Found my next challenge. Color matching. And understanding that the value ( how light or dark the color is ) is more important than the color itself. Then there's the entire color theory spectrum to learn along with color matching. But for right now I'll stick to trying to get the color I see in the paint I'm using. And how all this end up in being totally unrealistic in color once it's in the painting. Painting isn't about color. It's about value relationships between colors. How these relationships interact to create the illusion of depth. A wrong color with the right value is more important than the right color. The link below is to a painting that demonstrates everything. If you were actually looking at a photo it would not look anything like this. So let's play "What's wrong with this painting that's hanging in a museum and worth millions." by asking a few questions.
How many trees have you seen with orange bark?
There is a view into the distance through the trees. Why is thee not a single realistic color in that view? Trees and all.
It's a painting of an overcast day. The majority of the light is coming from the right. So why is the left hand side of this hill also in sunlight?
Looking a the trunk of the tree. The distant trees to the left are all in shadow. So how did the distant trees to the right side become bright?
The answer to all the questions above is? Color theory! Color value is more important than the color itself. Art is the interpretation of reality. Photography is reality turned into art.
OK. Great. So that's painting with paints. How does this relate to digital art. Disney uses color theory to make their animations look 3D. That may not be digital art. But it is cartoon style art. Both Marvel and DC comics us color theory. 90% or better of furry art is done with no color theory what so ever. Taking the time to learn all the crazy and off the wall techniques of color theory will take your art above what most consider the best of the furry art out there.
https://www.questroyalfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/Bierstadt-A-Trail-through-the-Trees.jpgSo after finding out that color theory is more important than color why are you going to take hours to learn to match colors you ask? I'm using white and seven colors. I have an eight on the way. To help knock down one of the colors I'm using. The painting in the link has a good chance of being painted with less color choices. Most of the time spent painting is mixing colors and adjusting their values to work within the painting. I need to wrap my head around mixing unrealistic colors. Instead of trying to mix the colors I see. Learning to mix the colors I see will teach me how the paints I'm using relate to one another.