[IO_Error]

I noticed when doing a study of several images by Dhabih, Mullins, and Loki the subtlety in color that I have trouble acheiveing. I'm writing to ask: how do you go about picking your colors in your paintings? Which color picker do you use RGB? HSB? CMYK? LAB? Does it make any difference? Do you have any advice/tips for those looking for a more photorealistic quality rather than "In your face" comic book art?

Thanks,

IO_Error

[Guy]

well im not sure if this will help, but one thing is to stay way from the pure colours. always add a bit of white or black to it when you pick the colour, just so it doesnt stand out and hit you.

i hope that helps somewhat

[Ko]

Hi IO

I hope this will brighten up your day a bit

I've been trying to do some more painterly styled images, and came up with a good way to "try out" different colours in photoshop!
Use a fairly big brush and start painting/smudging different tones over eachother. Use the colours that you have planned for your mood/setting and make different areas of light and shadow, then when you are satisfied with you shades, you have a great reference for sampling colours, for your final painting!

Here's one of my "splat!-screens" with some skintones and extra hues for shadows and reflected light...



I hope that this has been of some help!....

Ko

[Danny]

IO,

play with the colour, forget the preset colourswatches in PhotoShop, that's just primary rainbow colour crap! Not very usefull for photorealism. What I always do when I start painting is mix up a colour in the colour mixer to something as close as possible to what I'm looking for. Then I start blobbing the paint on the canvas and letting it mix with whatever surface colour I happen to be painting on (white, black, depening if I'm after a bright or a dark image) to either achieve lighter or darker variations of the colour. Starting out from mid-point values I very quickly end up with a usuable range of values that can subtly vary in colourtone. Mixing and adding diffirent colours created in the colourmixer(often very subtly) to see if I can get better and more interesting tones. When I'm satisfied with the colours I have lying on the canvas, I'll keep picking colours and values straight from there. Only revisiting the colourmixer if I am in need for a radically diffirent colour that can't be found in the painting up to then. That is what I mean with play with the colour. Use the mixtures you're getting from the opacity of your brushstrokes and what ever is already on your canvas. Approach it conventionally. If you keep picking colours from the same source, your image will quickly get that comic look where all colours are alike if you're not carefull. Colour contamination happening in PhotoShop while painting can be very helpfull if used correctly..

Danny

------------------
[email protected]

[Loki]

exactly what danny said

[hennifer]

another easy technique is:

do a really rough sketch of whatever image you have, using the colors that come easily to mind. you'll likely end up with a really brightly colored rough sketch.

then, adjust the brightness, contrast and/or color balance to get more muted tones. you can use the eyedropper to pick up muted tones from your rough sketch, and use them on the real image. this is a great way to get a realistic palette if you're a very visual person. (as i suspect a lot of us are. )

[Frost]

If I may add "one or two" lines here... =)

Think about the setting of the drawing. What mood are you trying to set with it - deciding upon the warmth or coolness of the image, keeping in mind that the subject should stand out a little more using opposite range colors/hues.

Once you've decided on the base color of your background (taking into account the subject), think about the lighting -- what is dark, light, again trying to detach the important elements of the picture. Think about the colors of the lights to be used -- are they inside colored light bulbs, neon lights, or just a plain moonlight or sunlight? Each have their lighting properties and vary in colors (as subtle as they sometimes ca be).

Once these elements decided, try to estimate how the colored lights, shadows and highlights, and environmental colors reflect/refract/etc on the surfaces of the scene 'geometry'. For example, a red coat might turn more towards a darker, slightly unsaturated magenta in a room only lit by blue lights, etc.

If you have experience with raytracing software or with radiosity engines such as LightScape, that might help you understand how surfaces are affected by environmental lighting. (of course, this goes deeper into an analysis of the MATERIAL being lit -- cloth vs plastic -- specular, diffusion, etc.)-- blah. =)

Keep in mind that subtlety is the key, unless you're doing comic/cartoon material. Forget that RED is RGB 255,0,0 -- take into account the enviroment. Watch photos, scans, mpegs, etc. if you have to. =)

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Hope it helps. =)
frost.