this is kind of a cool series of videos on the basics of watercolor. I bought my basic supplies today, 3 primaries and sepia, I already had some brushes and got a block of watercolor paper. EXCITED
This seems like a really great step by step process of painting with watercolor. "Tea, milk, honey" as he puts it. The consistency of the layers you add, start with a tea consistency of transparent colors, the second pass have a slightly thicker consistency, then the last layer the thickest consistency . I love his stuff. Check him out here
frendren talks about tweaking his cintiq alternative experience... i cant wait until I have some cash to get one of these tablet screens youtu.be/lSV3EWPaDnY
What's a good way of gaining line confidence? I've been drawing for years but the way I draw is in very short lines which shows that I'm not confident with my line strokes.
XBL\PSN\Steam\Origin: Evigilant
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Red Raevynbecause I only take Bubble BathsRegistered Userregular
What's a good way of gaining line confidence? I've been drawing for years but the way I draw is in very short lines which shows that I'm not confident with my line strokes.
Just do it! It's going to take practice like anything else, so stop making short lines and force yourself to do it long. You'll have ugly results at first, just let them be (or maybe try a couple more times over top of them) and go on.
One way to start practicing would be going over your finished work with long strokes, or tracing some good linework to feel the motions. You could also try some exercises like these. Working big would also be a good idea (especially if you're a small draw-er), if you can do large form gesture drawing or at least big swooping lines.
What's a good way of gaining line confidence? I've been drawing for years but the way I draw is in very short lines which shows that I'm not confident with my line strokes.
Just do it! It's going to take practice like anything else, so stop making short lines and force yourself to do it long. You'll have ugly results at first, just let them be (or maybe try a couple more times over top of them) and go on.
One way to start practicing would be going over your finished work with long strokes, or tracing some good linework to feel the motions. You could also try some exercises like these. Working big would also be a good idea (especially if you're a small draw-er), if you can do large form gesture drawing or at least big swooping lines.
Awesome thanks for that youtube link, that was exactly what I was looking for.
It's extremely hard for me to find any commissions. I use CGHub and CA.org and apply to a few each per day. It's been a while since I've landed any.
My main thing right now is I need a full time job, but my resume is so bad. I was looking for ways to flesh it out, but really saving up some money is more important than that.
It's extremely hard for me to find any commissions. I use CGHub and CA.org and apply to a few each per day. It's been a while since I've landed any.
My main thing right now is I need a full time job, but my resume is so bad. I was looking for ways to flesh it out, but really saving up some money is more important than that.
@f87 I do a goodly amount of work with students on improving their resumes. If you want to PM me your copy I can give you some tips on what to revise and/or what to brush up on.
Also, I'm not sure where you live...but try actually looking at local businesses for any type of work you'd be able to do. I've never had much luck on those kinds of websites, either...people tend to low-ball you a lot too (because who are you competing with? 14-year-olds on Deviantart who will sell a drawing for $15). You need to seek out *actual job sites*...look up actual game companies (smaller/indie studios might be more willing/available to let you freelance from home), illustrator job sites, etc.
If you're really struggling to find an art job at all, get ANY job locally that you can do, to at least earn money in the interim...do art on the side, and seek out better opportunities elsewhere in the meantime. If you're working behind a desk at a retail place for 3 months and then find an art job, great! There's often a high turnover rate at those places so don't feel bad if you're only there for a short time (just try to give them notice before you leave).
Check out web sites for a bunch of commercial illustrators and find out who their agents are. Contact agents until you find someone who can help you land commercial illustration work. This may involve creating a separate portfolio work that isn’t full of bosoms, weapons, and magic.
And work on developing a signature style. Right now your portfolio is work that’s well-crafted but stylistically derivative. There’s no shortage of people who can create derivative work. You’ll be a lot more employable if you can come up with an art collection for a world that doesn’t look like a game that’s already in stores. You’ve clearly learned how to draw and paint. Now it’s time to start expressing yourself.
IMO style is something that develops slowly over time - I think that trying to force yourself into a style would seem derivative and/or forced. Expressing yourself is definitely something that I think is healthy, but "developing a signature style" requires just that: development.
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Sara LynnI can handle myself.Registered Userregular
Hi AC! I'm looking to buy a scanner. I have two that I'm looking at right now, and I'm curious if the cheaper one would be sufficient or if I should go for the pricier one. They're still both under $100, but I'm not rolling in money or anything right now. Interested to hear people's opinions, I'm not too savvy about this stuff.
In Photoshop, with the brush tool, you can make a mark, hold the shift key, make another mark, and between those two marks will be a straight line.
Is it possible to do something similar in Illustrator? The shift key doesn't seem to work with the brush tool.
the only way i can see to do something similar in illustrator is to grab both points and hit ctrl-J (in windows) which is a bit of an extra step and could be cumbersome to use. i would lay the points with the brush, hotkey V click point one then shift click point 2 then ctrl-J (or make a new hotkey for ctrl-J if it was something i would be using a lot) or just lay out the line with shift+ drag then move the points where i wanted them.
Hi AC! I'm looking to buy a scanner. I have two that I'm looking at right now, and I'm curious if the cheaper one would be sufficient or if I should go for the pricier one. They're still both under $100, but I'm not rolling in money or anything right now. Interested to hear people's opinions, I'm not too savvy about this stuff.
Does anyone know what happened to the Drawscript figure drawing tool site (http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/) ? It looks like it may be down for good, and so far I haven't been able to find a good replacement site for photo reference practice.
How do you make skin tone, and the shades of tan and brown that people are using the primaries? (watercolor)
Mix complimentary colors. I like to use purple and yellow, as a base, then i will add blues or reds depending on what is called for. The color pools pretty dark brownish, and doesn't seem like it would be flesh tone, but test it out on some scrap paper, you'll see. You then tweak the amounts of water and other colors, but that's part of the fun.
How do you make skin tone, and the shades of tan and brown that people are using the primaries? (watercolor)
Mix complimentary colors. I like to use purple and yellow, as a base, then i will add blues or reds depending on what is called for. The color pools pretty dark brownish, and doesn't seem like it would be flesh tone, but test it out on some scrap paper, you'll see. You then tweak the amounts of water and other colors, but that's part of the fun.
Awesome, thanks man. I tried that today, you can see the fruit (failure) of my attempts in my thread. Didn't turn out so well. I need to slow down with this stuff and use more water
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NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
HELP!!!!!!
Ok for 2 days ive been getting pissed.
I installed the drivers for a wacom intuos 4 (i was using a 3)
ive uninstalled, and reinstalled, and i don't know if it's the drivers, but i can't get my setting correct
For year i have been using "shape Dynamics" and "Transfer" as seen below as "a" and "b". These would control 2 things via pen pressure. Thickness of line, and darkness of line. Ever since i puluuged the new tablet in i can't get these to work. in the image below i showed what i get from transfer. no matter where i slid it, i can't get it to go from light to dark, like i have for YEARS. and shape dynamics is a bunch of blobs..
WHAT IS GOING ON??!?!?! Im getting PISSED and don't know how to fix it!!!!!
The little triangle with the "!" in it means that PS isn't recognizing the tablet as a tablet- it's thinking it's a mouse.
It happens sometimes- usually rebooting PS or rebooting the comp fixes it. If not, I'd try uninstalling all the Wacom drivers you've got installed, rebooting, and reinstalling them from scratch- I've heard previous driver installs can fuck with newer ones. If all that doesn't work, go curse at Wacom's customer support- could be a flaw in new drivers and you may have to go back to older ones, or you could have a defective tablet.
There's also sometimes an annoying, different problem with PS where it doesn't recognize the tablet on boot so the brush previewer will make it look like there's no pen pressure, but it will actually work fine- so make sure when you're troubleshooting this that you test drawing with the brush before ragequitting. The only way to make sure that doesn't happen I've found is to make sure you're using the tablet when PS is loading up.
Also just to make sure (you probably already know this, but just in case), everything should be set to
NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
BACON!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
Even though it was wrong in the menu, it worked. The it detected the tablet a few seconds later.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I didn't even think or trying the pen, because it didn't look right.
How do you make skin tone, and the shades of tan and brown that people are using the primaries? (watercolor)
Mix complimentary colors. I like to use purple and yellow, as a base, then i will add blues or reds depending on what is called for. The color pools pretty dark brownish, and doesn't seem like it would be flesh tone, but test it out on some scrap paper, you'll see. You then tweak the amounts of water and other colors, but that's part of the fun.
(Forewarning: I'm giving an overlengthy reply because I think I can probably reuse this post later on when other people have color questions.)
To give a slightly more thorough (but more frustrating) answer, the question is kind of based on a flawed premise- there is no such thing as a generic 'skin tone pigment' that would really be of any use in actual practice, unless you settle on a very consistent set of circumstances for your work.
What is the skin color is the person? White? Black? Olive? Tanned? Albino? What part of the body are you trying to depict? The redder areas of the cheek and nose? The greyer, darker areas of chin stubble? Are they blushing, or drunk? Are they in a warm place or have they gone blue from cold? What color is the light? The qualities of the light? What is the color of the surrounding environment bouncing their color onto the person? How light or dark is the area you are trying to depict? What color composition are you trying to bring across? What mood are you shooting for?
Depending on all these variables, the pigments most effective at depicting the skin of a person will vary wildly.
Hence a famous quote by Eugene Delacroix (This bro): "I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will." Given the right circumstances and an experienced artist, even the ugliest color can be made to sing.
The more appropriate question, ultimately, is 'How do I accurately observe the colors I see, and reflect those observations with my color choices?'
One thing that's essential is simply to paint a lot, and paint very deliberately and patiently, without letting preconceived notions get in the way of your observations (ie: if you look at a red haired person, yet the light hits them in a way that an area of that red hair appears yellow if you were to observe the area through a pinhole, paint the area yellow, not red. A simple idea that most beginners- and even a lot of experienced people- continually struggle with.)
But another thing that can help is to figure out what your paints are actually capable of- knowledge that can be gleaned by simply painting a lot, but you might make greater strides more quickly by doing color charts.
A color chart is comprised of a grid of squares that depicts each pigment mixed with another, and then how that mixture changes as it is then mixed with white (or, in the case of watercolors, mixed with more water.) It's kinda like a multiplication table for paint.
The point of this exercise is to both create a reference of what your paints are capable of, and even more importantly, what they are not capable of; it's always frustrating when a lack of familiarity with materials and a lack of foresight leaves you grasping for a color that's lighter, or darker, or more saturated, than the paint is actually capable of producing. (Until someone creates paints can sucks light in like a black hole, and can glow like the sun, no paints will be able to replicate real world colors perfectly. Choices always have to be made about what to information to lose or accentuate, even in the most realistic painting.)
This sort of exercise will also give you a healthy amount of practice in color mixing, that will eventually let you know your colors by instinct- obviously a huge help for anyone working with color.
And while I would say that knowing how to use your colors is ultimately more important than the colors themselves, you may want to investigate other artists' palettes just so you know you're on the right track. I'm not very familiar with watercolors, so I'd search out someone who works in the medium and whose colors you like and see what they use. (Note: Schmid up there is using a lot of colors, much more than I would suggest for someone just starting out, regardless of medium. (Especially as it'd make the color charts take a long time, which could drain your enthusiasm quite a bit Those things get exponentially more involved the more colors you have.))
Man, thanks a lot. I had a feeling the answer was that complicated. I was noticing how in some paintings, shadows on skin were purple, others green, some skin color was yellow magenta or blue, and it was beautiful to look at how the other colors worked together.
I spent so much time doing greyscale drawing because I felt I didn't understand value, and I wanted to understand it better, when I should have been studying color at the same time.
I now at least have some Practical areas start with. have any links as far as where to start with a color chart, what it is and how to make it? It looks kind of confusing for some of them
edit: oh, I guess I could get his book :P silly me
I spent so much time doing greyscale drawing because I felt I didn't understand value, and I wanted to understand it better, when I should have been studying color at the same time.
@ninjai
Actually, I would say your first instinct was the correct one; in the old French academie/salon system of training, students would only do drawing and value studies for 3-4 years before being able to go off and study color. The reason being, value is (generally) much more important than color in when creating tangible forms and compositions. You can be a fairly mediocre colorist and still be a great painter; but if you take someone with great color sensibilities (I dunno, a great graphic/clothing/interior designer, for example) but has no sense of value, they won't be able to paint very well at all.
A solid grasp on value will give you a much firmer foundation to base your study of color upon; trying to figure out value and color at the same time when starting out would largely make things more complicated and harder to understand, without really giving much additional benefit.
I now at least have some Practical areas start with. have any links as far as where to start with a color chart, what it is and how to make it? It looks kind of confusing for some of them
Let me run down a brief summary of the idea:
And yeah, the book is definitely worth picking up.
First, *whew* I was sticking with the grey scale thing because that's what I read from a critique on here a while ago, as well as some videos I watched. Glad I was doing the right thing. When marc holmes told me that I should start adding color I thought "oh, I guess I'm ready for that now" the thought never really crossed my mind.
Next, just so I understand, you have one chart for each color in your palette and 1 column for each color for each chart? (i.e. I have 10 colors, so 10 charts with 10 columns 5 rows each?)
Right. Plus the first chart that's just the colors by themselves, just mixed with white.
So if you look back at the Richard Schmid book example, he's got 11 colors on his palette (not including white), so he's got 12 charts total, all with 11 columns and 5 rows each.
Also, I don't know if you just picked 10 just as an example or if that's the actual number of colors you have, but 10 colors starting out is probably going to be overwhelming to get a grasp on to start out (and make this color chart exercise probably come across as overly tedious). I'd really suggest starting with just a few, and get some practice in with just those few, and then add in other colors gradually later. (I'd suggest the Zorn palette, but not being too familiar with watercolors I'm not sure if it's as a good a starter palette for those as it is with oils.)
This sort of limitation can really force you to get the most out of the colors you've got, and learn how to properly control color saturation for maximum effect; with a full assortment of colors, it's easy to fall into a trap of making everything super saturated, rather than thinking through what should and should not be saturated, and why. Starting with a limited palette will let you develop good habits on that front, which will benefit you a lot later on when you are working with a full palette.
(Of course, there is something to be said for just experimenting and playing around as well, so don't let me give you the impression you MUST exclusively do this or that particular thing all the time 24/7. These are all just exercise and practice- don't let them overwhelm you (because I am throwing a lot of info at you) to the point where you forget to occasionally just go have fun with the paint.)
Also, I don't know if you just picked 10 just as an example or if that's the actual number of colors you have, but 10 colors starting out is probably going to be overwhelming to get a grasp on to start out (and make this color chart exercise probably come across as overly tedious).
I got this dealy whopper that has some whackadoos in it.
It's a great travel case, only about 18 bucks, i can just whip it out and start painting wherever, and it has a nice sable brush in it too. and when you're out of a color, wash out the pan and refill it with whatever color you want! It's pretty fun.
I wouldn't say I'm overwhelmed (yet) I'm still at the point of "ooo look at the colors *O* "
I'd really suggest starting with just a few, and get some practice in with just those few, and then add in other colors gradually later. (I'd suggest the Zorn palette, but not being too familiar with watercolors I'm not sure if it's as a good a starter palette for those as it is with oils.)
Some good examples of use of a limited palette- just white, black, and one other color: http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/duotone-illustrations.html
This sort of limitation can really force you to get the most out of the colors you've got, and learn how to properly control color saturation for maximum effect
Awesome. That sounds like a logical approach to incorporating color. Next time I'm painting I'll give this a shot, and I'll try to work in a color or two when I'm out sketching stuff and see how it turns out.
(Of course, there is something to be said for just experimenting and playing around as well, so don't let me give you the impression you MUST exclusively do this or that particular thing all the time 24/7. These are all just exercise and practice- don't let them overwhelm you (because I am throwing a lot of info at you) to the point where you forget to occasionally just go have fun with the paint.)
It's hard for me when there's a lot of different things that I can do to improve to focus on one thing or another, because there are so many things I can be doing, and I do often forget just to chill out, have fun and mess around. I'll more than likely do the chart over the weekend because I'll be free then.
I should probably list out all the things I want to do on a list and start marking them off as I go. starting with painting!!!
Man, you've given me a lot of awesome information. I appreciate you taking the time to type all that up and make the example stuff. I'm really excited about this painting business, I wish I didn't have to sleep so I could keep drawing and painting... beh... :P
edit: Great article. There is so much complexity to color, I never knew.
In Photoshop, with the brush tool, you can make a mark, hold the shift key, make another mark, and between those two marks will be a straight line.
Is it possible to do something similar in Illustrator? The shift key doesn't seem to work with the brush tool.
the only way i can see to do something similar in illustrator is to grab both points and hit ctrl-J (in windows) which is a bit of an extra step and could be cumbersome to use. i would lay the points with the brush, hotkey V click point one then shift click point 2 then ctrl-J (or make a new hotkey for ctrl-J if it was something i would be using a lot) or just lay out the line with shift+ drag then move the points where i wanted them.
Posts
this is kind of a cool series of videos on the basics of watercolor. I bought my basic supplies today, 3 primaries and sepia, I already had some brushes and got a block of watercolor paper. EXCITED
This seems like a really great step by step process of painting with watercolor. "Tea, milk, honey" as he puts it. The consistency of the layers you add, start with a tea consistency of transparent colors, the second pass have a slightly thicker consistency, then the last layer the thickest consistency . I love his stuff. Check him out here
http://tarosan.wordpress.com/page/
http://citizensketcher.wordpress.com/page/
youtu.be/lSV3EWPaDnY
One way to start practicing would be going over your finished work with long strokes, or tracing some good linework to feel the motions. You could also try some exercises like these. Working big would also be a good idea (especially if you're a small draw-er), if you can do large form gesture drawing or at least big swooping lines.
Awesome thanks for that youtube link, that was exactly what I was looking for.
In Photoshop, with the brush tool, you can make a mark, hold the shift key, make another mark, and between those two marks will be a straight line.
Is it possible to do something similar in Illustrator? The shift key doesn't seem to work with the brush tool.
Land freelance clients. People worth working for don’t do contests.
My main thing right now is I need a full time job, but my resume is so bad. I was looking for ways to flesh it out, but really saving up some money is more important than that.
@f87 I do a goodly amount of work with students on improving their resumes. If you want to PM me your copy I can give you some tips on what to revise and/or what to brush up on.
If you're really struggling to find an art job at all, get ANY job locally that you can do, to at least earn money in the interim...do art on the side, and seek out better opportunities elsewhere in the meantime. If you're working behind a desk at a retail place for 3 months and then find an art job, great! There's often a high turnover rate at those places so don't feel bad if you're only there for a short time (just try to give them notice before you leave).
And work on developing a signature style. Right now your portfolio is work that’s well-crafted but stylistically derivative. There’s no shortage of people who can create derivative work. You’ll be a lot more employable if you can come up with an art collection for a world that doesn’t look like a game that’s already in stores. You’ve clearly learned how to draw and paint. Now it’s time to start expressing yourself.
Canon CanoScan 4507B002, $50 [2400x4800 DPI]
Canon CanoScan 4507B002, $80 [4800x4800 DPI]
the only way i can see to do something similar in illustrator is to grab both points and hit ctrl-J (in windows) which is a bit of an extra step and could be cumbersome to use. i would lay the points with the brush, hotkey V click point one then shift click point 2 then ctrl-J (or make a new hotkey for ctrl-J if it was something i would be using a lot) or just lay out the line with shift+ drag then move the points where i wanted them.
What are your scanning needs, exactly?
I kind of wish those sites had a much larger selection of pictures.
These are fantastic. Thank you so much for linking the resources.
I'm wondering though, is there perhaps any reference sites out there that have a similar "portrait photo" tool as what Drawscript had?
Mix complimentary colors. I like to use purple and yellow, as a base, then i will add blues or reds depending on what is called for. The color pools pretty dark brownish, and doesn't seem like it would be flesh tone, but test it out on some scrap paper, you'll see. You then tweak the amounts of water and other colors, but that's part of the fun.
Awesome, thanks man. I tried that today, you can see the fruit (failure) of my attempts in my thread. Didn't turn out so well. I need to slow down with this stuff and use more water
Ok for 2 days ive been getting pissed.
I installed the drivers for a wacom intuos 4 (i was using a 3)
ive uninstalled, and reinstalled, and i don't know if it's the drivers, but i can't get my setting correct
For year i have been using "shape Dynamics" and "Transfer" as seen below as "a" and "b". These would control 2 things via pen pressure. Thickness of line, and darkness of line. Ever since i puluuged the new tablet in i can't get these to work. in the image below i showed what i get from transfer. no matter where i slid it, i can't get it to go from light to dark, like i have for YEARS. and shape dynamics is a bunch of blobs..
WHAT IS GOING ON??!?!?! Im getting PISSED and don't know how to fix it!!!!!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help!!!!!!
It happens sometimes- usually rebooting PS or rebooting the comp fixes it. If not, I'd try uninstalling all the Wacom drivers you've got installed, rebooting, and reinstalling them from scratch- I've heard previous driver installs can fuck with newer ones. If all that doesn't work, go curse at Wacom's customer support- could be a flaw in new drivers and you may have to go back to older ones, or you could have a defective tablet.
There's also sometimes an annoying, different problem with PS where it doesn't recognize the tablet on boot so the brush previewer will make it look like there's no pen pressure, but it will actually work fine- so make sure when you're troubleshooting this that you test drawing with the brush before ragequitting. The only way to make sure that doesn't happen I've found is to make sure you're using the tablet when PS is loading up.
Also just to make sure (you probably already know this, but just in case), everything should be set to
Shape Dynamics
________________
Size Jitter 0%
Control: Pen Pressure
Minimum Diameter 0%
Transfer
__________
Opacity Jitter 0%
Control: Pen Pressure
Minimum 0%
Twitter
Even though it was wrong in the menu, it worked. The it detected the tablet a few seconds later.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I didn't even think or trying the pen, because it didn't look right.
@ninjai
(Forewarning: I'm giving an overlengthy reply because I think I can probably reuse this post later on when other people have color questions.)
To give a slightly more thorough (but more frustrating) answer, the question is kind of based on a flawed premise- there is no such thing as a generic 'skin tone pigment' that would really be of any use in actual practice, unless you settle on a very consistent set of circumstances for your work.
What is the skin color is the person? White? Black? Olive? Tanned? Albino? What part of the body are you trying to depict? The redder areas of the cheek and nose? The greyer, darker areas of chin stubble? Are they blushing, or drunk? Are they in a warm place or have they gone blue from cold? What color is the light? The qualities of the light? What is the color of the surrounding environment bouncing their color onto the person? How light or dark is the area you are trying to depict? What color composition are you trying to bring across? What mood are you shooting for?
Depending on all these variables, the pigments most effective at depicting the skin of a person will vary wildly.
Hence a famous quote by Eugene Delacroix (This bro): "I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will." Given the right circumstances and an experienced artist, even the ugliest color can be made to sing.
The more appropriate question, ultimately, is 'How do I accurately observe the colors I see, and reflect those observations with my color choices?'
One thing that's essential is simply to paint a lot, and paint very deliberately and patiently, without letting preconceived notions get in the way of your observations (ie: if you look at a red haired person, yet the light hits them in a way that an area of that red hair appears yellow if you were to observe the area through a pinhole, paint the area yellow, not red. A simple idea that most beginners- and even a lot of experienced people- continually struggle with.)
But another thing that can help is to figure out what your paints are actually capable of- knowledge that can be gleaned by simply painting a lot, but you might make greater strides more quickly by doing color charts.
A color chart is comprised of a grid of squares that depicts each pigment mixed with another, and then how that mixture changes as it is then mixed with white (or, in the case of watercolors, mixed with more water.) It's kinda like a multiplication table for paint.
The point of this exercise is to both create a reference of what your paints are capable of, and even more importantly, what they are not capable of; it's always frustrating when a lack of familiarity with materials and a lack of foresight leaves you grasping for a color that's lighter, or darker, or more saturated, than the paint is actually capable of producing. (Until someone creates paints can sucks light in like a black hole, and can glow like the sun, no paints will be able to replicate real world colors perfectly. Choices always have to be made about what to information to lose or accentuate, even in the most realistic painting.)
This sort of exercise will also give you a healthy amount of practice in color mixing, that will eventually let you know your colors by instinct- obviously a huge help for anyone working with color.
Here's an example of it by Richard Schmid, a dude who knows his colors.
And while I would say that knowing how to use your colors is ultimately more important than the colors themselves, you may want to investigate other artists' palettes just so you know you're on the right track. I'm not very familiar with watercolors, so I'd search out someone who works in the medium and whose colors you like and see what they use. (Note: Schmid up there is using a lot of colors, much more than I would suggest for someone just starting out, regardless of medium. (Especially as it'd make the color charts take a long time, which could drain your enthusiasm quite a bit Those things get exponentially more involved the more colors you have.))
Twitter
I spent so much time doing greyscale drawing because I felt I didn't understand value, and I wanted to understand it better, when I should have been studying color at the same time.
I now at least have some Practical areas start with. have any links as far as where to start with a color chart, what it is and how to make it? It looks kind of confusing for some of them
edit: oh, I guess I could get his book :P silly me
@ninjai
Actually, I would say your first instinct was the correct one; in the old French academie/salon system of training, students would only do drawing and value studies for 3-4 years before being able to go off and study color. The reason being, value is (generally) much more important than color in when creating tangible forms and compositions. You can be a fairly mediocre colorist and still be a great painter; but if you take someone with great color sensibilities (I dunno, a great graphic/clothing/interior designer, for example) but has no sense of value, they won't be able to paint very well at all.
A solid grasp on value will give you a much firmer foundation to base your study of color upon; trying to figure out value and color at the same time when starting out would largely make things more complicated and harder to understand, without really giving much additional benefit.
Let me run down a brief summary of the idea:
And yeah, the book is definitely worth picking up.
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First, *whew* I was sticking with the grey scale thing because that's what I read from a critique on here a while ago, as well as some videos I watched. Glad I was doing the right thing. When marc holmes told me that I should start adding color I thought "oh, I guess I'm ready for that now" the thought never really crossed my mind.
Next, just so I understand, you have one chart for each color in your palette and 1 column for each color for each chart? (i.e. I have 10 colors, so 10 charts with 10 columns 5 rows each?)
So if you look back at the Richard Schmid book example, he's got 11 colors on his palette (not including white), so he's got 12 charts total, all with 11 columns and 5 rows each.
Also, I don't know if you just picked 10 just as an example or if that's the actual number of colors you have, but 10 colors starting out is probably going to be overwhelming to get a grasp on to start out (and make this color chart exercise probably come across as overly tedious). I'd really suggest starting with just a few, and get some practice in with just those few, and then add in other colors gradually later. (I'd suggest the Zorn palette, but not being too familiar with watercolors I'm not sure if it's as a good a starter palette for those as it is with oils.)
Some good examples of use of a limited palette- just white, black, and one other color:
http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/08/duotone-illustrations.html
This sort of limitation can really force you to get the most out of the colors you've got, and learn how to properly control color saturation for maximum effect; with a full assortment of colors, it's easy to fall into a trap of making everything super saturated, rather than thinking through what should and should not be saturated, and why. Starting with a limited palette will let you develop good habits on that front, which will benefit you a lot later on when you are working with a full palette.
(Of course, there is something to be said for just experimenting and playing around as well, so don't let me give you the impression you MUST exclusively do this or that particular thing all the time 24/7. These are all just exercise and practice- don't let them overwhelm you (because I am throwing a lot of info at you) to the point where you forget to occasionally just go have fun with the paint.)
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It's a great travel case, only about 18 bucks, i can just whip it out and start painting wherever, and it has a nice sable brush in it too. and when you're out of a color, wash out the pan and refill it with whatever color you want! It's pretty fun.
I wouldn't say I'm overwhelmed (yet) I'm still at the point of "ooo look at the colors *O* " Awesome. That sounds like a logical approach to incorporating color. Next time I'm painting I'll give this a shot, and I'll try to work in a color or two when I'm out sketching stuff and see how it turns out.
It's hard for me when there's a lot of different things that I can do to improve to focus on one thing or another, because there are so many things I can be doing, and I do often forget just to chill out, have fun and mess around.
I should probably list out all the things I want to do on a list and start marking them off as I go. starting with painting!!!
Man, you've given me a lot of awesome information. I appreciate you taking the time to type all that up and make the example stuff. I'm really excited about this painting business, I wish I didn't have to sleep so I could keep drawing and painting... beh... :P
edit: Great article. There is so much complexity to color, I never knew.
I'm actually wondering; I do little animations that show how I construct my pixelart like this:
Do they count as tutorialish-enough to serve a purpose in a thread like this?
deviantart
comic
Thanks for the info.