I’ve always been passionate about colour. Combining this with a love for culture, history, semiotics and drawing, it was only natural I ended up working in the Creative Industry.
This passion made me strive to understand the complexities of colour through self-study.
When I first entered the industry, I had no notion of colour – even after graduating from University with some of the highest marks in my class.
Despite this, I wasn’t deterred. I wanted to become an exceptional illustrator. If University couldn’t help me accomplish that, I would teach myself.
I read multiple colour theory books and articles, enrolled in different online classes, and tried varying mediums, but nothing clicked. They all seemed to be saying the same thing, yet my artwork was still subpar.
After a decade of practice, illustration mistakes and perseverance, I found a way to wrap my head around Colour Theory, and create depth in my artwork. I was absolutely ecstatic!
I then created my Colour Me Ren online identity (previously Radiant-Suzuka when I was a teenager), and purchased colourmeren.com to host my illustration portfolio.
The Discovery
While having lunch with a junior designer to discuss a client project, she gushed over my artwork, telling me about her love of drawing, and how she had always wanted to be an illustrator since she was young.
Despite this, she gave up on her dream after realising “she would never be good enough.” No matter what she did, her artwork never came out the way she imagined, and always ended up looking flat and lifeless.
After comparing her artwork to other illustrators on social media, she was content to watch from the sidelines and marvel at other peoples “natural talent.”
Up until this stage, I believed it was my fault for not understanding what other artists and illustrators seemed to soak in so instinctively. This made me realise I wasn’t the only one that struggled with colour.
This revelation (although obvious now) came as a massive surprise. This prompted me to ask other illustrator friends, designers and my social media followers what they thought was the hardest part of the creation process:
The answer was colour.
After this, I made it my goal to encourage all creatives to embrace colour wholeheartedly.
The Colour Me Ren Rebirth
I knew I wanted to create a space where I would:
- Promote (and inspire) Imagination and Growth: Not by criticising a person’s work, but by showing in an objective manner what could be done to make their artwork better.
- Share Colour Knowledge: Through free resources, as well as tips and tricks picked up over the years.
- Build a Community: Where I could answer questions, and see what most people struggled with when colouring their artwork.
- Become the Leading Source on Colour Information.
After setting these goals, I began the process of restructuring, as well as rebranding colourmeren.com to suit it’s new brand purpose:
Colour Me Ren strives to be the most relevant, straightforward and comprehensive source on colour.
The Colour Me Ren Philosophy
I began adding free content for different artistic mediums such as Copic Markers and Digital Painting. Shortly after, I began to interact more heavily with the community via social media where I answered common colouring questions.
Behind the scenes, I complied all my colour theory knowledge and made notes of what worked in helping me learn how to utilise colour effectively in my artwork. After cutting out all the unnecessary information, I set out what I had hoped to accomplish by sharing my colour knowledge and scheduled a launch date for my Learn How To Colour Online Art Course.
Grow Your Artistic Colouring Skills, Naturally.
