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color

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olmue:
Can someone give me some pointers as to color? I'm working on a project and want to improve my foreground to background contrast (in real-life watercolor), and I know I have blank spots of ignorance that I'd like to remedy. I checked through the Shulevitz book, but there is very little on color there, just a chapter on color separation, which isn't the aspect I'm working with at the moment. I don't even know terms to google. I notice that distinguishing between brightness? intensity? hue? value? (see, I don't know the right word) of the foreground and background is often a dividing line between professional and amateur-looking work. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Basically, can anyone recommend a good book/web site on color for illustrators (basic color, not just transfer between computer and printer sort of thing).

(FWIW, since I'm sure this is a very obvious/stupid question for this forum, I consider myself a writer--NOT pb--and have somewhat of a studio art background--LONG ago--and am trying to learn about illustration in the background.)

jadefrolics:
Hi olmue!

I think the term you could start googling would be "Color Theory." Unfortunately I don't have any specific books to refer you to, but I think you'll be able to find good information if you look up color theory in the library or google.

In general though--


* Warm colors (red, yellow, orange) tend to come toward the viewer, while cool colors tend to recede into the distance.
* Colors/Objects would be sharper and more intense in the foreground, with more contrast, while being lighter/blurrier in the background because of Atmospheric Perspective (I found this web site.. http://www.teachartathome.com/AtmosphericPerspective.html)
* Restricting your color palette is a good way to keep your work professional and cohesive. Having too many colors could make your image disjointed and confusing. Try to look up different color schemes such as Analagous, Triadic, Complimentary, and Monochromatic.
Maybe this web site would be of interest to you... http://painting.about.com/od/colourtheory/ss/color_theory.htm

I hope some of this helps or at least gives you new terms to google!   :broccoli

olmue:
Very helpful, jadefrolics! Thank you!

pjlyons:
Also, the one thing I've noticed with watercolors is they often don't have the full range of values--i.e. the art tends to lack the dark end of the value spectrum.

pj

Stephanie Ruble:
Those aren't stupid questions. They're good things to know when creating art.

This site seems to have a good overview of color and terms:
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/color/color.htm

Another thing to do would be to go to the bookstore and browse the art (how to) section. I don't have anything specific to recommend, but I like to browse in that section and be inspired. The kids section is great for explaining things w/o extra info too.

If you scan your painting into the computer and then make it a greyscale image in Photoshop, it will help you to see the contrast in your painting, which might help you to see what colors work and don't.

A way to work with this w/o scanning is to paint in black and white for a while. It will really help you to see the different values in the background and foreground.

It is hard, but not impossible to create lots of contrast in watercolor. You can build up layers of color to darken the color. You can also load your brush with lots of color but little water.

Good luck with your project and thanks for asking the questions!

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