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Color practice
3yr
Kako
I want to improve my skills with color. Any advice?
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Gabriel Kahn
Hey there! Great job! You nailed the colors so far! The entire thing feels a bit flat though. Try to use more colors than you can see in your reference even ones that you won't see in real life. Also adding a bit of glow and color dodge helps a ton :)
Jon Neimeister
Lovely painting! I think you've done a great job observing the colors from the reference, at thumbnail size you've captured the overall impression perfectly and your value control is good. I think part of the struggle is that the reference itself isn't super interesting color-wise; the fruits are nice, but the lighting is very neutral and ambient which doesn't create the most interesting colors. I'd maybe do some more studies from references that are shot outdoors so you can get the warm light vs. the cool shadows and bounced light from nearby objects, that kind of complexity is a big part of what makes colors look interesting. As for this particular piece, Gourd's suggestion of color notes is a good ones. Marco Bucci talks about this a lot in his videos; you can incorporate all kinds of colors in your painting that aren't there in the reference to make it more interesting, and in this case I think that would help a lot since the reference is a bit flat. I did a quick paintover of what I might try to do with it if that helps. Keep up the good work! :D
Kako
3yr
woo! ok, thank you very much, your comment helps me a lot! Thanks again :D
Gourd
3yr
I'd say the colors look accurate but flat. A bit of experimenting with color notes might do the trick.
Kako
3yr
what is color notes?
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