Chroma Exordium

A collection of all the art tips & tricks I've collected. Definitely not just for an assignment.

[yungiish]

Ch. 9: Light’s Changing Shadow

► Serial Painting

Painting the same subject under different lighting (times of day, etc.)

Storyboard a day in your life!

Do quick sketches on a train or car ride!

Tips!

Choose a motif that has a piece of sky,some distant reaches in space (like mountains), and something white with planes facing in different directions (Gurney really wants it to be a house)

Paint the images on a set of separate panels on a large board taped off into separate canvases

Keep the drawing consistent so the only variable is color (these are color studies!)

Spend the first day drawing all the panels, or draw one and photocopy it

As you begin each study, don’t look at the previous one!

Let each piece be its own being

Paint the subject at different times of day

For a real challenge, go back to the same spot during different seasons

[yungiish]

Ch. 8: Atmospheric Effects

► Sky Blue

Proximity to the sun is brighter than farther away

Angle above horizon

Sky changes in value, chroma, and hue

Every patch of the sky changes in two different directions at once

Sky gets lighter towards horizon

Color gets lighter and warmer towards to sun

Well of the sky = darkest, deepest blue at the zenith only at sunrise and sunset

Shift mixtures both top to bottom and side to side

► Reverse Atmospheric Perspectives

“Warm colors recede, cool colors advance”

Especially at sunrise and sunset

Relatively rare in nature, but really pretty and dramatic

► Golden Hour lighting

Bold and dramatic colors

Sunlight travels parallel to the ground so it reaches farther and bolder

Weaker in brightness but more orange or red in color

Stay gold Ponyboy.

► Sunsets

Premix your colors!

Use LED lights to light your palette (good white light)

Ground is dark, but not black!!

► Fog, Mist, Smoke, Dust

Contrast drops rapidly

Light diffuses through the air and light seems to come from all directions

► Rainbows

Rainbow colors should always be lighter than the background

Paint semi-transparent, soft-edge white first, let dry, then glaze colors over it

► Skyholes and Foliage

Foliage silhouette almost never completely solid

Smaller skyholes should be painted a little darker than the actual sky color because less light can pass through them

Vary it up with an opaque tree and a soft whispy tree

► Sunbeams and Shadowbeams

Must allow dark backdrop for sunbeams to actually be seem

When looking away from the sun, the beams become practically invisible

► Dappled light

Higher tree = larger circles

► Cloud Shadows

Position the light where you want to draw interest (the eyes are drawn to light)

Margin between light and shadow creates a soft edge and takes a long while to transition

Size and spacing of cloud shadows must match the clouds visible in the sky

Shadow area is darker and cooler than the sunlit area, but doesn’t have as much blue cast  as cast shadows on a sunny day (they’re more muted)

► Illuminated Foreground

Add light and detail to front and shadow out the back

► Snow and Ice

Becomes darker as it ages and compacts

► Water Reflections and Transparency

Dirty water makes dark reflections more brown and lighter

Muddy water reflections are purest at dusk

Vertical lines are preserved, horizontal lines are elongated and/or broken

If the water is filled with sediment, shadows are very apparent

► Mountain Streams

Stones shift to darker, warmer colors than local colors above the water

Deeper than 3 feet and colors start to blur

► Color Underwater (check this out)

Red goes quickest

Orange and yellow follow suit

Really deep, only violet and ultraviolet light remain

[yungiish]

Ch. 7: Surfaces and Effects

► Transmitted light

Light travelling through a surface is brightly colored (transmitted light)

Light bouncing off a surface is dully colored

4 types of light on leaves

highly chromatic yellow-green transmitted light

leaf in shadow downward

leaf in shadow facing upward, with blue shadows from the sky

sunlit leaf, highest value, but highly desaturated (almost white) as compared with the transmitted light leaf

► Subsurface scattering

When light enters and spreads (such as light passing through hands) which creates a super cool ‘glow’

Translucent flesh, small forms, and backlighting

► Color zones of the face

Forehead = light golden color

Forehead => Bottom of nose = reddish (more capillaries)

Bottom of nose => Chin = blueish, greenish, grayish color (more veins carrying deoxygenated blood)

Can be almost imperceptible in real life

► Rendering Hair

Big brushes, simple masses, soft edges, and controlled highlights

► Caustics = undulating waves from surface reflection (underwater highlights, drinking glasses)

► Specular Reflections = reflection of surrounding objects in shiny surface

Three rules:

The more reflective the surface, the broader range of values needed

Convex reflections (chrome) reflect mini views of the surrounding (sometimes beyond the scope of your composition)

Separate layer added on top of the usual modeling factors

Modeling effects + specular effects

► Highlights

Specular reflection on wet or shiny surfaces (hair, eyes, ice, scales, etc.)

any plane parallel to light source reflects highlight back at you

Annular highlights = form in pattern of circles made up of individual scratches on metal, twigs, etc.

► Color Corona = area of bright light surrounded by region of colorful light (i.e, setting sun)

Creates chromatic halo around light source

Lens flares

Streetlights, car headlights, sunsets and sunrises, solar highlights on wet surfaces

► Motion Blur

Two types:

Motion blur = form moves rapidly in front of stationary observer (object blurred)

Speed blur = camera tracks with fast-moving object (surrounding blurred)

Faster the motion, the stronger the blur

With speed blur, objects closest to the camera blur the most

Only blur edges

► Photos vs. Observation

Cameras distort images:

Deep shadows appear black and stark highlights appear white

Due to clipping

Colors shift or weaken and become monochromatic

Weak sources (like reflected light) are often lost

Using photos without losing color:

Make quick color notes

Photograph details, not the whole scene

Wait for overcast days

Take two exposures

One for lights, another for darks

[yungiish]

Ch. 6: Premixing

► Color string = group of paint blobs prepared by mixing light to dark

saves time when painting observationally

► Premixing vs. free mixing

Premixing:

Not arbitrary!

Done first thing for an observational drawing, and not colors straight from the tube

Pretty time consuming, but at least you get it over with (usually the first 30 minutes or so of an observational drawing)

Less palette surface

Using a palette knife makes for larger patches

Don’t need to recreate colors or mixtures over and over again

Free mixing

For Gurney, it’s irredeemable.

► Reilly Method

10 tonal steps for each principle hue (along with corresponding scale of grays)

4 or 5 is actually plenty, but 10 gives you good practice

► Gamut Mapping

Gamut = entire group of possible colors for a given painting (polygon over your color wheel)

Good color composition isn’t just what you put in, but what you leave out too

Subject neutral = center of your polygon (not dead center of the color wheel!)

Create gamut masks on your color wheel to help you see and limit your palette

No haphazard color choosing

Can easily invent new color schemes to play with just by turning the mask!

Sufficient for an entire color scheme

Shapes of gamut maps

Usually offset equilateral triangles (atmospheric triad)

Moody and Subjective

Good for film and graphic novels

Dominant, full-intensity hue and two subordinate, lower-chroma hues

► Mixing controlled gamuts

Starting colors

Put down your starting tube colors (like whites and reds or whatever)

Mixing color strings

Make some good ol’ strings (usually like 3-6 of them)

Keep the hue and chroma consistent for each string

Mix up your in-between colors as well

Remove your tube colors

Mix everything in except you white, because the rest are out of your color gamut

Reaching for accents

Builds harmony and unity from within your gamut

Not thinking about neutralizing tube colors

Photographing

When you’re done, be sure to disable the white balance setting on your camera to save the color casts you’ve created

► Color Scripting

No color schemes in a film or graphic novel stand alone! They all need to harmonize!

Shifting gamuts can help retain harmony

A drastic gamut change signifies a cut to the viewer

Useful for scene, location, or mood changes

[yungiish]

Ch. 5: Color Relationships

► Monochromatic paintings make great underpaintings

► Greens and purples have “divided loyalty” and are placed in both the cool and warm color categories

► Additive color mixing = when two different colored lights shine on a form to create a new color

Blending of color by the eye, not the paint itself

i.e, green and red lights mix to create yellow, but when physically mixed, it creates brown paint

► Triad color schemes

Composed of 3 basic colors, but not necessarily full-chroma colors

► Color Accents

Attracts the eye to the area of interest

Usually a complementary or near-complementary color of high-chroma

Don’t have to be for emphasis, but can add relief from areas of monotonous hues

[yungiish]

Ch. 4: Paint and Pigment

► Alla prima = “all at once”, a style for painting landscapes that involves completing a painting in one sitting that results in a soft look, keeping all areas wet and starting with a sky panel

► Sky panels = painting the sky first, usually in studio, then taking it out for plein air details or studies

► Glazing to intensify underlying colors, done after a painting is finished

► Palettes = start small and learn the proper combinations

Good intro palette:

Titanium White

Cadmium Yellow (light)

Yellow Ochre

Burnt Sienna

Venetian Red

Pyrrole Red

Quinacridone Red

Ultramarine Blue

Pthalo Cyan

Limited palettes

More harmonious

Learn how to mix and color match

Compact, portable, sufficient

Option 1

Titanium White

Ultramarine Blue

Burnt Sienna

Option 2

Phthalo Blue

Perinone Orange

Option 3

Raw Umber

Burnt Sienna

Cobalt Blue

Option 4

Titanium White

Cadmium Yellow (light)

Pyrrole Red

Permanent Alizarin Crimson

Burnt Siena

Ultramarine Blue

Viridian

Option 5

Titanium White

Pyrrole Red

Ultramarine Blue

Burnt Sienna

Option 6

Titanium White

Venetian Red

Yellow Ochre

Ultramarine Blue

Option 7

Titanium White

Yellow Ochre

Cadmium Scarlet

Ivory Black

Make color wheel tests with your pallet to see what it can do

When picking colors, choose one full-chroma color with 2 weaker colors from across the center of the spectrum

[yungiish]

Ch. 3: Elements of Color

► Primary colors = Red, Blue, Yellow (Green should be included!)

► Munsell System = breaks color wheel into 10 equal parts

► Yurmby Wheel = adds cyan, magenta, and yellow evenly between RBG

► Grays and Neutrals

Provide setting for bright color accents

Give space and scope to a composition

Connect contrasting colors

Mix from complementary pairs rather than from white and black

“Gray is the sauce of the color scheme”

► The Green Problem

Mix greens from yellows and blues, rather than straight pigments

Vary green mixtures in both small scale (leaf to leaf) and large scale (tree to tree)

Smuggle your reds, mix in pink or reddish-gray in and out of your greens

► Tints

Adding white makes hues bluer

Adding thin, transparent layers of color over white (more highly chromatic tint)

[yungiish]

Professional Process

► Thumbnails:

20-30 recommended

SUPER important, do not skip!

work until you have no ideas left, bc that’s when you start to think outside the box!

► References

gather references 

don’t rely too heavily on them

ask friends/family/those indebted to pose

► Character Development

take this time to flesh out your character(s)

try TONS of variations of diff. body parts such as heads, legs, torsos, etc. (not just faces)

focus first on silhouettes 

► Comps/Roughs/Mock-Ups

make ‘em super tight, not messy and gross

these aren’t giant thumbnails

tells clients exactly what they’re getting, so make them professional and presentable

don’t make your clients nervous!!

► Value Studies

now take the time to figure out contrast and lighting

add emphasis and avoid muddy contrasts

► Color Studies

color schemes!!

play around with different color variations, trying diff. palettes, lighting, etc.

► Final!

[yungiish]

Ch. 2: Color

► 3 systems of illumination

sun

sky

reflected light from illuminated objects

sky and reflected light subordinate to sun

► Overcast Light

eliminates extreme contrast, soft light

perfect for complicated outdoor scenes

colors brighter and purer than in direct sunlight

► Window Light

usually blueish light (if sun isn’t shining directly through window or door)

ceiling has green or orange tint from grass or dirt outside

► Candlelight & Firelight

weak, yellow-orange light

“fall-off”= diminishing of light as you get farther from its source

inverse square law

► Indoor Electric Light

relative brightness, hardness or softness, and color cast

softer light = more flattering and reassuring

spectral power distribution 

► Streetlight & Night Conditions

photograph color wheel under different streetlights to see how colors are skewed

try urban night painting

► Luminescence 

things that give off a cool glow

incandescence = give off warm light

paint dark first, then add the glow

► Hidden Light Sources

3 ways to light a scene

from source shining outside the scene

from source inside the scene

from source inside the scene but hidden from view

adds intrigue and mystery

[yungiish]

Ch. 1: Tradition

► Color doesn’t exist in isolation; it can only be understood in relation to what’s around it

► The best way to start seeing color is to paint plein-air; it makes us see color first, like the greats did!

► Check out color notes to see how color can make a big difference in paintings