Zhuzhu
Nice one…I like the way the ink spread out to form the bottom of the calf muscle.
Hard technique to master, but it looks like you have…GREAT JOB…
Glenn
Rebecca… sorry about the triple post…could’nt figure out how to get rid of the extra
ones…:shrug:
Glenn
Update.
Zhuzhu - it takes a really talented artist so bring such expression in a painting with so little detail - I´m impressed.
Rebeccak: ya… when it comes to color. I tend to forget about values… I cant seem to work out their relationship very well.
Spirit Dreamer: thanks for the tips. I’ll definitely try it
Here is my next update. 
difficult… I think i need some rest.
ericyeo,
I think you are doing a really decent job here ~ I can’t look too closely at your image at the moment as I am at work ~ but I think that you are actually doing quite a good job with color so far. You will want to blend / smooth things down the line, but you will probably want to get stronger colors in first, and then subdue them ~ vs. being hesitant about color at first, and never putting the additional colors in.
Just so I can get a sense of where you are coming from, have you ever had color theory? I can try to post something about it later this weekend…let me know what you’re interested in seeing. 
If you are using Photoshop, try using the HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) Sliders in the Color pallette. This will allow you to adjust individually the individual properties of Color.
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Thanks Rebeccak for the encouraging words. yah I did read up little bit about color theory.
I know yellow complimentary color is violet. When u have yellow lighting u have slight bluish shadow… Is that how we apply color theory?. haha… I dont know whether I am right… Dont really know much. I know colors theory are much complicated than that… There is saturation, values, hue… how lighting affect an object etc
yah Rebeccak, I definitely interested to know more about color theory
In photoshop, I use RGB for different hue for colors and HSV too
Ericyeo…
Rebecca is right, in fact, your colors right now look very much like the underpainting of a
Perter Paul Rubens…I just dowloaded, and worked on your painting,…hope you don’t mind.
I had a great feeling about your colors after looking at them this morning…a lot more there to
look at than last night. Anyway, with just a couple of colored tints…I use colored spot lights,
in painter, don’t know if the program your useing has these. But like I was saying, with just a
couple of colored tints, I managed to get your painting to look just like a Rubens.
I will post it tonight, when Mrs Spirit Dreamer gets home. I hope you like the outcome of
this experiment, as much as I do. I only spent about a half hour on it, so I’m sure it can be
taken much further. I will explain how, and what colors I used, when it is posted…
Glenn
Hi Ericyeo
You said you were having problems with color, so I took your painting and applied one technique among many that may be useful to you now or in the future. These are just steps that mimic on the computer the techniques that some of the old masters used by applying oil on canvas and can be taken alot further with details and your own personal touch of course. Here’s what I did.
#1 Your painting
#2 Turned it into a black and white half tone, then put light gold and light olive green colored spotlights on figure using Painter 8. Tints figures and creates shadows at the same time.
#3 I left your colors the way you have them and cast the same colored spotlights on figure as I did on black and white half tone version. Adjusted contrast etc and that’s about it. Hope these help you in some small way. Like your style, color, brush strokes and draftsmanship.
Take care
Glenn
As I attempt to color this exercise I find it very humbling. Ergo, even more props and respect to Corvax, SaraD, Drawmonger, Spirit Dreamer and others who have a real command of color. Speaking of SaraD, why is it that the Swedish women seem to be especially good at digital painting? What with Sara and Linda continually posting such strong work. Must be that it is so cold? Nothing to do but stay inside and draw and ocassionally sit in a Sauna? Very curious.
Anyways, why oh why didn’t I just stick with black and white!? Heh, well I have past the point of no return now I will post what I’ve done so far. What am I doing wrong here?
BTW, Zhu, I gotta say that ink wash is fantistic!
Glenn,
Great paintover! I really like that a lot, and think it’s quite effective. 
[b]ericyeo and Vidar3d,[/b]
I may not be posting a lot tonight, but here is a great article / tutorial on Color which I think may prove useful to a lot of people. I will definitely try to address this topic soon ~ but in the meantime, take the time to read through this article if Color ~ it’s really good, clear, and thorough:
[http://www.worqx.com/color/color_basics.htm](http://www.worqx.com/color/color_basics.htm)
[i]From the article:
[/i] Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray
Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue.
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.
Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value.
~
Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.
Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black.
[b]Tint:[/b] A hue produced by the addition of white.
~
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Rebeccak - Thanks for the link to the great article.
Suprisingly, my main function at work is in CMYK and Hexachrome press profiling and generating icc and thcr profiles for all the various subrates we use in our printing process. So I spend all day immersed in wonderland of Delta E comparison charts and soft proofing. For me I don’t think it as much not knowing what color to use as it is not having the courage to use it. I know that sounds funny, but I think I need to just learn to slap some paint on the canvas and be a little more bold. I am working on it here with this latest update. I think (tradionally) I end up painting weak intensities in terms of saturation and then wonder why it looks flat when I start to blend.
Let me know if you think this version is better or worse. BTW, you (and everyone else) can call me Rett. I hate Vidar3d but I guess I am stuck with it Thanks again for all of your help.
:eek: Wow! Whole lot of difference after the lighting effect and lighting/contrast. The figure pops up from the picture. I cant recongise it’s my pic at first glance . haha
Hi Rett
Looks like each of your figures is improving - Great.
You might want to make a version of this figure just to experiment with.
Color, brush strokes etc. A version that’s just for fun. Sometimes you end up learning alot that way. Just cut loose its only paint - kind of version.
Did a real quick paintover of your figure last night using colored spotlight, tints, contrast etc.
Softened face a little. Hope it helps some, can’t hurt. A good way to learn and teach I think. A picture is worth a thousand words kind of thing.
By the way is that Portland Oregon you are from? Just curious
Glenn
Hi Rebecca and everyone
Combining figures again. Want a painting when I’m done.
Chance to experiment with composition, color, harmony and unity etc.
Take care
Glenn
Wow, Glenn!
that paintover-explanation was just another eye-opener from you!
thanks!
And thanks rebecca for that link on color theory - I was just going to ask you something about it as I am growing curious about color. It will be the next logical step for me some time in the future from greyscale to color.
Glenn,
Great paintovers!
lil_fairy was asking some questions about Blending in Painter, and I was wondering if you could help out:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=2918468#post2918468
See Post #177.
This is in the Beginner’s Lounge. Your advice would be quite valuable!
[b]Mr. Mu,
[/b]No problem!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Zhu! Great drawing!
Loving everyone’s work so far!
here’s a quick start…trying a different approach that might help me to get a richer feel to the skin tones. Basically just a value sketch with a very large hard brush with a low opacity setting.
drawMonger,
I like how you are experimenting in a number of different ways ~ can’t wait to see how this one turns out!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
ericyeo,
Sometimes, with respect to color, it helps to break the Reference image in a number of different ways: by desaturating the image, adding a filter to the image so that you can see the color more simply, etc. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
[left]I think the main thing to be aware of with respect to the colors in your piece is COLOR TEMPERATURE. Colors can be either warm or cool, and while the colors in the Reference image are mostly warm, I think the colors in your image are mostly cool. This is a big thing to consider with respect to color.
Also, think of color in the body in terms of ZONES. Note how in the Reference photo, the legs and arms are warmer / darker. Darker areas of the body indicate more blood circulation at the surface of those areas. The head, arms, and legs will naturally be darker.
Notice how the torso is more pink than red / brown. This is a good rule to remember when painting people.
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
[/left]
you know, this must be some special psychic thing going on with you…
whenever I think “Hell, this is bugging me so much I gotta ask her about it” you come up with a detailed explanation and a bounty of information on exactly the things I had in mind.
This thread is teaching me tons and I haven’t even started a sketch:scream:
