Lessons
Class Introduction
01:56 2Understanding the Basics of Color
04:10 3Color Contrast and Hierarchy
15:18 4Saturation or Vibrancy of Color
09:27 5Ground or Surface Color
07:32 6What is Color Harmony?
11:00 7Color Palette
11:11 8Set-up Chalk & Charcoal Demo
03:40Demo: Sketch Simple Still Life
05:48 10Demo: Establish Value Structure
09:06 11Demo: Find Temperature Balance
09:47 12Demo: Shadow & Highlight Placement
17:10 13Demo: Establish Dimensional Form of Object
04:49 14Set-up Watercolor Demo
11:50 15Demo: Establish Color Ground
05:26 16Demo: Establish Colors for Object
05:30 17Demo: Sketch Object onto Watercolor
03:20 18Demo: Color Subtraction & Value Range
04:42 19Demo: Color Blocking for Composition
04:25 20Demo: Establish the Shadow Tone
05:11 21Demo: Utilization of Opaque Color
11:51 22Desaturate Image in a Picture
05:37Lesson Info
Class Introduction
Today I wanna talk about color. Color is one of the most fundamental design tools that a creative person can use, but only if they understand the way that it functions in a work of art. There are plenty of color theory books that an artist can consult, but I like to work from experience, and think about it in a more practical way, and how it works and functions with real materials. There's a couple of methods that people use that have taught me that they can be afraid of color, and that's mostly with my students at RISD. There's the Hit-or-Miss method, and that's really where someone tries to get the color down, and they get it right about half the time, and the other half they don't. And they don't know why. So trying to understand why did it work or why it didn't work is really important. Another method is called Consistent Pallette. And that's the person who uses the same set of colors over and over again in different quantities because they, it's like, "This works, so I'll try this...
again." But it's really limiting in terms of voice. And the third type of person is terrified of color and I call that the Color Tinter. That's someone who usually works only in black and white, and they give little tints of color, but they're so afraid of it, they don't understand it, so they don't really use it. My goal is to really provide an introduction that reveals the mystery of color. Simplifying the conversation. And although I'm talking about this through first the Keynote, where I'll show slides with basically the elements of color, show examples, explain sort of definitions, and we take a break, then I'll do demonstrations with paint and with pastel, and charcoal. It's applicable to all areas of illustration, it's applicable to all areas of design, or anybody who makes art because these are foundational issues. So that's what we'll talk about today.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Anna Kotzè
I really liked the informal demonstrations and I also liked the way she set out her pallet with warm and cold colors. This was not only an informative class but inspiring. The casual and relaxed working style, encourage playfulness. Thank you for an awesome class.
Laura
I’ve had foundations in many of the color instruction that was presented here so the information was a very good revisit. I also think it was explained better in this presentation than in the other training I’ve had. I enjoyed listening to the lecture, thankfully they weren’t drawn out until you want to stop listening. The demonstration was best after we moved off the charcoal drawing (although that was interesting to watch) because using the paints really brought home to me the application some of the lessons learned. I wish that part would have been more robust so that all of the elements in the lecture could have been directly called out in the demonstration. The instructor was most effective when not trying to multitask too much. Overall, I recommend this course.
Eve
Excellent instruction! Most helpful to me in terms of establishing the focal point of an image through use of value, color harmony. Also helpful to understand transparency and opacity and how that relates to highlights and shadows. MJ is fun and likable.
Student Work
Related Classes
Illustration