colour and light put in to practice

As someone who should have rightfully been listed on the colour-use- offenders list, I decided after a few lessons to pick up painting. My paintigs before consisted of black and white creations or the occasional dread beige skin tone colour layer slapped over one of them. Using colour is well; scary. There is so much to take in. Of course the lessons have been beyond helpful in breaking the basics down simply for me I can now mix paint with intention! But I decided to pick up a copy of colour and light by James Gurney

(A brief description provided by amazon)

"James Gurney, New York Times best-selling author and artist of the Dinotopia series, follows Imaginative Realism with his second art-instruction book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. A researched study on two of art's most fundamental themes, Color and Light bridges the gap between abstract theory and practical knowledge. Beginning with a survey of underappreciated masters who perfected the use of color and light, the book examines how light reveals form, the properties of color and pigments, and the wide variety of atmospheric effects. Gurney cuts though the confusing and contradictory dogma about color, testing it in the light of science and observation. A glossary, pigment index, and bibliography complete what will ultimately become an indispensible tool for any artist."

Just the tip of the iceberg of some of the amazing content that admittedly I only vaguely understand

My first attempt at putting some of the newly gained knowledge in to practice. I also slipped in some complimentary blorange. 

What's the opposite of a blacklist?

art by http://ayohexo.tumblr.com/

All though I fear that aside from the occasional somewhat often complimentaries sive posts this blog has turned in to somewhere I post pretty pictures and rave on about how much I like them and their colours. I think in a way this is a good thing and expected even? From taking classes on colour theory I am learning what I like and dislike, what works and doesn't work when it comes to colour and visual story telling. 

This piece is a current favourite of mine. The colours are eye catching but in a good way (see my blacklist post for the bad). The colours although they appear bright, are appropriately toned down with shades and less saturation where necessary. My eye follows the flowers and the orange of the cape and I spot= green grass/ red flowers, orange cape/ blue pool. With all the strong colour the eye is still drawn to the naked deer man in the centre. Is it because he indeed naked? Maybe. But I suspect lighting and those red orange roses he sports on his head are catching the eye because of its complimentary blue/green pool surrounding them.

Applying colour to my own work

Now I am no expert on colour but, my time spent in lessons would surely be wasted if I didn't start applying it to my own work. When painting I now question what colour is that skin tone, what colour should I put in the background to make the the subject pop. Of course I'll clumsily select a complimentary and the proceed to stumble my way through hours of rendering but the point is these colour theory lessons have definitely influenced my thinking and approach toward art work I produce.

  

I tried to work complimentary red/green into this study of reds and green. The red isn't popping as much as I would like it too I think the green has too much yellow

The journey + a new game invented

The journey aka colour-god’s gift to gaming. These palletes are…excuse me for a moment I cannot tear my eyes away from them…

Indeed I like these palettes very much from what I’ve come to understand we have examples of harmonious and complimentary, some triads. The journey is just a good example of using colour well. 

A game I have come up with: "Name that colour pallette!'

Red+green tints (does the orange on the character's robes make this a triad?)

Blorange

blorange in motion or is it...blue/purple and yellow/orange. 

Until next time

and now it suddenly makes sense

A somewhat crude demonstration of my better understanding of colour terms

colour proportion Miss A 'Touch'

I have learnt from the colour proportion lessons the technique of balancing colours in a palette. In this music vide by Miss A which I have provided screen grabs from, the main star is the red hue. It demonstrates  using less of a saturated colour against more muted colours . The video has consistent splashes of red proportionally smaller then the other colours harmonious mostly broken hues. The Lyrics often refer to confessions of love 'you touch my heart'. The colour red can symbolize love. Alongside the symbolism I think the video is really beautiful and owes a lot of that to the colour alone.

A sad, sad scene

After trying to keep a keen eye whilst watching movies and paying attention to the visual story telling more then anything else, this scene in Tangled garnered my attention. The colour and light reflect the mourning of Rapunzal as she holds her dead lover in her arms. The movie
changes drastically from bright  romantic colours, to this dull, muted broken palette, no saturation and dim, grey light. This is truly a great example of visual story telling and even if you hadn't watched the movie you would know what has happened was heartbreaking to Rapunzel immediately.