[blok]

i often use the eyedropper to determine
the colors from my reference pic, i also can pick the colors just by looking and i am reasonble close to the orginal color.

So what is the best way to pick the colors?
Isn't the eyedropper a sort of cheating? and do you think i can stand in the way of improving your art?

Let me hear how y'all think about this.
thanx,

blok

[Derek]

The eyedropper will help you get in the ballpark, but will not pick the color you think you're seeing. It's settings, and the nature of pixels, aren't going to get you exactly what you need... you need a developed sense of color for that. At which point the eyedropper becomes irrelevent for that purpose.

You have to be certain that the color you use is the right value and temperature, not just local color... if it isn't, then it's wrong.

So, using the eyedropper to help you pick a few colors... whatever, but if you don't have the ability to make color choices based on what you're doing in the painting, it isn't going to help like you think.

I would say that it's a crutch; get off of it as soon as possible.

Edit: remember that unless you've changed the settings, the eyedropper gives you an average sampling of pixels, either a 3X3 or 5X5 sample. And if you try to grab a single pixel, you'll go crazy trying to grab the color that you think you see, unless you're in at insane magnification or low resolution.

[ July 27, 2002: Message edited by: Derek ]

[jr]

why would it be cheating? is your painting flat coloring book color? round 3d objects arn't just one color unless you paint over a picture or something. if you understand the color, you can use wahtever you want

[Lunatique]

It is only cheating if you can't pick the right color on your own. For beginers, it's not a good practice. But for experienced artists who ARE capable of correct color selections, it's a short cut, not a cheat.

[Asurfael]

I don't think it's cheating. I sometimes use eyedropper to pick the basic hue for skin, then I pick the highlight/shadow colours myself. Eyedropper is an important tool for me, as my monitor's calibration absolutely sucks (my monitor's too bright for one thing). I can manage fine without the eyedropper though, as I'm often too lazy to track an image with a good colour.

I don't think that the eyedropper is that much different from asking another artist what brand/hue of oilpaints did he use to create such an image. It would always be better if you could guess, though. But for example if you've got a poorly calibrated monitor, eyedropper can become a neccessity. Thank god my monitor isn't THAT bad, so I seldom need to use the eyedropper.

It was funny though... I once ran into this artist that traced all of his images from photos, but refused to use the eyedropper as he regarded that as cheating. Weird, eh?

EDIT: typos...

[ July 28, 2002: Message edited by: Asurfael ]

[faB]

The point is that your reference photo is probably never as vibrant as the original. This 'vibrance' or 'life' or 'emotion' you put it in by picking colors that are not esxactly the ones from the reference photo.

This is especially valid with scanned material, you 'd be a fool to pick colors from scanned in material.

Maybe you want to do photorealistic painting, such as matte painting.. I think even in that case you do not paint a photo, but you paint what the eyes of the viewer makes of the photo, that is not the same.

I think the eyedropper is a useful tool to pick up colors you already put in your painting, but even then its dangerous because you are likely to pickup a color that is already affected by other painting.

Here's a good book to understand color
The Art of Color

Art of Color is a short version of Itten's theory of color, it's cheaper and contains the essential (and probably easier to read as well I was told, it's the one I bought) The sample pages on amazon.com are the begignning opf the book, you dont see the many plates of color there are in the rest of the book.

[Anthony]

Designers often have books filled with colors that go well together...in painting, you may use the same color paints as a favorite artist...in digital art, it can be a good starting point to use the color pallette of an image you like. You still have to understand what's going on, but if its working in an image, and you're going for a similar look, it'll save time deciding the colors. You get more control as you learn what colors work and can pick them yourself, but its a good starting point.

[Malachi Maloney]

I used to sample almost all my colors when painting skin, but that doesn't always work well. Photos often don't have enough contrast between lights and darks, so when you sample all of your colors from photos, your work can often come out looking very flat and lifeless. Also, photos contain all kinds of colors that aren't really visible to the naked eye, so you might go to sample a creamy peach color for some skin and accidentally grab some green or other odd color from a random pixel floating about, that can prove to be very frustrating after awhile.

Anyway, if I were to offer you some advice, I'd suggest that you use the eye-dropper in moderation and try to select colors from your own pallet as often as possible.

~M~