[Eric Pommer]

Hi all,

The more I hang around Sijun, the more disatisfied I get with my own work. This is a good thing, since it gives me motivation (aka, kick in the butt) to improve. What I have noticed lately is that I have a very poor sense of how colour and light work together in a picture. Most of my career as an illustrator has been doing b&w work, and now that I'm trying to work in colour, I'm, well, disatisfied.
I never seem to know what colour to make things so that they look dramatic and interesting, as opposed to just, 'realistic', and trying to find a way to merge the colour of the background and the subject constantly frustrate me. And I LOVE those semi-flat, textured backgrounds people do around here, but be damned if I can do one myself that I like.
This is far too vague a concern to ask for specific advice, so can anyone point me towards either good books or good tutorials on these topics?

[Frog]

I've had a look at your site, and just wanted to make a few comments from what I saw of your art. It strikes me that you have the technical ability to master colour, but maybe need to do some closer observation of the real world.

The first thing that struck me is that you very rarely use the full range of tones, which can make your images look a little flat. There aren't many areas of deep shadow in your paintings. The range from light to dark is there to be used and it helps to define the 3 dimensionality of your images, the shading defines the form. Having more shadow will also help create drama.

I think that you approach colour from the perspective of someone who does line art, you think of lines and fill them in. You need to break out of this and think of tones and planes, this should make a great deal of difference.

As for what colour things should be, there are no hard and fast rules but here a re a couple of thoughts: it's often best to stick to a limited palette, a colour scheme if you like, and your colours should be dictated by your lighting. The light is the colour.

As for drama, natural light is often beautiful and dramatic, photographers know this well. Evening or morning light is full of drama on a daily basis, it casts deep shadows and makes everything glow with saturated colours. Even harder light in the daytime can create dramatic backlighting, glowing through translucent objects such as leaves or bird's wings. The possiblities are endless, it's just a question of learning to look for things when you are in a position to observe the world around you.

As for a tutorial, here's a link to one by spooge: GFXartist.com tutorial it doesn't deal with lighting or colour directly but does make mention of some of the points I've made.

Good luck!

[Eric Pommer]

Thanks for the comments. You're right about the line art thing...it's only been a year or two that I've gotten away from that in my b&w work. For some reason the things I know to do in b&w don't always show up in my colour work.
I just read another thread that talked about putting down value first and then colour...that might help me out, because I tend to forget about value when I'm worrying about hue.

[Duckman2]

Go to Craig Mullin's site and read the notes by John Singer Sargent, They are under the miscellaneous(damned if I spelled that right) section. They contain lots of info on how to merge your background with you foreground. I learn something new everytime I read them. I actually bring em to painting class and read them while the model rests so you I'm constantly reminding myself of the fundamentals. Your painting and ability to percive what is happening will improve very quickly. This wiil carry over to your illustration because you will begin to remember how the light reacts in various lighting situations. Also to improve your ability to see masses of light and shade do lots value drawings in charcol, using a rag and powdered charcol to lay in the midtones and shadows, then with an eraser take out the lightest lights. Use line ONLY when you need to emphasize something. just my 2 cents

[DeathJester]

2 cents...

Just start reading.. and practicing.. thats the best way to learn... Also observe.. Look at other peoples work and try and figure out what they did.. Be your own teacher... And when you get stuck ask a question.. This is a great board, and there is always someone with an answer... It has been almost 8 months since I started working on my digital work, and Im amazed at how much improvement I have gotten.

Someone mentioned line art.. Stay away from it.. Try creating objects without lines.. to fill.. or if you have to have lines.. Draw the planes.. etc.. Also practice still lifes.. work small and build up..

But yeah.. Give it time, and practice..

Good Luck