#usingcolor

[ruthbakerdesign]

Wham! Have fun with your walls. #comic strip #wallpaper #wallpaperinstaller #kidsrooms #usingcolor #fun #playrooms #howtodecorate #howto #interiordesigners #designideas #interiors https://www.instagram.com/p/BvKUNNGFJLi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hkik1a1w4rud

[mgarakawa]

Learning to See: End of the first Step

At the beginning of February, I started a journey of a thousand steps.  I threw myself into unknown territory and somehow managed to come out the other side wiser and stronger.  While I have always known that improvement and growth comes with pains and struggles, I did not expect to feel so satisfied and fulfilled.

And I only just started ^_^

My biggest struggle was knowing what to do and laying out a road map to the goal.  My goal was to understand color and how it works together in its various forms, the role of value and how it can impact the composition and color of a piece--and technique, something I had not expected to pop up.  It took a lot of thinking, a lot of notes, a lot of just staring at a beautiful painting and trying to focus my mind on the roadmap before me.  There were tons of symbols and arrows to point the way, but I had not yet learned to see them.  I think I have improved greatly in that department, and it has completely changed how I approach drawings and paintings now.  I think I will need a notebook dedicated to artistic thinking during a project...but writing on the actual rough-draft is very easy to do and allows me to associate more quickly with my scrawling letters.

This experimentation in color and master work has released a constraint on me--fear of experimentation.  I am more willing to look at my reference piece and go away from it to create my own atmosphere and work.  If my goal is perspective, then the color can be whatever I want.  If the goal is color then I need to pick good pieces with great contrast and value.  And all of this comes together in the ideas I have in my head.  When you look at these three photos, you can really see the difference.  The first was me trying to be as faithful as possible to the original.  The second is me using the image as a base for color scheme, and then going my own route.  Not sure how the third will turn out, but it didn’t take me nearly as long to get the lines as I was able to pinpoint the deviations from the original perspective and adjust as necessary.  Also---dang, boxes help! XD XD

Albert Bierstadt really broke the dam.  I can't believe the things I held myself back on--and why.  I am excited to start the next study, but I want to do a perspective piece first.  I like rotating between these as it allows me to apply skill sets in different formats.

My current movement through perspective has also released some chains.  I move faster through the image, make notes and apply what I think.  Since I am working digitally, I can make adjustments easily.  The next step is to take the challenge to paper and see how I do.  After that, I get to come up with my own room in one-point perspective.

I am...really excited about this.  I have always shied away from rooms and landscapes because they were so overwhelming in detail and "math."  So many straight lines and very exact circles.  Now I can take what Albert Bierstadt gave me and really go with it.

One thing I want to look into is creating value in small spaces like rooms.  Most of the photo references I use are washed-out show-roomy-y pieces designed to showcase the layout more than anything.  Values are often low, light is over-used, and it seems boring (see first image).  The second image I did I wanted a cozy, warm look and I think I attained that.  Now I am working on another one and I want the focus to be the window, but no colors seem super great.  The image is distracting me, so I am thinking of getting the last bases down and then removing the image to create my own.

For me, after drawing out the room, coloring is the big reward.  I LOVE coloring, more-so now than before.  I am hoping to get my hours in for perspective, but doing the master studies along side it allows me to focus on other elements and still apply what I learned in perspective in a practical sense.  I haven't decided yet where I will go with the next master study, though...

In any case, refining these fundamentals was a great idea.  I am actually getting pumped about the next steps :D