About, I dunno, three months ago, I spent some time working on a picture. After two drafts and several thumbnails, I got the pencils to the point where I was more or-less happy with it. And then I thought, "I'll finish it up by coloring it."

This decision brought to my attention one of my many shortcomings as an artist. Namely, that I have no grasp of design.

B&W version of image: "Enough Rope"

Most of my artistic development has been purely mechanical: figuring out how to make my drawing look like whatever I'm trying to draw. I'm not all that good at this part, even, but that's still where most of my energy has gone.

There's this whole other side of art which boils down to "making your image look interesting" and I don't grok it at all. I was trying to get all of these bits together for this picture, and it was quite a struggle. my first effort at composing it fell flat, for example, and it took me a while to work out what to put in the background (and even now, I feel like I made a mistake in orienting the page vertically instead of horizontally, but I don't think I want to draw it all again. Especially since this is a gawdawful depressing thing to stare at for hours on end) . Once I finally figured all that out, I looked at the picture and thought, "I have no idea what colors to use on it."

My normal approach to color is completely haphazard. I think of what colors the things I'm drawing would have in the real world and then make it match. Sky: blue. Grass: green. Buildings: brick/stone/wood, possibly painted in neutral colors Etc. This ... sort of works. It works much better with natural scenes, because Nature has a pretty good color sense and seldom makes things that clash horribly. Collections of assorted man-made objects and people, not so much so.

So I asked

koogrr for help, and he offered various suggestions, like making all the background people shades of grey, which seemed like a pretty good idea. But I still felt 'meh' about it. I did a couple of color tests and put it to one side. Lately I've been thinking about it again, so today I finally did several more color tests, including trying to get bolder and use less obvious colors. ("Let's try ... purple! for the ground. How's that look?")

I do want the wings to be some shade of red, because this is (sort of ) a character portrait and the character has wings in shades of red and pink. Other than that, I'm not feeling tied to anyone idea except that I'd like it to, y'know, look good when I'm done. Coherent. Instead of haphazard. For a change.

Here're the color tests I've done so far:

1:

I think the fifth one is my favorite of the lot but ... uh. Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing.

Any suggestions? Help? Please?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From: (Anonymous)

Don't quit your day job.

From:

octantis.livejournal.com

Wow, that sure is helpful, coward. Maybe you should -get- a day job, if you have the time to anonymously troll the journal of a casual art student.

From:

ceruleanst.livejournal.com

The pitfall is using too many different colors. Your colors need to divide the jumble of shapes into clear categories. It appears you've decided the wings have to be red, so the logical breakdown is that the background should be all cool colors and the foreground should be all warm colors. This means lose the blue jeans. Make all the colors of the main figure redder than the rest of the foreground to pick him out. Any of his clothes can be red, light red, dark grey tinged with red, or a tan/brown that's noticeably warmer than the tan/brown of the ropes and wood. Make the grey of the crowd a blue-grey.

From:

rowyn

Thank you! That's very useful; I knew I ought to use fewer colors but couldn't figure out how to cut it down in a way that made compositional sense. Also was sort of stuck on the jeans, but in the end I don't really care about that and you're right that they don't work, color-wise.

From:

haikujaguar.livejournal.com

I like #3... because the hanging fae forms a triangle with the wings, and triangles with the weight on the bottom are very "peaceful" compositions: they rest the eyes with their stability. There's a reason a lot of pictures of the Virgin Mary with baby are triangular compositions.

Given that, using hot colors to fill in that triangle creates a very interesting dynamic: stable, peaceful physical arrangement, with moving, unsettling, invigorating colors. To my mind, the dichotomy between those things makes the picture more unnerving, which is appropriate for the subject matter.

All of which is a lead-in for my suggestion that you find some resources on color theory and compositional theory, read them and explore what they have to tell you. Working with color is very difficult, and I found I benefited immensely from conscious development of the skill with exercises and experiments. You might also. :)

From:

rowyn

Thanks! That's a neat perspective on the picture and one I had not considered. Do you have any suggestions for specific books/websites/other resources you found useful?

From:

level-head.livejournal.com

Here's one that looks concise and reasonable -- and leads to others.

It occurs to me that the "garish" colors, including the red/pink tinted wings, would be rather muted in this image -- especially with the lowering sky you've shown in some of the tests. That certainly fits the mood.

Recommendation: Fire up YouTube and look at the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 -- a similar scene (It's the "Hoist the Colors" -- or "hoist the pirates," really -- piece.)

Freeze the image, say at 1:34 in this video, and note how few colors are actually involved.

It's quite a trick, to convey the sense of the color while being restrained by realism -- but it can work.

It may not be photorealism you're looking for -- but it would enhance the drama, I think, of this piece. The video is a good place to look for details of the hangman's noose, too, which is quite thick compared to the rope.

Best wishes!

===|==============/ Level Head

From:

haikujaguar.livejournal.com

Basic color theory is fairly easy to get in most books... just go to a store and have a look, find one that speaks to you, perhaps.

As for other resources, you mentioned looking for things to rent? I'd recommend renting Samurai Jack, which has some of the most stunning and masterful use of color in any art form I've consumed lately.

From:

koogrr.livejournal.com

Oh yes, I agree. Samurai Jack is great for that.

From:

level-head.livejournal.com

In addition to the one below, here's an interesting set of "rules of thumb for color design" webpage.

===|==============/ Level Head

From:

ladyperegrine.livejournal.com

Maybe some of this is a matter of subjective taste? I like the first one a lot better than the others - I think that a more minimalist approach kind of underscores the sadness of the subject matter - some of the brighter colors in the later versions kind of border upon garish to me...and while that could be *more* disturbing in a certain respect, it's also kind of distracting to me as the viewer.

That said...I'm just setting out upon the path of trying to draw recognizable things, so I think it's really cool to see how well you're doing and how much equanamity you seem to have when approaching new things. You're really an inspiration for me, in terms of both being creative and setting goals for yourself and sticking to them.

♥

From:

rowyn

Aww, thanks. I haven't done any goal-setting this year, much less stuck to them, so I feel vaguely guilty. (Well, I guess I did stick to the non-goals, in that sense.) I'm starting to look at this year as a sabbatical, though, which probably means I'll be doing stuff again next year. :)

And I think you're making a similar point to Kevin Pease's -- there's too many colors in the later ones, which is what's making them garish. I'm gonna play around with the cool background/warm foreground and see how that looks.

From:

jim-lane.livejournal.com

Some images work best in monotones. Color can often be a distraction, especially when the mood is somber or dark.

Some of the most striking images I ever produced in my photojournalism days were B&W. Color came later, and was "cool" (and granted, my major awards were for color work) yet the ones that grabbed people were usually monotone.

Just my $.02---

From:

rowyn

Oddly, while I like a lot of B&W photos better than color ones -- especially in portraits -- I very rarely see a painting or drawn image that's in B&W and really strikes me with the same intensity that color paintings do. I don't know why that is.

From:

jim-lane.livejournal.com

"We come from different generations" is often the cliche answer, and while it's sometimes true, it's just as often UNtrue.

What I've seen, both in photography and in hand-created art (paint, charcoal, pencil, etc.) is a fundamental difference in vision--- IE: How one person "sees" an image in contrasts of lights and shadows, while another may see the same image as tones of color, both warm and cool and even neutral.

Just like no two people hear a concert the same way, so do no two people see an object or person or event with the same eyes, the same values, the same emotions.

Yet two artists, if skilled in their artistic crafts, may produce two entirely different interpretations of a scene or object or person, and both may be equally striking in their own way---but for entirely different reasons.

Peace.

From:

koogrr.livejournal.com

Mmmm, interesting.

Partly why I wasn't much help is I don't do many colour pieces, for almost all the reasons you describe. I like the grey shading, and hard edges and strong contrast, and it's much harder to get that with tones.

From:

jimmy-hollaman.livejournal.com

I like the first one, but like the fifth one as well. I must ask a question, whats with the really happy subject matter? I mean that looks like the stuff i normally find bizzare and happy go lucky. (ok so i am sick) its a great subject and i can see you doing it up to look really nice. I'm probable not the person to be asking on the color and stuff, since i am far from being smart about all the art stuff. (and i was at a art gallery too...)

From:

sebkha.livejournal.com

Not that I know anything much about color myself, but: the apparent color of an object is partially due to its reflective color but is also due to the color of the light sources. I notice a great many striking coloring jobs hinge on the interaction between the colors of the surface and the color of the light. Maybe a good exercise would be to do another test with the actual red of the wings very faint compared to yellow directional lighting from the sun and blue scatter lighting from the sky.

From:

the-vulture.livejournal.com

The second from the bottom has the most colour contrast between the wings and background. For the sake of symbology, methinks the ropes and gallows should be greenish as well (wings=freedom, rope=not-so-free).

I think though, a much more important consideration than colour is a) what are you going to do with the lighting? and b) do you wish to reduce some of the detail in the background in order to emphasize the foreground?

I'd be tempted to mute the spectactors in terms of shadow, detail AND colour to really emphasize the pathos of the hanging figure.

From:

tuftears.livejournal.com

The pencil sketch looks great, but some notes on the details:

* I'd have the crowd on the right turn their faces toward him; right now they're looking off the right side of the paper, which focuses viewer attention away.

* The rope seems too even; I'd have some loops of rope going over or under the other, maybe like so: \\\//\\\\/\\//// (where you can imagine the slashes are the directions that coils of rope would go)

The 5th one is nice but too dark; I like the first one more, you can give a sense of sunset that way. With a night-time sky, the crowd will be too indistinct.

From:

roster007.livejournal.com

I like the first one and the last one.
I like the color in the foreground, grey in the background of the first one.
It makes me think that the foreground person is important but in big trouble and everyone in the background is sad and/or in trouble because of her or with her? Why are all the background people all chained or roped up too?
(do they all have wings too, or did they help the winged one?)
The last one makes the rope look golden... could the rope be special?
I'm curious... what's the story?
Looks like you could write a book about, um, Rope World. :)

From:

the-pale-lady.livejournal.com

you might check out art.com They have this niffy art flash based program that allows to draw lots of stuff (under the express yourself link). I've spent the last couple of months playing with it at work, and I've found that it has given me a compleatly diffrent out look on how I use color. Mostly its made me stop trying to over do things. check it out it might help.

Incidently I liked the first rendition of the picuture best I think just looked best, more intresting to look at.

From:

sandramort.livejournal.com

happy birthday!!!

i went shopping today in honor of your birthday and bought myself a new van ;)

From:

rowyn

Yay! I am delighted for you to have a new van for my birthday. :) Thank you for the well-wishes, too. :)

From:

mortonfox.livejournal.com

Happy birthday!

From:

krud42.livejournal.com

I have no concept of color scheme, so I'm afraid I can't help you. (Or at least, what little concept I do have, is seriously hampered by the fact that I'm color-blind. Which causes me to doubt myself quite a bit. ':P)

From:

krud42.livejournal.com

Your birthday's on "Talk Like A Pirate Day"? Congrats!

From:

tkurogrym.livejournal.com

I'm more baffled by color than you are (and less skilled at pencils, too!), so I can't add to the intelligent discussion here. But I can use this little space to say howl a "Happy Birthday, rowyn!" at the top of my virtual lungs. :D Hope it's a good one, that friends and family spoil you rotten, and that you find yourself well-cheered and looking towards another good year.