Tutorial and or tips in color studies?
Hi there! Sorry to keep you waiting on this ask!
I do have another post about landscape painting which overlaps slightly with this. But here Iâll talk specifically about the observational color studies I like to do. Other artists might have different ways of approaching them (and I still have a lot to learn myself), but these are some of the ideas Iâve found useful.
1. Donât seek perfectionObservational color studies are just that â studies. Sketches. Note-taking to reference later. Theyâre not supposed to be complete paintings, so you shouldnât feel pressured to make them âperfectâ. I like posting them sometimes (and hopefully you like seeing them) but there are TONS of messy, scribbly studies I havenât posted anywhere. Theyâre primarily a tool to help me learn, and if messy studies help me learn, so be it!
2. Simplify your shapesSo how do you avoid getting overwhelmed and lost in the details? Focus on the BIG IDEA. Decide what is most important to include in the study and leave out everything else. Start with big shapes, and add details at the very end, if you have time. Personally, Iâm often interested in the sky and the color clouds become when light passes through. So I might make the study about the clouds and ignore buildings/details on the ground. or Iâll add only a very simple ground plane. Other times, Iâll rearrange a composition to include all the important information (like making an object bigger or smaller, or bringing two objects closer together).
3. Step by stepIt helps to find a good workflow, especially when you have to quickly prioritize what information to include. This is relevant especially when youâre painting something like a sunset, when the light changes RAPIDLY and youâll have only 3, 4, 5 minutes to put your colors down. For me, this usually means I build my study from background to foreground: sky, clouds, ground plane, background shapes, foreground shapes. Since I work on iPad Pro, I also keep those parts separated out into layers. In the case of those quick sunset studies, I also observe the parts I havenât painted yet in case the lighting changes enough that Iâll need to work from memory.
4. Some fundamentals to keep in mind:
Value structure: Even though these are color studies, value plays a major role in the colors youâre observing. Pay attention to the difference in value between subjects. Sometimes this can solve color-related problems when your study seems âoffâ somehow. (For example, maybe that sky isnât as light as you think it is? A darker value might mean painting a more vibrant color.)
Lighting setup: Identify the different light sources in the environment. Is it cloudy and overcast? Sunny? Are you indoors, with multiple different light sources? A little study about lighting theory can really help you know what colors to look for in different lighting conditions. For example, in overcast light, youâll see more of the objectsâ local color, while in bright sunlight youâll see a strong direct light (the sun), blue diffused light on shadows and top-facing planes (from the blue sky), and a warm bounce light (from sunlight reflecting off the ground). Will forever recommend James Gurneyâs book âColor and Lightâ for help learning this.
Materials: Different materials reflect light sources in different ways. Being aware of how light passes through or reflects off different materials can help you understand the colors youâre seeing.
5. Going beyondAs you become more comfortable making observational studies, the more you might wish to push them even further by not just copying from life but communicating a feeling. A few ways you might accomplish this:
Exaggerate your colors. Suppose you see a hint of color you wouldnât normally expect to find, such as notes of purpose or red near the horizon of an otherwise blue sky. Try making it brighter/bolder than you really see it. Bump up the saturation, maybe. This is a delicate balance, as you donât want to exaggerate to the point where the colors become garish. But putting emphasis in certain places can remind yourself, or show whoeverâs looking at your study, that you found certain details interesting.
Think about mood. A color script from an animated film follows the emotional beats of the story. As youâre making your studies, consider: how does this moment feel to me? Take a cloudy scene, for instance. Is it cold and miserable? Windy, full of movement and energy? Calm? Dark and ominous? A moment of anticipation or hope with the clouds about the break apart? Each of those conveys a completely different mood. So you might decide upon one and push your color palette to support that idea.
Donât just copy: communicate. This last one is a bit of an abstract idea I need an example to explain:
This sunset study here gave me difficulty because it involved not just color but the properties of light. The sun didnât actually appear white to me - it appeared a bright red/pink color, glowing brighter than the sky around it. But that wasnât something I could reproduce, because if I only painted the color, it wouldnât appear glowing and would blend into the rest of the sky. Instead, I had to think critically: how do I communicate the brightness of this sun? In the end, I opted to make the sun white, with the color I actually observed the sun to be surrounding it.
On my Instagram, Iâve posted a lot of process videos to accompany my studies, if that interests anyone! Theyâre always second image on the studiesâ posts.
I hope you find these thoughts helpful!Â
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