Reading the pigment library in Easel by Zaweba
The pigment library in Easel by Zaweba lists transparency, staining, granulation and lightfastness. How to use those properties to pick colours.
Two blues can look the same in the pan and behave completely differently on paper. One is clear and glowing, the other chalky. One lifts with a damp brush, the other stains the paper for good. One settles into speckles, the other dries flat. Painters learn these differences slowly, colour by colour. Easel by Zaweba puts them in one place, the pigment library.
What the library lists
The library lists pigment properties such as transparency, staining, granulation and lightfastness. These are the same properties serious painters look for on the label of a real tube.
Easel also defines each pigment by its masstone and scattering, which is how its colour mixing works. It uses the Kubelka-Munk model, written by Zaweba itself, so blue and yellow make green, wet or dry, and layers stack as glazes.
Transparency
A transparent pigment lets light through to the layer below. That is what gives a glaze its glow. An opaque pigment covers what is underneath.
For watercolour and glazing in oil, transparent pigments are usually the stars. For gouache, or for covering a mistake, opaque ones help. If a glaze looks dull and chalky, check whether you used an opaque pigment.
Staining
Some pigments sink into the paper and won't come out. Others sit on top and lift easily. In watercolour that matters a great deal, because lifting is one of the main ways to recover a highlight.
If you plan to lift clouds out of a sky, use a non staining blue. If you want a colour to stay put while you glaze over it, a staining pigment is your friend.
Granulation
Granulating pigments settle into the hollows of the paper and leave a speckled texture. Easel's watercolour granulates on rough paper, and the pigment library shows which colours do it. That is useful for stone, sand, skies with texture and weathered surfaces. For smooth, even washes, choose non granulating pigments.
Lightfastness and ageing
Lightfastness describes how well a pigment resists fading in light. In real life, fugitive pigments fade over time. Easel can age a picture, and one of the effects is that fugitive colours fade. The library is where you check which ones those are.
If you are painting something you want to look as fresh in a hundred years as today, choose lightfast pigments. If you want to see how an old painting might have changed, age it and watch the fugitive colours go.
Using the library in practice
Before a painting, pick a small palette and check each colour in the library. A good watercolour palette might have a transparent warm and cool of each primary, one or two granulating earths, and only lightfast pigments. Paint sets in Easel are named by colour with no brand names, and the Zorn, split-primary and earth palettes give useful starting points.
Learning pigments is a lifelong habit for painters. Easel by Zaweba makes it quicker, because you can see the properties written down and try the colour on paper in the same session.
