Pantone

If you searched for Pantone colours, you're probably after one of two things: what the numbers actually mean, or a way to work with them yourself. This page covers both. Pantone is the world's best-known colour reference, and the Pantone range at Art Shed is built around the Royal Talens Pantone markers, where each marker colour is matched to a numbered Pantone colour. Fast Australia-wide shipping on everything you order.

What Pantone Is, and Why It Matters to Artists

What are Pantone colours?

Pantone colours are numbered colours from a standardised system, so the same shade can be reproduced exactly by different printers, designers and manufacturers. Instead of describing a colour as "a warm teal", you give it a Pantone number, and everyone involved is working from the same reference.

The system is often called PMS, short for Pantone Matching System, and a colour is simply identified by its number, such as PMS 130. Pantone grew out of a New Jersey printing company in the early 1960s, when colour matching specialist Lawrence Herbert turned the idea into a system the whole print industry could share. Today it covers around two thousand colours and is used across graphic design, packaging, fashion, textiles and branding.

Pantone colours are printed as pre-mixed "spot" inks made to a fixed recipe, rather than being built up from tiny dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. That is a big part of why a brand's signature colour can look the same on a business card, a shopping bag and a shop sign.

Why would an artist or illustrator care about Pantone?

Artists care about Pantone when a client or project needs a colour to match exactly. Illustrators, designers and makers working on branding, packaging or merchandise are often handed a Pantone number as part of the brief, and need a way to sketch, mock up and approve ideas in that exact colour.

It is also a handy shared language. Telling a client you'll use their brand colour "or something close" is vague. Working from a numbered colour takes the guesswork out of the conversation.

Is a Pantone colour different from a regular paint colour name?

Yes. Paint colour names such as "ultramarine" or "cadmium red" can look different from one brand to the next, because each maker chooses their own formulation. A Pantone number refers to one fixed colour. If you're used to reading the pigment code on a paint tube, which tells you what is inside, think of a Pantone number as telling you what the finished colour should look like.

From Colour Standard to Art Supplies: the Royal Talens Pantone Range

Pantone doesn't make art supplies itself. The markers Art Shed stocks under the Pantone name are made by Royal Talens, the Dutch art materials maker, and were co-designed and approved by Pantone. Each marker colour is matched to a numbered Pantone colour, with the colour name and number printed on the cap, so you can pick up the exact number a project calls for.

Head to the Royal Talens Pantone markers page to see the full range, how the markers work, and who they suit best. If you're exploring what else is out there, our wider markers and pens ranges are good places to look, and a visual diary or sketchbook is a handy place to build a colour palette before you commit to a final piece.

Pantone at Art Shed

Pantone FAQs

What is Pantone, and why is it used across design and printing?

Pantone is a colour-matching system that gives each colour a unique number. Printers and designers use it so a colour looks the same whoever produces it, whether that is a logo on packaging, a printed brochure or a fabric swatch.

Does Art Shed sell official Pantone-branded art supplies?

Yes. Art Shed stocks the Royal Talens Pantone markers, which Royal Talens makes in collaboration with Pantone. Pantone co-designed and approved the range, and each marker colour is matched to a numbered Pantone colour.

Are Pantone markers the same as the Pantone colour-matching system?

Not quite. The Pantone system is the colour standard, used mainly in printing and design. The markers are art tools whose colours are matched to numbers in that system. They let you draw and sketch in Pantone colours, but they are not the printed Pantone inks themselves.

How is a Pantone colour code different from a regular paint colour name?

A Pantone code points to one fixed, standardised colour. A paint colour name is chosen by each manufacturer, so the same name can look different from brand to brand. If a colour needs to match exactly, the number is the more reliable reference.