furry arts discussion > traditional and digital artwork
A rat's journey into art. Acrylic paint.
cause the rat:
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.jpg
So 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.
Jade Sinapu:
Does the "color" you see change as the paint dries?
I see this with interior house paint.
cause the rat:
Jade, with acrylics and watercolors yes. Acrylics become darker wile watercolors lighten as they dry. With oils what you see is what you get. Linseed oil ( flax oil ) does lightly yellow over time. But because color is relative to the colors around it if all the colors slightly yellow the colors will still appear right.
I think color shifting would be more of a problem with digital art. The artist may be using some ultra high resolution monitor to do the art. Where the buyer might have a cheepo windows box that lights up. Or worst, the other way around. This is where relying more on color value instead of the color itself would help. Even if there is a shift in color the art would still read the same because the values wouldn't change.
cause the rat:
Starting a color study. If you can't get it on a 3x5 your not going to get it done on a 12x14. :D Concentrating on areal perspective. Working on color more than shape and form.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1156599338184145&set=gm.4370290496355173
cause the rat:
Yep, the same thing I've heard over and over again. When posing about doing small color studies I heard it. 'That's nice. But it's still going to take hundreds of paintings to get it right.'. The idea of braking things down. Getting better at what your worst at. Then do a painting is totally foreign to these folks. If it doesn't look good at 3x5 it's not going to look good at 12x14. Size doesn't matter. Did my first color study. Eight lines of paint. Eight lines of complete disaster! But i"m loving it. Because each color has to be mixed I'm learning what can be done with the paints I have. Learning to mix color for it's value in relation to the colors around it. And it's placement within the painting for areal perspective. That is what I'm bad it. Doing one bad painting after another and hoping I get it right is not the answer.
I did add a color to my pallet. Varidian green. Decided to add it because Phalo green is kryptonite. The pigment is so strong it stains plastic. Really hard to control when mixing small batches of paint. Phalo kryptonite isn't going anywhere. ( phalo green blue shade ) Because I can use it to change the properties of ultramarine blue. And it makes a strong turquoise color that's great for mixing other colors with.
Just a rambling. First I would like to say everything you have heard about oil painting is true. It is way easier than watercolor or acrylics. Now that i know about solvent free brush cleaners and oil mediums I'll be e switching over to regular oil paints. Once I've used up these water mixables. Because you can mix water soluble oils with regular oil paints I'll be replacing the colors with regular oils as needed. For brush cleaning I'm using a product called 'Bristle Magic'. According to the MSDS sheet it's non toxic and biodegradable. With the only safety warning of not inducing vomiting if swallowed. And the best part is it works. Way quicker and easier than using soap and water with water soluble oils. Because I'm no longer using soap and water I can use the non toxic Alkyd I have. M. Graham's 'Walnut Alkyd Medium'. Alkyd makes oil paint dry faster. I've read the MSDS sheet on this stuff. It's not got anything in it that will evaporate or harm you if you get it on you. I now have a non toxic oil painting studio. Now I need to hire someone who can actually paint. :) Also wanted to add, I LOVE the smell of oil paints.
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