COLOUR THEORY – TINTS, SHADES & TONES

TINTS, SHADES AND TONES

ADD SHADOWS AND LIGHT

Before moving on to a series of exercises covering the theory of the recent articles we will have a look at another aspect of colour theory; the tints, shades and tones. This is nothing more than mixing your base colour with white, black and grey respectively.  Recently we discussed how we can create shadow and “mute” our colours by mixing them with their complementary ones (COLOUR THEORY–COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS). In this article we will see how this can be achieved by using only your base colour, black and white.

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Previous Article: COLOUR THEORY – SHAPES

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• Tints – Colour + White When mixing your base colour (for example a blue) with white, you create a tint of blue. This is paler than the original colour and can be used for various purposes. It could be applied to a well lit surface of an object or maybe applied it to a mountain which sits quite far from you in the landscape you are painting. When you want to make a less vibrant colour then just mix it with some white; it instantly becomes paler.
• Shades – Colour + Black In the contrary when mixing a base colour (say a red) with black it instantly becomes darker. Depending on the amount of black you add your original colour could disappear completely. Therefore be careful to keep a balance between your initial colour and the very dominant black. These colours could possibly used for darker sides of an object. Of course uses are not limited to light and shadow. Sky is the limit for use of tints and shades.
• Tones – Colour + Grey In reality this is just a combination of the above. If you Add some white to your original colour (tint) and then you drop a little black in the mixture then…obviously you have created a tone! Again here there is no limit to different mixtures; one must play around with the amounts of black, white and base colour to achieve the desired outcome.

Materials

As always we are trying to keep this as short and simple as possible. Our focus is to learn the theory rather than spending time preparing loads of materials etc. For now you will need the below. Allow for 1.0hour.

• Acrylic paints: Blue, Yellow, Red (or any other you fancy!) + White, Black
• Canvas
• Brushes
• Water and Cloth to clean your brush (avoid mixing everything together and ending up with a messy canvas)
• Pencil, Rubber and Ruler (if you are very organised) for your grid

Exercise

Lets quickly put all this onto a canvas sheet to witness the difference between tints, tones and shades and realise how dominant black can be. Quickly sketch with a pencil a 4×7 Grid. 

Fill the first line with white, grey and black and the first column with various colours you would like to explore. For ease, I have just used the primary and secondary colours (COLOUR THEORY – BASICS). Now the fun part begins; we need to start mixing and making combinations. It is pretty straightforward but as I mentioned above…be careful with the use of black! It is dominant colour and you could end up having a muddy black table in the end!

• Summary
• Colour + White = Tint — use it for highlights
• Colour + Black = Shade — use it for shadows
• Colour + Grey = Tone — use it as midtone (bridge light and dark)
• Black is dominant colour; be careful with the amounts you use

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The Artist says:

“I have been passionate about painting since I remember myself. I started by just eexperimenting with colours, colour mixing and colour application. However , it’s not always easy to achieve what you want unless you know exactly what you are doing. Techniques are different for different media; colour theory though is the basis of painting and is the same for everything! I decided to teach myself the basics; and here I am sharing that with you!”

 

 

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Do you have any comments or questions?

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

 

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COLOUR THEORY – SHAPES

SHAPES ON CANVAS

DRAW OUTLINES FOR YOUR PAINTINGS

Today we will keep the article very short and simple; not because sketching is an easy job but because going into very deep detail is beyond the scope of this tutorial. For more information about sketching you might want to start reading here:

• AN INTRODUCTION… if you are a beginner
• PERSPECTIVE – THE BASICS if you are a bit more advenced

In any case, applying sketching knowledge to painting will definitely help you and allow you to progress and understand things faster. Very roughly, due to perspective, shapes distort; for realistic paintings you have to draw in perspective rather than regular shapes as you already know them (read here). Also, tones change due to distance; colours look paler as you move further away and more vibrant and “complete” as you come closer. We will cover all these aspects in due course. Regarding the basic shapes for painting, all you need is either a hard pencil (HB, H or 2H) or a thin brush and acrylic paint.

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Previous Article: COLOUR THEORY – COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

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Using a Pencil

In the first case, using a hard pencil will allow you to draw your basic shapes and will prevent leaving very heavy and bold marks (which would definitely happen when using soft pencils 2B, 3B etc or charcoal). Light marks on your canvas can easily be covered with paint. Also, you will avoid mixing your paint with black dust (ie. charcoal) which will make the final result dirtier and darker. Of course you can always apply more than one layers of paint to avoid this problem; it’s entirely up to you. I just find it easier to roughly and lightly sketch the shape using a hard pencil and then paint on top of that. See below:

Light marks on your canvas can easily be covered with paint…

Using brush and paint

In the second case you start shaping your subject directly using paint and brushes. This is very good fun for two reasons. If you use reasonably diluted paint you can always rub it back and clean your canvas. It might leave a mark on your blank canvas but you shouldn’t worry too much as this can easily be covered by the next layer of colour. The second reason is that using a brush and paint you can’t be too precise with your shapes; this way you avoid spending ages detailing something you will then completely cover with paint. I find this technique quite easy, fast, fun and relieves me off the stress of detailed drawing. Of course the amount of detail you want to add is up to you but remember…this is just a trace to help you paint a bit more accurately later.

…avoid spending ages detailing something you will then completely cover with paint.

Few tips when using a brush:

• Use diluted paint – it’s easier to cover it up later
• Use light colours – for the same reason
• Use slightly thicker paint for shapes that are closer to you (gives a sense of perspective – helpful for you); see the blue garlics above.
• Start simple and experiment – trying a very complicated composition will not help you – most probably will frustrate you.
• Use less  defined shapes as it is less probable to look wrong (a wobbly building looks very wrong while a wobbly tomato looks like a wobbly tomato…still tasty though!)
• You might want to use a combination of pencil (for some basic shapes or for perspective lines…) and brush (for rougher shaping afterwards.

Materials

Presumably, you have already experimented with one technique or the other. I would suggest you choose a simple subject (like the bananas and the apple I sketched above) and try shaping the outlines on two separate canvases using both techniques. You will have the chance to compare the two sketches in terms of detail, speed, accuracy and ease. Allow for 0.5 hour.

• A small brush (a round brush will be helpful),
• Some diluted acrylic paint (light colours will be covered easier when you block in colour later).
• Cloth to erase/rub the paint if you need.
• 2x Canvas (canvas pad – easier and cheaper for this exercise)
• A hard (2H or H) pencil  (for part of your sketch you might want to try using a soft pencil – 3B or softer to see the difference).
• Rubber

 

A quick summary of the above is here:

• Principles of Perspective and Tone.
• Pencil – More detailed sketch – think if necessary
• Brush – less detailed but quick and easy

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The Artist says:

“I have been passionate about painting since I remember myself. I started by just eexperimenting with colours, colour mixing and colour application. However , it’s not always easy to achieve what you want unless you know exactly what you are doing. Techniques are different for different media; colour theory though is the basis of painting and is the same for everything! I decided to teach myself the basics; and here I am sharing that with you!”

 

 

Did you find this article useful? Yes

No

Do you have any comments or questions?

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

 

JOANNA – 2

11/05/2018

This was the second Monday Joanna modeled for us. The session was quite interesting in terms of new knowledge. Once more, our tutor spent more time with myself and another guy who is a beginner; she taught us the proportions and structure of the skull. Recently we studied the ribcage (read: Human Anatomy 1 – The Ribcage) and now we were ready to build up on the structure above.

We started sketching the top of the cranium trying to replicate the curvature. The tutor pointed out that the curve gets steeper at the rear side. Once the top was done we then carried on to sketch the rear side and the front side. We had to check the angle of the outline of the skull and finally close the shape at the bottom and middle of the cranium. It’s worth mentioning that this point is the “hole” for the ear!

Once the cranium was in place we had to roughly sketch the front part of the skull; the area where all the facial features appear. For the sake of speed and understanding we sketched that as a simple tube. Also, extra care was needed for the eye sockets and nose but we will look at this more carefully in following sessions. I am aiming to study the skull myself in detail one of the following weeks.

When we had a good grasp of the outline and volumes of the skull we moved on to sketch from life. So Joanna, being our model, offered some interesting angles and poses for us to sketch her head.

We were asked to sketch her head as a simple orthogonal box. Just that. Give the orientation and the planes we could see. Then we had to elaborate and fit the cranium and face volumes within that box. We had to remember that the volume of the neck happens behind the “tube” of the face and under the volume of the cranium.

 

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The Artist says:

“It is so amazing when you start studying the human anatomy before you go to the next class. You gain an understanding of how things work together and then instead of just sketching individual shapes and planes you understand how the body structure works as a whole!”

 

 

 

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

 

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH BOSTON VOYAGER

IASONAS BAKAS

INTERVIEW PUBLISHED IN BOSTON VOYAGER

I recently got approached by  Boston Voyager for an interview about my art. I felt very honoured and flattered they were interested in my work and my story; I happily accepted the invitation.

Please do read the article and share your story in the comments if you like. There is nothing better and more inspiring than knowing that like minded people around you are doing their best to improve their skills and develop their hobby into something more!

You can read the article here.

 

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GEMMA HARE

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Artist’s Bio and other Featured Artists at the end of the page.

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THE ARTIST SAYS:

“Gemma Hare is a fine artist residing in Aberdeen.

After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2005 with a BA (hons) in Drawing and Painting, Gemma became a primary teacher, which has led her to work with children in different school settings as well as facilitating art workshops.

Her work is inspired by everyday objects and experiences, such as plants, people, places and text. She enjoys experimenting with different media and processes.

Gemma also incorporates printmaking and stencilling techniques to build multi – layered pieces.

Gemma’s current series has a new focus. Her work looks at bee preservation, through the use of her layering and colour composition, with a painted bee as a focal point. These pieces also incorporate some text, relating to the issue of bee decline and its consequences.

Gemma has been creating work again since November 2018 and is beginning to experiment with creating print editions, as well as one off originals. She has taken part in recent exhibitions in Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh so far. Gemma is happy to accept commissions and discuss her work with others.“

  

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Loved Gemma’s art? Follow her work on social media:

 

 

 

Gemma’s portfolio: https://ghareartist.portfoliobox.net/

 

Visit our other FEATURED ARTISTS:

• SOURYA CHAKRABARTI
• ANGELA HALE
• EMMA MIZSEI
• BILLY TEE
• MARILYN BOISSONNEAULT
• KRYSTAN-GRACE SHARPE-YOUNG
• FIONA McGOVERN
• DINA AYOUB
• JUIF GAETAN

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COLOUR THEORY – COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

AN EASY WAY TO ADD SHADOWS

Last week we looked at the Colour Wheel which is the foundation of the colour theory. The complementary colours were mentioned in that article, however we didn’t look at those in detail.

When mixing primary colours (red, yellow and blue), the secondary colours occur (orange, green and purple). An easy way to remember which the complementary colours are, is to visualise the colour wheel. Those sitting opposite are called Complementary colours. See below; green is red’s complementary colour, purple is yellow’s and orange is blue’s.

Another easy way to memorise this is that its primary colour’s complementary is the one created by the other two primary colours. ie. red’s complementary is green (blue + yellow). Anyway, lets not make it to complicated. With practice you will be able to remember instantly, until then just open the Colour Wheel and have a look.

The amazing thing with complementary colours is they have the ability to “mute” the primary colours with which they are mixed. This allows you to easily add shadows to your paintings. It is very very useful when you are working with limited palette of colours (ie. red, yellow, blue).

…complementary colours…have the ability to “mute” the primary colours…

Try mixing red with some green. You will instantly notice that the red becomes darker, almost dirty, which gives the impression of shadow. You might want to experiment with the different combinations. I did my exercise recently; see the results below. Later this week we will look at a more comprehensive exercise.

Materials

Again just try to keep it simple.This is not an attempt to create a beautiful painting; we are just trying to explore how complementary colours work.  Allow for 1.0 hour.

• A small brush (any type will do),
• Yellow Acrylic Paint
• Blue Acrylic Paint
• Red Acrylic Paint
• Canvas (canvas pad – easier and cheaper for this exercise)
• A pencil and a rubber

A quick summary of the above is here:

• See the primary and secondary colours on the Colour Wheel.
• Those sitting opposite on the colour wheel are called complementary colours.
• Mix complementary colours to create muted colours which can be used as shadows.

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The Artist says:

“I have been passionate about painting since I remember myself. I started by just eexperimenting with colours, colour mixing and colour application. However , it’s not always easy to achieve what you want unless you know exactly what you are doing. Techniques are different for different media; colour theory though is the basis of painting and is the same for everything! I decided to teach myself the basics; and here I am sharing that with you!”

 

Did you find this article useful? Yes

No

Do you have any comments or questions?

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

 

COLOUR THEORY – BASICS

COLOUR WHEEL

THE FOUNDATION OF COLOUR THEORY

I recently decided to teach myself the basics of colour theory; I started with the colour wheel. This provides the fundamental background of colour combination and allows you to further develop techniques. In following articles we will explore other aspects of colour mixing and combination.

Materials:

Keep it as simple as possible. The aim is to explore the colours and their combinations, not to make the most beautiful colour wheel ever created.  Allow for 1.5 hours.

• A small brush (any type will do),
• Yellow Acrylic Paint
• Blue Acrylic Paint
• Red Acrylic Paint
• Canvas (canvas pad – easier and cheeper for this exercise)
• A pencil and a rubber

 

…fundamental background of colour combination…allows you to further develop techniques.

The principle of the colour wheel is very simple. You start using the three basic colours; red, yellow and blue. These colours are called the primary colours and are the base and main components of every other colour. Having these three and mixing them in different quantities allows you to mix any other colour. The primary colours wheel is the one right below.

Once you have created the primary colours wheel then, we are ready to start mixing those three together to create our second colour wheel; the wheel of secondary colours. The colours sitting opposite each other in the secondary colour wheel are called complementary colours (this will be useful for creating shadows – see next article). As you might already know mixing the primary colours with each other gives you a first set of very useful colours: Orange, Green and Purple.

• Blue + Yellow = Green
• Red + Yellow = Orange
• Blue + Red = Purple

The second step has now been made. We have our secondary colours filling the second wheel. Final step is to create a third colour which will be filled with the tertiary colours. As you can easily guess, mixing the primary colours in different quantities (exactly as you did for the secondary colours above) gives you greens, purples and oranges of different strength. So here you can experiment and create colours you like more by mixing slightly more blue, or a bit more yellow or maybe a bit more red? Create as many mixes you like. For the sake of this exercise I created only a couple of each combination.

 

A quick summary of the previous steps is here:

• Primary colours are: Yellow, Blue, Red
• Secondary colours are: Orange, Green, Purple
• Tertiary colours are: The combinations of primary colours  using different quantities of each colour. Create Yellowish Green or Blueish Purple etc.

 

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The Artist says:

“I have been passionate about painting since I remember myself. I started by just eexperimenting with colours, colour mixing and colour application. However , it’s not always easy to achieve what you want unless you know exactly what you are doing. Techniques are different for different media; colour theory though is the basis of painting and is the same for everything! I decided to teach myself the basics; and here I am sharing that with you!”

 

 

 

 

Did you find this article useful? Useful

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Do you have any comments or questions?

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

JOANNA – 1

04/06/2018

This Monday’s drawing session was very enjoyable! We had a new model, a middle aged yoga instructor, Joanna. Joanna had a thin but well shaped figure. During this class we did three different poses during which I put in practice my Human Anatomy – Ribcage studies.

The session started with a 5 min pose; the model was lying down, leaning against a low chair. This was literally a warm up exercise for me as I had not drawn from life for almost two weeks. You will notice that proportions and tone are not great. I was not too worried though as I knew it is just a quick introduction to the session.

The second, was a sitting pose. I was sat behind and to the side of the model so I had a good view of her ribs and  side of  legs. In reality I could only see a very limited amount of her back as that was hidden by the chair. I didn’t bother sketching the chair. I focused on capturing right the pose of the body and the relationship of the head with the shoulders and back. I quite enjoyed sketching the cross leg. Again this pose lasted for less than 10 minutes so I was not too worried about detailing.

The last pose was again a sitting one, however the model was now on the floor. The chair used previously was now just supporting her one arm leaving the rest of the body visible to detail. I had a brilliant view of her torso and her legs. I am  pleased I didn’t change my position during the break as with this pose I had the opportunity to properly sketch the ribcage and then develop the skin on top of that. Please notice the plane on top of which the head is based. See the connections of the collar bones to the shoulders and how the muscle extends to her breast. I am also quite happy with how the legs turned out. Although I appreciate the drawing is not perfect (ie not even touched tone) I am very satisfied that last week’s hard work studying the ribcage and the upper body structure assisted with this drawing here.

…notice the plane on top of which the head is based. See the connections of the collar bones to the shoulders…

 

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The Artist says:

“It is so amazing when you start studying the human anatomy before you go to the next class. You gain an understanding of how things work together and then instead of just sketching individual shapes and planes you understand how the body structure works as a whole!”

 

 

 

Art is more fun when you meet the artists themselves! Visit THE ARTIST…

 

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting

 

 

HUMAN ANATOMY – 1

Human Anatomy

The ribcage

In this article we will see step by step how to draw the front part of the rib cage. I only tried this myself a few days ago so I am sure it will be very helpful for absolute beginners. I will try to keep the article short and easy as usual.

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Sketching Advice: Read more here

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Step 1

Frist of all you need to define the main proportions of the rib cage; width and height. Measuring the maximum dimensions you would see that the rib cage could roughly fit in a square box.

Step 2

Once you have the main dimensions in place you can then start looking at the main shapes of the rib cage. Keep in mind it is symmetrical either side of the chest bone (middle bone). See the shape below. To help me measure this accurately I measured and sketched the top set of ribs. Once you have that in place check where your maximum width of the rib cage is and start connecting the lines to create this “egg shaped” outlines.

Step 3

Now you have the main outline in place you can start looking at the various shapes internally. Define the length of the chest bone (approx. half of the total width). Make sure you start sketching the chest bone at the correct level because otherwise even if you have the right length it will look too short. With the chest bone sketched you can start adding the rib centre lines (I found sketching their full width immediately quite confusing as your page will be covered in a million lines).

There are 5 sets of ribs connected to the chest bone and there are two extensions onto which you have five more sets (a medical student might be able to help with the terminology…). Measure the spacing carefully as they are not exactly at regular centres.

Step 4

Basic shape of the chest bone is on your paper as well as the rib centre lines. You can now start rubbing that back so you can barely see your previous lines. Its time to start defining the shape of the ribs and the chest bone a bit better.

Step 5

At this stage I found sketching the spine very helpful as it gives you a feel of where the ribs meet and close the cage. So do that now. Roughly shape the spine. You can approximately measure and see where the ribs meet (having a reference photo will help you a lot with this – aslso a study of the ribcage/spine from behind I think wil be very appropriate to clarify this area).

Step 6

Final step is to show the colar bones. These connect to the top o the chest bone. Is good to know where the collar bones sit is it will be necessary to show those when drawing from life. Also, it will help you understand better how the head and the neck sit between the shoulders. This will be looked at in a following study.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and you found it useful. Similar articles are published occasionally with helpful infomation and simply described roules and principles of sketching. Stay in touch (Facebook, Instagram)!

 

Articles on Perspective – Start reading here.

CHROMA

Love Sketching & Painting