One of your primary tasks when painting realistically from life is make decisions. If you're confused about what you see or what you're doing, what goes onto your canvas will likely be confusing to the viewer. There are all sorts of decisions we need to make in a painting, but there are some easy places to look for information to help you out.
One of those places is along the edges of every form. This is a great place to judge contrasts in value and color- one side of each edge will be lighter, and one will be darker. Occasionally they will be the same value, and only very occasionally will both sides of an edge be the same color. Really paying attention to these relationships around each form and clarifying them in the painting can solidify your forms without a lot of effort. Of particular interest is where the relationship switches- as you trace along the contour of one form, the inside edge might be darker than the outside edge, but then at a certain point (often as the form is leaving shadow) the inside form will be lighter and the outside darker.
For some reason these judgments are very easy to make along contours. Say we have two swatches of similar, but not the same, color. If someone held the two swatches up a couple feet apart, it would be difficult to tell the difference between them. But, if we saw one swatch right next to each other or partially overlapping, the difference would be very easy to see. This is useful to take advantage of while painting.
Edge contrast is different from- but related to- edge quality. Edge contrast refers to the difference in color on either side of a contour, and edge quality refers to the softness or hardness of the edge between the two colors.
Showing posts with label Light and Color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Light and Color. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Local versus Perceived Color
Local Color
Local color refers to the actual, physical color of a surface independent from the effects of light and shadow. Local color is the answer you give when someone asks you "What color is it?". For example, if you had to fix a hole in a wall, you spackle up the hole and then paint over the repaired area with paint that matches the local color of the wall. If I asked you what color your shirt is, you would respond with its local color. This color wouldn't change regardless of the lighting situation- even in the dark you would still say the same color.
Perceived Colors
Though it is almost always extremely helpful to know the local color of an object you are painting, often you will not actually mix the local color and use it in your painting. This is because the effects of light and shadow create many variations of this local color, which we will call Perceived Colors. This is what actually reaches your eye in the form of rays of light- not the local color. However, the human brain seems to be geared towards processing the perceived colors and determining the local color of an object. If you see a green apple, you understand it as a green apple, not a dark green, medium green, and light green apple. Most children begin coloring by using the local color to fill the entire area of an object. It's only later that we become aware of "shading".
Perceived colors includes the shading created by light, along with other effects such as the color of the light, the texture and material of the object, it's position relative to the light, and many more. Perceived colors can vary greatly with a change in any of these factors. Note that colored lighting especially can dramatically alter the perceived color.
What Does This Mean For the Painter?
If we want to paint realistically, we need to paint colors that mimic the perceived colors. If we put them down skillfully, they will cause the viewer to understand the objects in our painting appear to have the same local colors as the objects did in real life.
Local color refers to the actual, physical color of a surface independent from the effects of light and shadow. Local color is the answer you give when someone asks you "What color is it?". For example, if you had to fix a hole in a wall, you spackle up the hole and then paint over the repaired area with paint that matches the local color of the wall. If I asked you what color your shirt is, you would respond with its local color. This color wouldn't change regardless of the lighting situation- even in the dark you would still say the same color.
Perceived Colors
Though it is almost always extremely helpful to know the local color of an object you are painting, often you will not actually mix the local color and use it in your painting. This is because the effects of light and shadow create many variations of this local color, which we will call Perceived Colors. This is what actually reaches your eye in the form of rays of light- not the local color. However, the human brain seems to be geared towards processing the perceived colors and determining the local color of an object. If you see a green apple, you understand it as a green apple, not a dark green, medium green, and light green apple. Most children begin coloring by using the local color to fill the entire area of an object. It's only later that we become aware of "shading".
Perceived colors includes the shading created by light, along with other effects such as the color of the light, the texture and material of the object, it's position relative to the light, and many more. Perceived colors can vary greatly with a change in any of these factors. Note that colored lighting especially can dramatically alter the perceived color.
A computer graphics scene of colored objects.
The local colors of the objects in the box,
ignoring light & shadow
ignoring light & shadow
The perceived colors under white light, yellowish light,
bluish light, and very red light (clockwise from top left).
In the examples above, notice that the local colors of the objects rarely, if ever, appear in any of the lit scenes- particularly when the light source is colored. bluish light, and very red light (clockwise from top left).
What Does This Mean For the Painter?
If we want to paint realistically, we need to paint colors that mimic the perceived colors. If we put them down skillfully, they will cause the viewer to understand the objects in our painting appear to have the same local colors as the objects did in real life.
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