Alright- take this with a grain of salt cause most of my knowledge on water colour is based off books on mixing water colour (I can't use water colour personally- me and water based products don't go well together T.T) etc... and painting with oils techniques, but I think what I have to say can still help
OK, so all colours are made up of pigments of all three primaries, so keep in mind that when you mix a yellow and a red together, you wont get a pretty orange, but a brown colour instead cause it'll have cyan / blue in it also, and when you mix all the primaries together, you get grey. So, when you by water colours, getting the secondary colours at least and base colours you use alot is really go so your pigment stays vibrant.
My second thing is that using black as a tint (to darken the colour) isn't a great way of making a natural shadow on things. What people normally do is work in hot and cold colours (It's best to Google hot and cold colours- others explain it better than I would), and if your highlight is warm, you use a cold colour as a shadow, and visa versa. I can't tell if your skin pigment is a warm or a cold colour, but if it feels like it has a lot of pink/red colours in it, then try for a skin tone with equally as intense blues in it rather than black. Black has it's uses in art, but when used in this way, it will wash out your skin tones, and make it look like he's wearing make up to give his face definition rather than it being a natural cast shadow. The key think is though that it's a soft hue of blue- not a strong one. I'm still learning a lot about colour though, so I'm not sure how much further I could explain. All I know is that for my oil painting course, I had to buy black paint, but I wasn't allowed to use it for this reason, and it applies to all mediums. Again though, black has it's places, specially if looking un-natural is what you want. I just don't think ti's what you were going for- that's all
Lastly, to mix a more interesting version of black get a colour, and it's complimentary colour (opposite colour on the colour wheel, like red versus green, yellow versus purple, and blue versus orange), and you get a grey which has a much thicker and more interesting colour than a tube of grey could produce If you use that for your grey then it'll add a really cool dynamic to your art rather than black, or you can add black to it if it's not dark enough
I hope I was some help to you TuT I like to help out artists if I can, and I think these are a few small thinks that will do your art a lot of good Feel free to not use my advice however if you're not comfortable with it
Interesting, I knew some of this from Watercolor Class in college, and the way we had to shade was with the same color only darker. For the skin color I started out with was Napels Yellow Hue and I ran out of it so that is why it set around for a whole year not touched. But the whole mixing with the black I am gone to have to try that. But I am thinking that Paney's Grey is used for shading in oil and not watercolor... and I have been using black as the shading on the oil picture. I hate switching between these two medias because I have to hit reset on my thinking.
Oh and the unnatural thing, the photo I am using as reference has this unnatural lighting on him so that is why it looks unnatural. You do make some good points that I have not heard before.
White watercolor is considered an abomination, but I still use it.
There's nothing wrong with using pure white on an image White occurs in nature- it usually is surrounded by shadows etc to give it form though
Using the same colour but darker is better than back, but certainly with a pastel colour like a skin tone you don't use black to darken it ^^; You could try layering your tones. The face natrally has different tones in it, and you could use blues and greens to tone the face, wait for it to dry, then go over in a skin tone or something. The reference I linked goes from skin base tone to a much redder tone, to a mahogany colour then to black in the darkest spots, but use black as a secret weapon- not the first line arsenal. You can go dark easily in water colour- not lighter. If the reference is correct, then you'l want a sky blue highlight on the edge of his face, and to block in a dark colour to black out your background right now- it'll help you pick your tones. Don't go black- Paynes grey might be a nicer colour. You can make it black later if you want.
Napples yellow is an ochre colour which you could start an asian skin tone with, but it's a little far around the palette for European skin. It needs more pink tones to bump it's hue around but you'll have to be careful not to muddy the colour too much. Peach is a terrible colour, but you can add Naples yellow to it and find something? Be careful how much it darkens it though (I donno- I'm use to coloured pencil ^^; ) Paynes grey is a *better* alternative to black as it is blue based, but not for skin tones.
Sorry- I'd be more helpful if you were using coloured pencil or paint It's getting to the threshold of my watercolour knowledge.
This images is similar to the one I am using but on the right side the Avengers with a blue background. And I cropped and printed the image out on an ink jet so the colors I was looking at when starting out where washed out really bad and now I have a photograph that I am using. I am kind of afraid to mix in other colors since the paper is not good quality and I doing Dry Off could rip a hole in it and I don't want that. I did start out building up the layers slowly in sections so there are parts of the face that have a thick layer and some that have a light layer. and I started out with the black shading because of the printed out image I was looking at, the one I am looking at now the black is not needed but I am so far along that I am just going to go with it. I have added a light green background that I need to build up closer to the face to get that transition of dark to light. I have a set of flesh pencils that I worked with and it helps but this is so much done I am just going to go with the flow of it already. Though there are some hard lines around the shadow that I can see about adding the other colors to get rid of them. Cerilium Blue should do the trick since the sky blue pigment is to bright. Thought the lips gave me a lot of trouble since the Scarlet was being a pain and I had to find the right balance of pigment gathered by water to get the pink I wanted and then built up to keep it from going full red. I keep back tracking here, I am terrible irritable at talking about things. I did use some Napels Yellow but it was not giving me to look I wanted, again going back to the printed out image I was using for the color aid. Then I did it as a personal piece to hang on my wall with the other men. Though next time I can always do something different.
This images is similar to the one I am using but on the right side the Avengers with a blue background. And I cropped and printed the image out on an ink jet so the colors I was looking at when starting out where washed out really bad and now I have a photograph that I am using. I am kind of afraid to mix in other colors since the paper is not good quality and I doing Dry Off could rip a hole in it and I don't want that. I did start out building up the layers slowly in sections so there are parts of the face that have a thick layer and some that have a light layer. and I started out with the black shading because of the printed out image I was looking at, the one I am looking at now the black is not needed but I am so far along that I am just going to go with it. I have added a light green background that I need to build up closer to the face to get that transition of dark to light. I have a set of flesh pencils that I worked with and it helps but this is so much done I am just going to go with the flow of it already. Though there are some hard lines around the shadow that I can see about adding the other colors to get rid of them. Cerilium Blue should do the trick since the sky blue pigment is to bright. Thought the lips gave me a lot of trouble since the Scarlet was being a pain and I had to find the right balance of pigment gathered by water to get the pink I wanted and then built up to keep it from going full red. I keep back tracking here, I am terrible irritable at talking about things. I did use some Napels Yellow but it was not giving me to look I wanted, again going back to the printed out image I was using for the color aid. Then I did it as a personal piece to hang on my wall with the other men. Though next time I can always do something different.
Printing pictures always darkens the image, and it never prints quite the same... It's hard. I know when I draw from digital photos I try to reference both a print and the digital image. Sometimes the digital image has subtleties that the print out loses. I donno XD
You mean colour layering? Normally water colour paper is pretty thick, like 180gsm or something cause of it. It's probably too late now, but maybe use a heavier paper for your next water colour pic? Or is it thick already and you're worried about it buckling? cause it'll do that with thick or thin paper.
If you can't get the colours you want but you have coloured pencil, there is the option of mixed media. Wait for the paper to dry, then change the tint with a pit of coloured pencil? I'd wait for a day for it to dry 100%, but that could make up for it. It's all a learning experience though. Hopefully it'll all make the next picture easier to make though I hope it turns out well for you in the end TuT Sorry- I don't want to be discouraging about the picture if I was- you're doing a good job I just thought I'd point out a few things that you could use for your next picture TuT
Discouragement, I do that to myself every day. I use 140 lb paper and usually I use Strathmore Brand paper because it is better quality but when the Office Depot was moving stores they had a lot of their art supply's on discount price and I hit the few watercolor 15 sheet pads they had. I had gotten one that was good quality but the next batch not so good. Since I can't afford anything new I am using what I have and making due.
I do mean color layering. I put down a thin coat and then build up the color. It is a far cry to when I layered on on thick at the start and could not salvage the image. So
OK, so all colours are made up of pigments of all three primaries, so keep in mind that when you mix a yellow and a red together, you wont get a pretty orange, but a brown colour instead cause it'll have cyan / blue in it also, and when you mix all the primaries together, you get grey. So, when you by water colours, getting the secondary colours at least and base colours you use alot is really go so your pigment stays vibrant.
My second thing is that using black as a tint (to darken the colour) isn't a great way of making a natural shadow on things. What people normally do is work in hot and cold colours (It's best to Google hot and cold colours- others explain it better than I would), and if your highlight is warm, you use a cold colour as a shadow, and visa versa. I can't tell if your skin pigment is a warm or a cold colour, but if it feels like it has a lot of pink/red colours in it, then try for a skin tone with equally as intense blues in it rather than black. Black has it's uses in art, but when used in this way, it will wash out your skin tones, and make it look like he's wearing make up to give his face definition rather than it being a natural cast shadow. The key think is though that it's a soft hue of blue- not a strong one. I'm still learning a lot about colour though, so I'm not sure how much further I could explain. All I know is that for my oil painting course, I had to buy black paint, but I wasn't allowed to use it for this reason, and it applies to all mediums. Again though, black has it's places, specially if looking un-natural is what you want. I just don't think ti's what you were going for- that's all
Lastly, to mix a more interesting version of black get a colour, and it's complimentary colour (opposite colour on the colour wheel, like red versus green, yellow versus purple, and blue versus orange), and you get a grey which has a much thicker and more interesting colour than a tube of grey could produce
I hope I was some help to you TuT I like to help out artists if I can, and I think these are a few small thinks that will do your art a lot of good
Oh and the unnatural thing, the photo I am using as reference has this unnatural lighting on him so that is why it looks unnatural. You do make some good points that I have not heard before.
White watercolor is considered an abomination, but I still use it.
There's nothing wrong with using pure white on an image
Using the same colour but darker is better than back, but certainly with a pastel colour like a skin tone you don't use black to darken it ^^; You could try layering your tones. The face natrally has different tones in it, and you could use blues and greens to tone the face, wait for it to dry, then go over in a skin tone or something. The reference I linked goes from skin base tone to a much redder tone, to a mahogany colour then to black in the darkest spots, but use black as a secret weapon- not the first line arsenal. You can go dark easily in water colour- not lighter. If the reference is correct, then you'l want a sky blue highlight on the edge of his face, and to block in a dark colour to black out your background right now- it'll help you pick your tones. Don't go black- Paynes grey might be a nicer colour. You can make it black later if you want.
Napples yellow is an ochre colour which you could start an asian skin tone with, but it's a little far around the palette for European skin. It needs more pink tones to bump it's hue around but you'll have to be careful not to muddy the colour too much. Peach is a terrible colour, but you can add Naples yellow to it and find something? Be careful how much it darkens it though (I donno- I'm use to coloured pencil ^^; ) Paynes grey is a *better* alternative to black as it is blue based, but not for skin tones.
Sorry- I'd be more helpful if you were using coloured pencil or paint
I did start out building up the layers slowly in sections so there are parts of the face that have a thick layer and some that have a light layer. and I started out with the black shading because of the printed out image I was looking at, the one I am looking at now the black is not needed but I am so far along that I am just going to go with it. I have added a light green background that I need to build up closer to the face to get that transition of dark to light.
I have a set of flesh pencils that I worked with and it helps but this is so much done I am just going to go with the flow of it already. Though there are some hard lines around the shadow that I can see about adding the other colors to get rid of them. Cerilium Blue should do the trick since the sky blue pigment is to bright.
Thought the lips gave me a lot of trouble since the Scarlet was being a pain and I had to find the right balance of pigment gathered by water to get the pink I wanted and then built up to keep it from going full red. I keep back tracking here, I am terrible irritable at talking about things. I did use some Napels Yellow but it was not giving me to look I wanted, again going back to the printed out image I was using for the color aid. Then I did it as a personal piece to hang on my wall with the other men. Though next time I can always do something different.
I did start out building up the layers slowly in sections so there are parts of the face that have a thick layer and some that have a light layer. and I started out with the black shading because of the printed out image I was looking at, the one I am looking at now the black is not needed but I am so far along that I am just going to go with it. I have added a light green background that I need to build up closer to the face to get that transition of dark to light.
I have a set of flesh pencils that I worked with and it helps but this is so much done I am just going to go with the flow of it already. Though there are some hard lines around the shadow that I can see about adding the other colors to get rid of them. Cerilium Blue should do the trick since the sky blue pigment is to bright.
Thought the lips gave me a lot of trouble since the Scarlet was being a pain and I had to find the right balance of pigment gathered by water to get the pink I wanted and then built up to keep it from going full red. I keep back tracking here, I am terrible irritable at talking about things. I did use some Napels Yellow but it was not giving me to look I wanted, again going back to the printed out image I was using for the color aid. Then I did it as a personal piece to hang on my wall with the other men. Though next time I can always do something different.
You mean colour layering? Normally water colour paper is pretty thick, like 180gsm or something cause of it. It's probably too late now, but maybe use a heavier paper for your next water colour pic? Or is it thick already and you're worried about it buckling? cause it'll do that with thick or thin paper.
If you can't get the colours you want but you have coloured pencil, there is the option of mixed media. Wait for the paper to dry, then change the tint with a pit of coloured pencil? I'd wait for a day for it to dry 100%, but that could make up for it. It's all a learning experience though. Hopefully it'll all make the next picture easier to make though
I do mean color layering. I put down a thin coat and then build up the color. It is a far cry to when I layered on on thick at the start and could not salvage the image. So