05-19-2013, 10:36 AM
Hey man, it's a shame you have to quit school for that reason but you certainly can do study and improve on your own, you just have to be dedicated. I am completely self taught and I've had to do it while holding down a day job and paying off a mortgage. It's definitely hard as heck, but doable.
As for the colours, well I hate to say it but I really don't know why I have a knack for colours. It is the one thing most people comment on about my work but I can honestly say I haven't done lots of painted study focusing on it. I definitely keep colour theory in mind as I'm painting, but it is more from a general point of view...once I get a palette to work with, I tweak as I go using the colour balance tool for the most part. It really is the main thing I use. Knowing colour theory will help you know how to tweak rather than just random experimentation with the tool, though that can be great for happy accidents. For example, if a piece is lacking vibrancy, I usually start by tweaking shadow areas towards a hue that is a complementary of the light source. There is a fair bit of experimentation that happens after that, but I tend to have an idea what I'm going for as I'm tweaking.
Another trick with colour is that things become vibrant when different hues mix or are next to each other. It's more the relationship between colours than the colours on their own that drive how we perceive them, so it isn't a case of picking a blue then picking a red and hoping you nail it, but tweaking things after to get them to work together that really matters, and that's why colour balance is so useful. Lord knows how trad painters do it! They must have an incredible database of colour combinations and mixes in their heads. we digital saps can totally get away without knowing as much because the tools we have are so powerful.
One thing I do a lot, is that I am hyper aware of colour and value in my environment. When I see something cool a light condition, shadow shapes, value transitions, colour combinations etc, in the real world I literally study it and attempt to figure out what is cool about it and make mental notes as I go. I don't write them down or take pictures but I do try and figure out what is going on. I probably should take notes but I guess I subconsciously draw from this later when painting. For the most part the real world is amazing to observe and draw from, rather than photographs, and if you do look at it closer from this perspective, I guarantee you will never ever be bored no matter where you are! I also research a ton of artists' work and study them. Not always by painting, but by looking and sampling colours and looking at hue, value, saturation within the piece and again figuring out what they did. It's really surprising what you learn that way.
Gurney's Colour and Light book is the staple 'must read'.
But yeah other than that, just tons of practice I guess. Hope that was useful?
As for the colours, well I hate to say it but I really don't know why I have a knack for colours. It is the one thing most people comment on about my work but I can honestly say I haven't done lots of painted study focusing on it. I definitely keep colour theory in mind as I'm painting, but it is more from a general point of view...once I get a palette to work with, I tweak as I go using the colour balance tool for the most part. It really is the main thing I use. Knowing colour theory will help you know how to tweak rather than just random experimentation with the tool, though that can be great for happy accidents. For example, if a piece is lacking vibrancy, I usually start by tweaking shadow areas towards a hue that is a complementary of the light source. There is a fair bit of experimentation that happens after that, but I tend to have an idea what I'm going for as I'm tweaking.
Another trick with colour is that things become vibrant when different hues mix or are next to each other. It's more the relationship between colours than the colours on their own that drive how we perceive them, so it isn't a case of picking a blue then picking a red and hoping you nail it, but tweaking things after to get them to work together that really matters, and that's why colour balance is so useful. Lord knows how trad painters do it! They must have an incredible database of colour combinations and mixes in their heads. we digital saps can totally get away without knowing as much because the tools we have are so powerful.
One thing I do a lot, is that I am hyper aware of colour and value in my environment. When I see something cool a light condition, shadow shapes, value transitions, colour combinations etc, in the real world I literally study it and attempt to figure out what is cool about it and make mental notes as I go. I don't write them down or take pictures but I do try and figure out what is going on. I probably should take notes but I guess I subconsciously draw from this later when painting. For the most part the real world is amazing to observe and draw from, rather than photographs, and if you do look at it closer from this perspective, I guarantee you will never ever be bored no matter where you are! I also research a ton of artists' work and study them. Not always by painting, but by looking and sampling colours and looking at hue, value, saturation within the piece and again figuring out what they did. It's really surprising what you learn that way.
Gurney's Colour and Light book is the staple 'must read'.
But yeah other than that, just tons of practice I guess. Hope that was useful?