shading colour tips

nocturnenebula:

bravestghost:

hey yall its me the Art Mom™ to help you shade pretty

rule 1: DO NOT SHADE WITH BLACK. EVER. IT NEVER LOOKS GOOD.

red– shade with a slightly darker shade of purple

orange– slightly darker and more saturated shade of red

yellow– i think like..a peach could work but make it a really light peach

green– shade with darker and less saturated shade of blue or teal

blue– shade with purple

purple– a shade thats darker than the purple you’re using and maybe a little pink (MAYBE blue)

pink– darker shade of red

white– a really light lavender or blue..or i guess any really light colour??

black– okay listen dont use pure black to colour anything unless you want to leave it with flat colours because you cant really shade black lol

grey– a slightly darker shade of purple or blue (less saturated)

brown– slightly darker and less saturated shade of purple or red

aaaaand thats all i got lol. let me know if there is anything i should add to this list!!

If you’re a visual learner…

I made some Balls of Colour to go with Art Mom™’s post:

mto-art:

These are some quick notes.
If you’ve got questions about shading/colors lemme know I’ll edit the original post.

When making a piece I always want to make sure the overal rendering is good.
Eyes are drawn to contrast. When you pick your colors make sure there are enough pleasant hues, enough contrasting values, and ENOUGH SATURATED AND DESATURATED COLORS

When you choose to do high saturated flat colors make sure your shadows and lights are desaturated. If you make your lights warm make your shadows cool.
For values always check if your piece still looks appealing under a black and white gradient filter. If not, bump up those values! If your piece looks fine in black and white but trash in color HANDLE YOUR SATURATION.

Source: mto-art

kitidough:

Color theory on how different hues saturations and values change a piece of art

Source: kitidough

seiyoko:

Again this is my personal take on color! It really depends on the situation and what you personally value, and in the end practice is your best friend.

links:

genice’s color practices

color palette challenge (one iteration of it; there’s lot of people who made them)

(not mentioned, but helpful)

Patrick (H) Willems’s video essays on color in film; specifically his ones on

Wonder Woman and Marvel

I thought he had one on John Wick too but I can’t find it. If you like saturated colors though, check that movie out!!

those are only a couple of exterior references, there’s lots out there!! so good luck & I hope this helped!!

Source: seiyoko

I’ve never actually understood how to do a color study, but I’ve always wanted to try! Do you have any tutorial recommendations or tips yourself?

snackiies:

it’s such a simple yet hard concept to grasp, right? i’m having loads of trouble starting since there’s no exact tutorial for it, so you’ve gotta broaden your search for the topic.

recommendations:

i recommend watching speedpaints to get a better understanding on how other artists do it

the color study tag on here has loads of pics to take inspiration from

this book called ‘color and light’ by james gurney i’m borrowing from a coworker has tons of stuff that goes deep within the understanding of color (it’s a LOT to take in, i’ve had this for 3 weeks and i still haven’t finished it)

or if you can’t afford buying books there’s also his channel on youtube and you can watch how he picks his colors for his paintings

he has this method on making a really advanced color palette to harmonize your piece together called “gamut masking”

here’s a playlist on color theory which consists of a lecture by richard keyes

and an entire school session on illustrating and designing, how to get into a better mindset as an artist

tips to getting started on color study:

1) don’t use the eye drop tool if you can.

i have a pretty basic understanding on choosing colors so i usually eyeball it instead from reference photos. but if you’re a beginner you need someplace to start, picking colors off the pics would be good, but don’t rely on it too much. it often leaves your drawings pretty bland since you’re straight up copying from the camera lens.

2) keep things quick and simple

you’re doing a color study, not an environmental study. i’m having trouble with over detailing my pieces but i’m making a conscious effort to stop caring since the main focus here is the colors, their relationship with the surrounding (even the sky has fricking layers i need to properly understand)

3) pick a picture that inspires you!

i usually pick out photos who has a clear contrast on stuff, so you’d wanna work on something that really attracts your eyes. google is a friend, don’t forget that. it’s better to reference of real life photos than fanart, and plus movie still/screencaps are a good place to see how the colors work out together

4) study your fave artist pieces

pick a piece you like the most and study it. what makes it attractive to you? why does this shade of pink go well with this sort of blue? you can color pick the piece and study their pattern in picking colors, some artists are using the same sort of color palette and it makes them stand out. try to find out why and experiment that method on your pieces of artwork.

so these are the only things that i have on my plate right now, and i still have a loooong way to go, lol. hope it helps!

@sing-me-a-serenata