a process video that shows you how I take things from a sketch to a final piece.
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Using the Color Palettes
As I mentioned last month, I’ll create a fresh color palette and use it for nine IG posts in a row. After those nine posts, I switch to a new color palette.
This allows me to change things quickly and is an easy way to keep my IG feed cohesive and pretty.
Once again, I hope that you’ll use the palette and my work to inspire your own. Just remember, there’s a fine line between being inspired by someone else’s work and being a copycat, so be sure to create your own work!
- Right-click or screenshot the photos in the blog post to save each lettering example and color palette.
- Learn How to set up Custom Color Palettes in Procreate here.
- Use them in design programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Match your physical art supplies (markers, colored pencils, watercolors, etc.) to the palette and work the old-school way!
Lettering with the Quiet Pastels Color Palette
Here are the pieces I created with this palette. I’ll share a few details on how I created every piece of artwork below each photo.
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece One: Sunday
Mixed lettering is one of my favorite styles to play with and one of my signature styles. You can check out my blog post on How to Create Mixed Lettering Styles for more detail on how I create pieces in this style.
✒️ I used monoline brushes from my Procreate Brush Bundles for this piece.
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Two: Hope is a Weapon
This phrase was all tagged over Nassau when we visited the Bahamas a few months ago. Though I wasn’t certain of the intended meaning, it instantly struck me as a powerful and thought-provoking phrase.
When I returned home, I researched its meaning and found an article on the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas website about the “Hope is a weapon” NE9 public project. I encourage you to Google and read the article in its entirety but here is a quote from one of the concept creator, Angelika Wallace-Whitfield:
“Hope is an optimistic attitude, a feeling of trust, of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. But, what is hope without action?
We have become desensitized to the word “hope” in its overuse. The strength and assurance hope once offered us has been replaced with a generic and diluted brand of hope based on a desire that something may turn in your favor.
As a result, hope has been rendered useless in the battle against fear…This public project is how I plan to remind people to employ hope as action again.”
“Employ hope as action.” Don’t you love that?! ?
This phrase had been on my “to letter” list ever since, and I finally got around to it this week! You can swipe for the progress video and a pic of this phrase as I saw it tagged on a wall in Nassau. Wallace-Whitfield said it was about “spreading love and spray paint.”
✒️ I used monoline brushes from my Procreate Brush Bundles and other various brushes for this piece, including a heart brush stamp and some in-the-works new brushes that will be coming soon(ish).
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Three: Giveaway
Another mixed-up style, just like in piece one. I use this as my “cover” image on Instagram for a giveaway I did. This just allows me to keep my IG feed pretty and cohesive. I used a photo of the items I gave away as a second image.
✒️ I used monoline brushes from my Procreate Brush Bundles for this piece.
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Four: Drink Coffee, Make Stuff
My life motto!
✒️ I used the DND Basic Brush from my first Procreate Bundle.
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Five: Soda Kills You & Jesus Saves
Who’s your all-time favorite music artist? Mine is hands-down Gavin DeGraw!
I lettered these lyrics from his song “Best I Ever Had” because the hubby and I saw him in concert earlier this month.
Fun Fact: It was my fourth time seeing him in concert. I got the chance to see his Raw Tour when we were living in Germany. It was in a small underground club in Frankfurt, and the small venue made for acoustics that was pure magic.
✒️ Tools: I sketched with pencil and paper and brought my final sketch over to my iPad. I used the Chalky Bold Brush and monoline brushes and stamps from my Procreate Brush Bundles (and some of the in-the-works brushes).
Side note: I may need to edit that “J” in Jesus for legibility. Reading a piece is easy when you know what words you’re drawing. But sometimes, you look at a piece a while after you’ve completed it and realize it may not be quite as legible as you thought!
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Six: Pursue Rest
Pursue Rest.
Don’t you love that? It’s from a devotional book I’ve been reading called Embraced by Lysa TerKeurst.
Pursue is an active verb. In this busy world, we have to chase rest intentionally. Taking a day off can’t make us feel unproductive, but our minds, bodies, and souls need that rest to be healthy!
Let yourself rest. ?
✒️ Tools: I sketched with pencil and paper and brought my final sketch over to my iPad. I used the DND Basic Brush for the “rest” calligraphy. I used my monoline brushes and stamps for the word “pursue” and the background details (all from my Procreate Brush Bundles).
The Kraft Paper background is from this fabulous digital paper set I bought over on Creative Market.
Head over to IG for a process video. In the video, you’ll notice I totally spelled “pursue” wrong in my sketch, but luckily I caught it later in my process!
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Seven: It’s the will, not the skill
Talent vs. Hard Work: What Matters More? ??
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. A lot of hard work separates the talented individual from the successful one.” ~Stephen King
I find it so inspiring to know that hard work can make up for what talents I lack. And I hope this also inspires those of you who, like me, may struggle at times with not feeling as talented as someone else.
There are certainly a ton of people out there that are better letterers, artists, writers, and bloggers than me. But you’d be hard-pressed to find many people that are willing to put in all the hard work it takes to follow their dreams. I’m a person who is willing to put in that hard work.
“You’re so lucky.”
People say this to me quite often. And I do feel lucky. I love my job, and I love being my own boss. But it really isn’t luck that got me where I am. It was hard work and A LOT of it!
Success almost never comes overnight. It usually takes years (or even decades) to find it, and it’s an ongoing process. The hard work doesn’t stop once “you’ve arrived.”
You keep showing up and keep putting in the work each day!
✒️ Tools: I sketched with pencil and paper and brought my final sketch over to my iPad. I mostly used my monoline brushes and stamps for the lettering and background details (all from my Procreate Brush Bundles).
Adding simple background details like the vines and leaves, I used in this piece is an easy way to add character and fill in empty space. It can instantly balance a piece that lacks it!
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Eight: Read More Books
This piece was inspired by my love of reading! And as much as I love my tech, I refuse to read anything but paper books, hard cover preferred.
I set a goal to read forty books this year, and I’m currently halfway through book thirty-nine, so I may up my goal to fifty.
✒️ Tools: I sketched with pencil and paper and brought my final sketch over to my iPad. Once again, I mostly used my monoline brushes and stamps for the lettering, illustration, and background details (all from my Procreate Brush Bundles).
Quiet Pastels Color Palette Piece Nine: Using Mockups on Instagram
The iPad Mockup I used to make this piece fit my feed a bit better is from Creative Market. You can check it out here.
Adding your own background is an easy way to personalize a basic mockup! I used one of the shades of pink from the Pastels Color Palette and added some simple “abc” calligraphy over the top using the Calligraphy Crayon from my Creative Lettering Procreate Bundle.
Pink Sky Color Palette
If you missed the last color palette, you can check it out here.
I hope you have fun with the Quiet Pastels Color Palette!
Happy creating!
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