Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything…Marc Chagall
In the next few exercises we are going to focus on the complementary colors color scheme. Color scheme is the colors we choose to start our painting with. We don’t always have to start with basic three colors, but lets start there first and see what colors can we mix up and how to make a basic color wheel.
In the first picture you are seeing the basic triad of yellow, blue and red. Then the secondary colors that are created by mixing two primary colors. And lastly, the tertiary colors created by mixing secondary with primary.
Tn the second picture you are seeing two complementary colors – any two colors sitting opposite each other on the color wheel.
In the third picture we are seeing split complementary scheme. If we took the same green and then instead using red we would add some yellow to the red and some blue to the same red, we would get two more colors that would create an exciting, but pleasing composition.
In this next video I start painting apples by using just two complementary colors as a color scheme, but then start adding some tertiary colors to create more excitement in the color scheme.
So now, what if we would apply the same concept in painting apples to painting faces. Here we take three different color schemes and start filling our faces in color. Remember, this is just an exercise, it is for you to just play with color. So don’t worry about making mistakes. Try not to over blend colors. It might seam in the beginning as if you need to, but when the colors dry, it will give them more layered look. Instead, use the different colors to fill in spaces of color complements or shades. Try to define areas with color, not necessarily to achieve certain look. If you stop overthinking it and go more with the “feeling” of the paint, you will see the fragility of the outcome.
you will need the three different portraits we sketched on mixed media or watercolor paper, watercolors, 3 different sizes of brushes, depending on the size of your portraits, water to clean brushes, and you can use the photos of the models you are using for reference of where the shading areas are in the face.
We are now going to venture into acrylics. I would like to continue with our theme we were using in painting the apples and watercolor faces. Which means having the three starting points using two complimentary colors as a starting point, and then adding to tertiary colors to the color you choose, to add more interest to the color composition. That will give us there starting points. Yellow/purple, red/green and orange/blue. So that means that if you wanted to make her face red, you choose green for the shade. But you could also start her face with blue and shading with red. But then I would suggest lighter face blue and darker shade red. Would that work? We could try. This video is all about play, and you can choose any composition or color combination you would like to work with, as long as you start with the two complimentary colors. See what happens.
And here is Part 2
