The Shopfront Colour Guide | Choose and build cohesive watercolour palettes

You’ve found a reference photo you love, but then comes the tricky part: which colours should you actually use?

The Shopfront Colour Guide is a practical, illustrated PDF that helps you turn busy reference photos into smaller, more cohesive watercolour palettes.

Instead of trying to copy every colour you see, you’ll learn how to decide which colours matter, which can be simplified, how to create contrast, and how to adjust your palette when something feels off.

What you’ll learn

Inside the guide, you’ll learn how to:

• understand hue, value, saturation and temperature
• use warm/cool, light/dark and vivid/muted contrast
• simplify a reference into light, mid and dark values
• choose the colours worth keeping
• build a smaller, cohesive palette
• create a focal point with colour and contrast
• mix, mute, lighten, darken and adjust colours with more intention
• understand how transparency, opacity and drying affect your paints
• troubleshoot colours that feel too bright, muddy, harsh or disconnected

You’ll also see real reference photos turned into simplified palettes, along with colour decisions from my own finished shopfront paintings.

By the end of the guide

You should feel more confident looking at a reference photo and deciding:

What colours do I actually need?
Which ones can I simplify or leave out?
How can I make the palette feel connected?
What should I change if something feels off?

The goal is not to give you one palette to copy.

It’s to help you build your own palettes, with your own paints, from your own references.

What’s included

29-page illustrated digital PDF

Includes:

• painted diagrams and colour swatches
• practical exercises
• real reference-photo examples
• finished painting breakdowns
• palette-building tips
• troubleshooting examples and checklists

You do not need the same paints I use. The ideas in the guide can be applied to the watercolours you already own.

Format

• Digital PDF
• Instant download
• Use on your iPad or computer, or print at home
• Yours to keep forever

Digital product. No physical item will be shipped.

If you don’t receive your download email, please check your Spam or Promotions folder.

Instant download

This is a digital product delivered immediately after purchase. Because access is provided instantly, digital downloads are non-refundable. Please read the description carefully before purchasing, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Want help with drawing shopfronts too?

This guide focuses specifically on colour and palette building.

If you also need help with shopfront sketching, perspective, details, character and shadows, take a look at the Complete Shopfront Guide Bundle.

Pick a reference you love, choose what matters, build your palette and start painting.