Ribbons - Page 2

Allan Rahbek · 04-28-2006, 06:42 PM

Simon,
This is very ingenious and interesting. That way you will built up a catalog of the many possible mixtures of the colors you have.
Some might consider this a vast of good paint, but I say that it is a very good investment in understanding the character of your colors.
I have used lots and lots of watercolor paper and -colors trying to compose the perfect palette.

Allan

Simon Bland · 04-28-2006, 07:32 PM

Allan:

Exactly! In the long term it will probably save a lot more paint than it requires to create the color charts.

Simon

Jeff Fuchs · 04-29-2006, 11:06 AM

There was a recent thread about this on wetcanvas. As a result, I bought Richard Schmid's book, in which he highly recommends (Pleads) that all artists make charts for their entire palette. One chart shows how each pigment looks mixed with varying amounts of white, then the others show each color mixed with every other color on the palette. You'd have say, a cad red chart in which each column contains cad red mixed with one other color on the palette. Then the resulting color is mixed with white, to make a full range of values.

You might think that this results in a lot of duplication (ie. cad red and yellow ochre would look the same on the cad red chart, and the yellow ochre chart), but not so. The colors are mixed so that the main color for each chart dominates, if only by a small degree.

Schmid says that everyone should invest the time to do this, and not just as an exercise, but keep the charts handy as a reference to refer to while painting. From looking at the charts in his book I'd imagine nearly any color you want can be made with only two colors plus white. Mixing five or six pigments to get the right color seems like guesswork compared to his method.

I just got the book this week, and haven't had much time to spend with it, but I will definitely be making those charts, and I'll probably hang them on the wall of my studio.

Simon Bland · 05-01-2006, 05:34 PM

Jeff,

I've heard of Schmid's book (and emphasis on color charts) but not read it. My own color chart book follow the same structure.

In practice I've found that there is a bigger range of colors that can be mixed using some pigments (e.g. thalo blue and cadmium orange) than the above system can accommodate - whereas the value ranges are easier for me to interpolate or extrapolate visually. On the other hand, my own system is messy........

Now....back to the painting. I've made most of the suggested changes. I left the bricks and mortar alone - too much potential for screwing it up. I still have a little more work to do on the face of the girl on the right, but I'm much happier with the overall look.

Thanks once again.

Simon

Allan Rahbek · 05-03-2006, 06:05 PM

Simon,
I don't know how the girls really look like, but I feel that the lower girl is a bit too contrasty on her right cheek.

The transitions from light to dark will happen over a longer distance where the cheek is rounding softly like on the top and middle of it and faster where the planes are turning more sharply, like beside the mouth.

I also think that the vertical shadow from the corner of the mouth and down to the chin could be lighter and there could be some reflected light, from the shirt, on the jawline.

The edge of her left cheek could be softened if you lighten the shadow a little with a warm brown and the edge itself could be softened with some Raw Umber and white, a slightly darker value than the skin. I think just like the eyebrow, where it is lightest , is what I mean.

Allan

Simon Bland · 05-03-2006, 07:43 PM

Allan,

You are totally correct. I have a lot more work to do. Thank you for the great tips.

The more I look at this picture, the more I think it needs a better temperature balance too.

Simon

Judson Eneas · 05-16-2006, 03:07 PM

Again; this is better than what I can do. I think however that maybe you should look into creating more volume in the shadow areas of the face and in the shadow areas of the fabric. Did you paint from a flash photograph?

Simon Bland · 05-16-2006, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judson Eneas

Again; this is better than what I can do. I think however that maybe you should look into creating more volume in the shadow areas of the face and in the shadow areas of the fabric. Did you paint from a flash photograph?

Funny you should mention the shadow areas as I've done some more work on them as well as trying to neutralize the bricks and mortar.

I photograph with natural light only (which was not always the case, but you have to learn the hard way).

Simon