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| 2/21/25 Prismacolors in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook (The triangle at the bottom is one way to mix three hues to see the range of neutral shades available.) |
The assignments in Sarah Bixler’s class last week were a fascinating exploration of values and color temperature. First, we were to make a values study of a face using colored tape in a collage-like way (see below). When I had taken her class previously, we did a similar exercise, so the concept wasn’t new to me, but I remember how much fun it was – and informative.
And it was again! Tape, especially
without using scissors to cut small pieces, is a crude medium, so it’s impossible
to get fussy with details. In addition, the tape is straight, so you get angles
instead of curves. It’s liberating to focus only on values and not have to look
at proportions, features or anything else.
Using the collage as a reminder of values, I used the same reference photo to draw a portrait. She suggested we choose one warm and one cool (I chose orange and green) to establish the main color temperatures. Once the temperatures were blocked in at about the same middle value, we were to choose a third color fairly close on the color wheel to one of the other two chosen colors (I chose blue). The third color would push the other hues in the appropriate temperature direction.
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| Values study made with tape -- fun! |
One big question I had from the previous week’s exercises was how to see color temperature independent of values. Despite the orange and blue I had chosen for those exercises being about the same values, I kept thinking of blue as “darker,” so I’d use it to apply darker values without paying attention to whether those areas were actually cooler. Sarah answered my question by saying she almost always establishes color temperature first before focusing on values. This was a bit of a mind-blower, as I’ve heard most instructors say the opposite – always establishing values first before color. I followed her suggestion for this exercise, however, and it definitely made it easier for me to avoid confusion between value and temperature.
Your color choices are working well!
ReplyDeleteThanks! We'll see what this week's class brings. . . getting more challenging!
DeleteYou are right - even in traditional and art quilting which is where I learned most of what I know about this sort of thing, value is always emphasized over color. But sometimes it is pointed out that our fabrics can do much of the work, i.e. I would often find I really wanted to get to that color first and worry about value later.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's interesting from a fabric perspective, where colors are always opaque. I find the transparency of colored pencils to be tricky at times.
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