Handy Color Studies

 

12/5/21 A confusing secondary triad

Once I understood why life-drawing models are an intriguing and challenging subject for studying color temperature, I figured I needed to practice during life-drawing sessions. But then I remembered that I have a “life model” on the end of each arm! They aren’t as fun to draw as Shawna, but my hands do show a range of subtle color temperature differences, especially when I exaggerate them by drawing with Art Stix in garish, saturated hues.

Sometimes with these exercises, the results look more like value studies than color temperature studies, since the side that faces the light tends to be warmer than the shaded side. I knew I could easily be confused by this, but I tried to keep color temperature firmly in mind as I worked.

By the way, I stopped sharing these on social media after the first one because some followers were alarmed that the reappearance of the hand meant a return to self-enforced COVID lockdown! Nothing that dramatic . . . it’s just a “handy” life model.

12/9/21 My trusty CMYK triad

12/13/21 Three fun analogous colors that were relatively easy to work with in terms of color temperature.

12/19/21 This complementary pair worked well for this experiment because the cast shadows looked slightly warmer than the form shadows, and those are the areas where the two colors mixed (into an unpleasant green).