Colour Theory

[Starks333]

Since colour is a very complex and scientific/technical topic, my explanation will hopefully change with comments and questions....as I want people to understand as I go, i need questions to be asked, and i will work in parts

 

 

Alot of people find difficulty with things like highlighting, shading, and colour mixing in general, so im gonna attempt to explain in a way that will help you not only figure this out, but be able to potentially solve problems without having to ask every time

 

BASIC PRIMARY COLOUR SYSTEMS

 

Red Green Blue

 

RGB=White/Black, all colours between as the amounts of RGB vary

 

refers to light, when added together they usually create white

 

Cyan Magenta Yellow

 

CMY= White/Black, all colours between as the amounts of CMY vary

 

refers to dyes and inks, when added together usually create black

 

Luckily we can learn from this and realize that BOTH are a result of light, and BOTH can create black AND white and every colour in between

 

and now for some math that you will not necessarily understand right away or see the use for

 

Blue= Cyan+Magenta

Red= Magenta+Yellow

Green=Cyan+Yellow

 

Cyan= Blue+Green

Magenta= Blue+Red

Yellow= Red+Green

 

Blue(CM) + Yellow(Y)= White/Black

Red(MY) + Cyan©= White/Black

Green(CY) + Magenta(M)= White/Black

 

***the dots on the wheel are reference for specific artist colours so ignore them :teehee:

 

 

WHITE NUMBERS

 

Yellow- 1

Red- 7

Magenta- 13

Blue/Indigo- 19

Cyan- 25

Green- 31

 

 

TOP HALF(also known as the yellowed half)

 

-warm colours

-brighter colours

-lighter colours

 

BOTTOM HALF(also known as the blued half)

 

-colder colours

-darker colours

-more vivid colours

 

LEFT SIDE

 

-greened colour

RIGHT SIDE

 

-redened colour

 

AS A WHOLE

 

-going towards the centre colour blackens/darkens....some cases its not JUST black to darken but black and another colour

-going towards the outer rim colour whitens/brightens...some cases its not JUST white to brighten, but white and another colour

 

QUARTERS/SECTIONS

 

-generally speaking a good way to figure out how to control your colour is to pay attention to its quarter or section.....a blue for example has two directions, purple or green, mixing in magentas/reds brings it towards the right, while mixing in yellows or greens brings it towards the left

 

BASIC HIGHLIGHTING

 

As discussed earlier, the top half of the colour wheel is brighter and lighter, as well as colours around the outer rim, thus by mixing with or mixing to obtain those colours, you are creating "highlights" or brighter tones...you generally want to mix these into your base colour

 

BASIC SHADING

 

As mentioned the bottom half is darker, thus using a colour from the bottom half will darken a colour as well as using/mixing colours closer to the centre

 

You can also use darkened portions of the top half! It all depends on the effect you are after

 

 

 

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll18/BionicCow/RCWnewTMmasterRGBBLnumRedRing650.png

 

 

 

 

BASIC [DE]SATURATION

 

-this is basically how intense a colour is

-saturated colours appear brighter, more colourful and draw more attention

-you can not mix saturated colours as saturation is the absence of other colours(think purer colour), the more colour mixed in the less saturated it becomes

-some colours desaturate another colour faster

 

-using colours closer to greyscale(whites, greys and blacks) will bring colours closer to greyscale(neutral) by removing colour...this is a process of desaturation of colour, and occurs more rapidly than other forms of mixing

 

-you can also use opposites on the colour wheel to mix to create a more neutral colour(a colourful grey) sadly without advanced techniques that apply to the use of dyes, you can not obtain neutral darks using opposites

 

-you can desaturate slightly by adding old compliments to each other (purple/yellow, red/greed, blue/orange) to each other, a small touch is enough in most cases, and i highly advise against using compliments to shade in most cases as it simply does not work or create interesting colour

 

-you can slowly desaturate colours by mixing in just about any other colour, it will not be heavily noticeable, which is good for toning down colour or tinting it

 

-saturation is an important part of colour control and composition in a piece as it directly relates to what your eye sees first

-it is also directly connected to emotion and feeling in a piece because the more colour, or less colour, or controlling of certain colour will all create different moods or reactions

 

 

_______________________________

 

 

EXPERIMENTS!!!!!!!!

 

What is a post on theory without some helpful ways to apply it!!!

 

A very very very very basic and extremely useful colour mixing practice is as follows....

SKINTONE PRACTICE

 

-take a yellow(say golden yellow) a red (say blood red) and a blue (say ultramarines)

 

-now mix varying degrees of each colour, be free, without measurements, and without planning, until you create a skin tone....apply that skin tone to a piece of paper

 

-now mix more colour into that mixture to create another, apply to a spot on the paper

 

-wash off the paint, and redo these steps another 5 times, until you have 12 different skin tone colours

 

What is the point of this? big deal you can mix a bunch of skin tones, thats great.....but thats not the point!

 

-NOW GO BACK and try and recreate those skintones to the point where you cant see a difference between the original and the new one, if you measured and insist on counting you will of ruined your opportunity to learn by eye which is immensely important as you cant learn to figure out how to create colour, simply copy what you are told

 

What this is doing is helping you to recognize colour, dissect and plan a mixture, and recreate a colour to an unnoticeable(to the eye) difference in hue...you can do this same type of practice with any colours, for example, green, purple, and orange, or pink and blue

 

 

EXPERIMENT NUMBER 2

 

Desaturation is another important aspect of colour, so lets do a test to figure it out!!

 

You need the following colours or one similiar to them:

 

golden yellow, blood red, snot green, enchanted blue, blazing(?) orange, liche purple, skull white, chaos black,

 

-Paint a drop of each of the original colours(from the pot) on a piece of paper

-now take one of the colours and mix with one other colour, apply the next colour to the paper....(mix a decent amount so the colour change is fairly noticeable) then do this until you have mixed that one colour with each of the other colours (you will have 8 different shades of yellow for example, including the original pot colour)

 

-now do this for each of the colours

 

What you now get to do is try to find which one is most saturated, which is least saturated and how much the colours in between affect saturation...the purpose of this test is to allow you a very simple and exaggerated way of seeing colour being affected by other colours

- for an extra step you can then go back and play around and test how quickly certain colours affect saturation by mixing in colour slowly, in tiny amounts...this will give you better colour control

 

BASIC COLOUR MIXING

 

First and foremost, FORGET THE PRIMARY/SECONDARY COLOUR AND COMPLIMENTARY COLOUR MIXING IDEAS THAT HAVE BEEN CRAMMED INTO YOUR BRAINS, it is whole heartedly incorrect for many aspects of mixing and creating colour

 

Why? because they forget, ignored or skipped two colours in the process of creating that concept, and without cyan and magenta the colour "opposites" do not properly align

 

Now, because when you buy paints they are not labelled "cyan" "blue" "green" but are instead mixtures of colours

 

What does this mean? It means learning what a colour is tinted with is most important...this wheel will allow you to take this into consideration more so than most because of the proper alignment, to create neutral colours you need to have opposites(remember back to the top where i mentioned the opposites, red cyan, blue yellow, green magenta)

 

for example say you have a colour in between blue and cyan...if you just took into concept the old primary secondary stuff you will think simply adding orange will make the blue "neutral" however in this case you need to take into account that a colour between blue and cyan has a range of opposites depending on the strength of the tint(more towards cyan or more towards blue) it affects the opposite the same way, more red or more yellow

 

neutral mixing allows you to firstly, mix neutral tones(greys, or close to greys) that still have the feeling of colour(they dont feel 100% greyscale) ....secondly they are useful ways to desaturate your colours without zapping colour and darkening or "dustying" a colour as a black or grey would do

 

learning this alignment and keeping some other ideas in mind also allows you to understand more about mixing colours

 

adding yellows in most cases, brighten, lighten and saturate a colour

adding blues in most cases, darken, and desaturate a colour

 

now, if you begin to go further...you can look at greens for instance...this diagram shows you what adding certain colours can do

 

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/IMG/mixmech2.gif

 

for a green, adding more yellowed green brightens and warms...adding reds dulls and warms...adding blues cools and darkens, adding purples neutralises but in aless dull fashion than reds

 

the same thing applies to other colours, you simply shift things

 

for red, adding yellows brightens and warms, adding blues cools and darkens, adding purples will intensify(or add vividness) adding greens will dull and either wamr or cool(depending on the hue of green) adding cyans will neutralise

[wokkers]

after having read your post a few times i *think* i get it. that would be awesome to have stuck on the wall in my painting area.

 

do the white dots mean anything?

 

edit: i just noticed some black dots as well - although they seem to be black to ensure that they are visible against the color behind.

[Starks333]

edited to explain the white dots are there for reference to specific artist colours

 

im glad it helps feel free to ask any form of question basic or advanced, refering to light or colour, as its the same thing!

 

 

 

Alex

[Rei Silver]

more of a question than a comment really but, i was made to understand in my art courses that the pigment primary colours normally associated with painting where formed from Red/Blue/Yellow, and was wondering if the light, and dye primary colours actually translated into the pigments as well?

[Berzerker Pezz]

more of a question than a comment really but, i was made to understand in my art courses that the pigment primary colours normally associated with painting where formed from Red/Blue/Yellow, and was wondering if the light, and dye primary colours actually translated into the pigments as well?

 

That's because one is additive and one is subtractive pigment.

 

When you add all colors of primary light (Red/Green/Blue) together, you get white.

 

If you were to mix all primary subtractive pigments together (ie Cadmium Red / Cobalt Blue / Cadmium Yellow paint) you would get a desaturated muddy close-to-black color depending on your ratio - in simplistic, perfect terms, adding the primary subtractive model pigments gets us black. This is subtractive, though it sounds counter-intuitive.

 

Why?

 

Pigments on a surface work by bouncing certain wavelengths back to our eye, while others are 'absorbed' for lack of a better term. It "subtracts" certain wavelengths of light, while our eyes perceive color. For instance we see black becuase it's absorbing every wavelength in the spectrum and not bouncing that light back to our eyes in the same manner as, say, "red" would. We perceive the absence of this reflection as black.

 

Loltangent

[Drudge Dreadnought]

*head explodes*

 

Seriously though, good thread. I'll be watching it.

[Rei Silver]

more of a question than a comment really but, i was made to understand in my art courses that the pigment primary colours normally associated with painting where formed from Red/Blue/Yellow, and was wondering if the light, and dye primary colours actually translated into the pigments as well?

 

That's because one is additive and one is subtractive pigment.

 

When you add all colors of primary light (Red/Green/Blue) together, you get white.

 

If you were to mix all primary subtractive pigments together (ie Cadmium Red / Cobalt Blue / Cadmium Yellow paint) you would get a desaturated muddy close-to-black color depending on your ratio - in simplistic, perfect terms, adding the primary subtractive model pigments gets us black. This is subtractive, though it sounds counter-intuitive.

 

Why?

 

Pigments on a surface work by bouncing certain wavelengths back to our eye, while others are 'absorbed' for lack of a better term. It "subtracts" certain wavelengths of light, while our eyes perceive color. For instance we see black becuase it's absorbing every wavelength in the spectrum and not bouncing that light back to our eyes in the same manner as, say, "red" would. We perceive the absence of this reflection as black.

 

Loltangent

 

 

Ah, i understood the basic principles of it, so in essence your saying that any of the 3 primary colour wheels i know of can translate to painting, so long as one is using the colour values of one of the three and only one of the three for each particular painting/model/whatever? if so i may have to try one of the other colour wheel's myself as almost all of my painting thus far has been the old RYB standard, and using say the dye standard may lead to some interesting hue's i hadn't thought to use. If that's the case and i didn't misunderstand the entire topic i thank you for future tweaks on my colour palette.

[Berzerker Pezz]

more of a question than a comment really but, i was made to understand in my art courses that the pigment primary colours normally associated with painting where formed from Red/Blue/Yellow, and was wondering if the light, and dye primary colours actually translated into the pigments as well?

 

That's because one is additive and one is subtractive pigment.

 

When you add all colors of primary light (Red/Green/Blue) together, you get white.

 

If you were to mix all primary subtractive pigments together (ie Cadmium Red / Cobalt Blue / Cadmium Yellow paint) you would get a desaturated muddy close-to-black color depending on your ratio - in simplistic, perfect terms, adding the primary subtractive model pigments gets us black. This is subtractive, though it sounds counter-intuitive.

 

Why?

 

Pigments on a surface work by bouncing certain wavelengths back to our eye, while others are 'absorbed' for lack of a better term. It "subtracts" certain wavelengths of light, while our eyes perceive color. For instance we see black becuase it's absorbing every wavelength in the spectrum and not bouncing that light back to our eyes in the same manner as, say, "red" would. We perceive the absence of this reflection as black.

 

Loltangent

 

 

Ah, i understood the basic principles of it, so in essence your saying that any of the 3 primary colour wheels i know of can translate to painting, so long as one is using the colour values of one of the three and only one of the three for each particular painting/model/whatever? if so i may have to try one of the other colour wheel's myself as almost all of my painting thus far has been the old RYB standard, and using say the dye standard may lead to some interesting hue's i hadn't thought to use. If that's the case and i didn't misunderstand the entire topic i thank you for future tweaks on my colour palette.

 

I am hoping Alex will elaborate more on the Cyan-Magenta-KeyBlack-Yellow palette that dyes use. I'm still learning about it, and don't know enough to explain it very well; but as far as I know, it will produce interesting perhaps more life-like hues if utilized properly... but once again, I'll let Alex answer any questions on that; I'm off to read about it, fall asleep and process said information.

 

My painting course ain't till September anyway

[Tyrannicide]

This can be very useful. I briefly learned the main points of color theory in school this year, basically everything you've posted, so I understand this fairly well. I'll have to consider this topic for the Librarium, if that's alright with you. :huh:

[Starks333]

the object of this wheel is its organization, because painters these days think colour and light are two different subjects and not simply two sections of a single topic, they do not learn how light affects colour very well

 

i will go into further detail as i progress aiming to be as accurate as i can be

[sgtNACHO]

So much science! Why? Its Summer! Why must we be tortured with learning? ^_^

 

Sounds intriguing and I only wish I had the thought processes allowed to read everything right now :devil:

 

Hopefully we'll get some more laymens versions of this going around :huh:

[Mikemike]

Finally!!! finally, someone talks about colour theory in a easier friendly way..... which is great and nice!!

 

My teacher never talks about colour theory, which is suck and disappointed...

 

But after I read through your thread, honestly, I did learned a lot I think.

I combined what I have learned from you before and now what's in your thread. I reckon I getthing the basic and concept.

I reckon this thread is actually quiet good in my opinion. I like it!

 

ok, no more crap from me lol

I got four questions so far. please

 

If I following the rules by mixing highlight and shading, is that mean, I cannot shading green with purple? I better shading green with blue?

 

As I remember, you suggest(correct me if I am wrong) or I would say you like to use the "yellowish white" adding to paints and highlight. Is this rule can still be accepted and see in the colour theory, or not? is this rule can accept to every colour?

 

What is Saturated in colour/painting mean?(I know the meaning from the dictionary, but I just dont really get it)

Because you said it's very important. So I know I need to ask.

 

Is this thread going to update very soon and update regularly?

 

 

Anyway, Thanks for your thread! :tu:

 

 

*long time no see!

[Baal Dropout]

Indeed nice article, subscribed :( (have to reread it again at home after work to further digest the content)

Cheers!

[Berzerker Pezz]

What is Saturated in colour/painting mean?(I know the meaning from the dictionary, but I just dont really get it)

Because you said it's very important. So I know I need to ask.

 

Saturation refers to how pure the hue of a color is. The more gray there is in a mixture, the less saturated it is would be a good way to describe it.

 

Also, if you mix a color with its basic compliment in progressive swatches (eg, orange to blue), in the true middle of the mixture there will be a gray/purely desaturated color. Orange and blue turn to an interesting green, gray, a more blue green and then pure blue.

[JMcL63]

Indeed nice article, subscribed :( (have to reread it again at home after work to further digest the content)

Cheers!

Ditto! Although I wasn't expecting homework and tests when I came back to the B&C! :P

[Berzerker Pezz]

I would like to add, and I think Starks333 would agree, that the best way to understand these facets of color would be to take the knowledge you get here and practice and utilize them in painting shortly afterward, so that you can see how the principles interact before your very eyes. Also, trying new things never hurts. That's my .02 for the day... Also, paper is cheaper than figures, but it's slightly different working on a fig that already occupies a 3D space as opposed to trying to create the illusion of a 3D space on a 2D plane, but paper's fine for experimenting with hue, value, saturation and chroma, seeing how colors affect each other...

[Starks333]

Referring to PEzz's last post

 

The most important thing is not to actually TRY the work, but ask yourself questions WHILE trying, the difference is, one is simply copying, the other is learning ;)

 

 

 

 

 

If I following the rules by mixing highlight and shading, is that mean, I cannot shading green with purple? I better shading green with blue?

 

first things first, HEY MIKE!!! *waves* :devil:

 

remeber the bottom half of the circle includes purples. green blues, magentas, and all darker versions of those colours....so yes, you could use purple to shade green for an "artistic" approach...technically, it will be incorrect, but thats more advanced stuff i wil eventually get into so dont worry about it too much right now :P

 

As I remember, you suggest(correct me if I am wrong) or I would say you like to use the "yellowish white" adding to paints and highlight. Is this rule can still be accepted and see in the colour theory, or not? is this rule can accept to every colour?

 

basically it still applies, its a very simple/basic and generic way to brighten colours without getting technical or complex...it will work for all colours except purple, purple requires a bit more redish hues to brighten nicely, remember how the old compliments (red/green, blue/orange, purple/yellow) will desaturate towards a brown

 

@PEZZ, you will actually fin in many cases mixing the old compliments creates a brown, where as using the ones in this wheel creates a more greyed tone...its a very noticeable difference i find as well, the blue/yellow mix is the most difficult to create a grey with, it can be done but its very very dependent on hue of the paint, where as magenta and green, or cyan and red are more forgiving

 

What is Saturated in colour/painting mean?(I know the meaning from the dictionary, but I just dont really get it)

Because you said it's very important. So I know I need to ask.

 

as Pezz mentioned its the pureness of a colour, it also affects brightness(not lightness tho)

 

example of saturated:

http://cindydyer.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/red-tulip.jpg

 

example of desaturated:

http://ucables.com/img/extra/RED-DULL-FINE...ET-R41922-0.jpg

 

 

Is this thread going to update very soon and update regularly?

 

yes, i will try and update frequently

 

 

 

Alex

[Badaab]

Excuse me for sounding a little skeptical, but I took a five credit hour course on this as part of my BFA studies, and it barely helped to scratch the surface on the entire subject. Color theory is a thorny subject, and fairly subjective as well (not unlike any other part of the art world). This is an ambitious topic to bring up here, and I applaud you for it- but good luck!

[GhostLegion]

I think you have an interesting piece here that, with a little refinement, could be very useful....but then, I do have to chuckle as I do my painting intuitively...much like you discuss your skin tone section. I have never seen the value of ratios and proportions in painting...just mixing the color until it is pleasing to the eye and to the form of the figure is enough. Not to mention that there is a significant difference between painting a 2d medium (paper) and a 3d medium (models). Paint and color theory works differently in 3d where light and shadow have both natural and artificial counter plays depending on the overall effect and intent desired by the painter.

[Starks333]

I think you have an interesting piece here that, with a little refinement, could be very useful....but then, I do have to chuckle as I do my painting intuitively...much like you discuss your skin tone section. I have never seen the value of ratios and proportions in painting...just mixing the color until it is pleasing to the eye and to the form of the figure is enough. Not to mention that there is a significant difference between painting a 2d medium (paper) and a 3d medium (models). Paint and color theory works differently in 3d where light and shadow have both natural and artificial counter plays depending on the overall effect and intent desired by the painter.

 

 

actually theres not much difference between the two since your eye is still affected by light the same way...the only difference is you are creating the shapes on the 2d surface while you are emphasizing them on a 3d model

 

colour still functions the same way, its all relative :)

 

mixing colour until its pleasing is ok, but lacking in theory and can create some technical errors(if your goal is a beautiful piece and not just a laid back fun project) traditional painters had to learn a ton about colour and many of them actually had substantial flaws in their colour practices, especially when compared to davinci

 

:P

 

Its difficult to build it as a post, its much nicer in book form, however i wanted to post something that is basic, but has a good starting point for people!

 

@Badaab.....the colour wheel is just a simple way of getting across a bunch of information on basics...the more detailed you go the more specific, and its difficult to document it all....its basically useless once you move past the basics :P

 

Alex

[Berzerker Pezz]

Referring to PEzz's last post

 

The most important thing is not to actually TRY the work, but ask yourself questions WHILE trying, the difference is, one is simply copying, the other is learning :P

 

You're so much better with mouthwords than I am. Thanks. :)

 

@PEZZ, you will actually fin in many cases mixing the old compliments creates a brown, where as using the ones in this wheel creates a more greyed tone...its a very noticeable difference i find as well, the blue/yellow mix is the most difficult to create a grey with, it can be done but its very very dependent on hue of the paint, where as magenta and green, or cyan and red are more forgiving

 

IDK sometimes I think it depends on the hue you start with. I mixed Winton Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red Medium Hue and Cadmium Yellow and got a pretty neutral color. I think it was closer to a brownish green, but was definitely more gray than those using a brighter Lemon Yellow or Cerulean Blue. However yes, I like this true color wheel it's pretty badass.

 

What is Saturated in colour/painting mean?(I know the meaning from the dictionary, but I just dont really get it)

Because you said it's very important. So I know I need to ask.

 

as Pezz mentioned its the pureness of a colour, it also affects brightness(not lightness tho)

 

 

There are a lot of terms that get thrown around frequently. Thinking back on my post, I'd wager to say using the term "Chroma" is more appropriate for discussing the vivid purity of a hue (IE Colors which are high croma VS lower chroma and monochrome, absence of color intensity in neutrals).. Saturation is better to describe the intensity of a color in relation to its lightness and value. I'd say its up for some debate though, the two terms are defined so similarly I have a hard time distinguishing the two.

[mario]

Well, that is a nice start; although I will have to nitpick a bit.

 

First of all everything is relative. Never forget that.

 

But colour system and colour space is something that does not even need to be touched that much in colour theory. Colour spaces are needed when you go from screen to print or manufacturing and need the colours to match between different types of reproduction (screen, paper, toy, furniture, etcetera). When you paint a miniature you would, at worst, use colour spaces when you adjust how your miniature looks in an image. But we are not painting our miniatures resticted to any colour space and do not need that exact reproduction (even for coolminiornot.com). So just forget that (for miniature painting).

 

For colour systems you basically only need to know that an additive colour system works because a light source emits the light. Then you get the whole red, green, and blue when two are mixed the results are cyan, magenta, and yellow, and all three mixed add up to white. That's not how it works with paint as paints (usually) do not emit light like a lamp, they reflect it and depends on an outside light source.

 

And subtractive colour mixing is what you need for miniature painting because it is based on the idea that you have a a white background and the paints on top absorb some parts of the light and you are left with less than white. Meaning that the red paint you put on some paper absorbs everything (not really but the word should suffice in this case for the visible sectrum of humans) except the red wavelength of the light that hits this spot and only reflects this red part of the light that hit the paper.

Other paints absorb other parts of the spectrum and as you mix more paints into each other it gets dirtier. You end up with something dark and brownish that only reflects a tiny part of the light (the dark brown part).

 

The colour wheel that Starks333 posted is not that great for the theory part. Visit the URL on it and see for yourself. Its details don't help paints made for painting miniatures. A simple one dimensional colour wheel is enough to get you started. Something like these:

http://members.shaw.ca/warmlandcalligraphe...our/colour2.gif

http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/00650/.../colorwheel.gif

 

A colour wheel like that is useful to know and once you know what is it about you won't need an actual physical wheel. I mentioned above that everything is relative. Every colour our eyes perceive is not evaluated individualy. Contrasting colours next to each other amplify the contrast and neighbourly colour do not. The further a colour is from another on the colur wheel the bigger the contrast and thus the bigger the amplification of it. That's, sort of, the short version of it. This is one type of contrast that you can use and play with. You could say that contrast breeds attention. So if you want something to look flashy you can go with complementary hues and get a big contrast. That's for contrast in hues.

 

But of course we are not in the 90's so the GW birght primary coloured miniatures are not en vogue anymore. If you need another type of contrast you can go with contrast in saturation. In short (and very simplified) you could say that this is about dirt in your paints; or how pure they are. Starks333 linked to two (red, I think) examples in one of his posts. When it comes to saturation in paints then you can easily reduce it by adding some colour to a very bright and clean basis. Games Workshop has slowly added more desaturated colors (the whole basecoat range?) to its selection but its main colour range is still one of the more saturated ones.

 

Now you have already two dimensions of possible contrast to chose from and your miniatures do not have to look like they were painted by the mid 90's ´Eavy Metal team. :P

 

And saturation, works like hues, just without the circular representation. It's just a linear scale from 100% saturaed to 0% saturated (greyacale). The perception of two colours that are of extremely opposite saturation will also amplify each other like with contrasting hues. If you want to use both elements (hue and saturation contrast) then you need to balance these. Because if you use an extreme saturation contrast and have a completely desaturated colour this colour is just grey and won't be able to help you with a contrast in hues anymore (because it is not there anymore).

 

Starks333 also mentioned that you can desaturate colours by adding white, grey, or black and that it reduces colour. What it actually does is reduce the saturated pigment ratio in your newly mixed paint. If you have one unit of bright paint and add one unit of grey paint you end up with a blob of two units of paint but only one unit of saturated pigment in it. You are diluting the coloured pigment.

 

And I have to agree with Berzerker Pezz on the mixing complements to get greys topic. It's just that miniature paints are not created with that in mind. They are not made for colour control but for "painting toy soldiers". I think the only colours that have any system behind them are Vallejo Model colour and the system is based around matching the colour to some chart for matching paints to historic uniforms and equipment (or something like that). That's why their bottles have there two numbers on the one is a "vallejo ID" the other for the chart. But this is basically useless for the generic fantasy miniature painters who, most probably, are not aiming for historical accurate reproduction.

 

And yeah, chroma the correct term but it is easier to write desaturate than to write reduce chroma. Saturation gets the point across while ony fudging the theory just a little but.

 

Now the third dimension in this whole game is the value of a colour. It is also the most important one. The difference in lighness/value is what our eyes perceive the best and what we also use for perception in three dimensions. You could (again for the sake of simplicity) asume that values (lightness) is what it's all about and that hue and (chroma, which also only exisits if you have a hue) are a bonus.

 

This is why some of the nicest miniatures sometimes look wrong although you can't say why. The miniature has no hierarchy of values and would (if you were to completely desaturate it into greyacale) be of a very similar grey value all over. Think of a miniature basecoated in blood red and then painted only with blood red, scab red and any mix of these two.

 

Some high level miniature painter these days prime their miniatures with a gradient (airbrush) from dark to light (see akaranseth's work here for a few examples).

 

That way you get a fast value scale for the lighting and it affects the layers of paint on top of it. Further manipulation of the values in subsequent layers affect the perception of material and texture (metal, cloth, skin, plastic), secondary light sources (glowing eyes, lamps, magic lightning, etcetera), and manipulation for composition by adding value contrast where you want the focus to be. You could paint the face in colours with higher values to draw attention to it and surround it with lower values for contrast or paint the whole of the miniature in lower values (than the face) to completely focus on the face. Of course you could do it the other way; paint the whole miniature in high values and only the sword in dark values to seperate it from the rest of the miniature, as well as implying some evilness onto the sword. This is your third contrast to play with and use as you need it.

 

That's also why the quest for the perfect NMM/skin/whatever recipe is doomed to fail. Most times when you see a nice NMM or skintone you see it relative to the whole miniature, not isolated, meaning that the value contrast of the great NMM/skin on the miniatures is at least somewhat balanced for a specific effect and can't just be transfered to your miniature without adjustment. And religiously following the recipe/ratio/paint combo does not adjust it.

 

Here is a link to the Munsell Colour System on wikipedia. The first image shows how the three dimensions can look when organised in a cylinder (and the explanations are nice too).

 

Damn it, that were supposed to be a few sentences, and I am hunry now. :)

 

Some parts are probably a bit subjective and can be interpreted in other ways if you approach the subject form a different point of view. I hope it helps someone somehow because otherwise reading this wall of text was a waste of your time.

[Mikemike]

What is Saturated in colour/painting mean?(I know the meaning from the dictionary, but I just dont really get it)

Because you said it's very important. So I know I need to ask.

 

Saturation refers to how pure the hue of a color is. The more gray there is in a mixture, the less saturated it is would be a good way to describe it.

 

Also, if you mix a color with its basic compliment in progressive swatches (eg, orange to blue), in the true middle of the mixture there will be a gray/purely desaturated color. Orange and blue turn to an interesting green, gray, a more blue green and then pure blue.

Thanks Pezz!

 

first things first, HEY MIKE!!! *waves* :tu:

Heeey Alex!!

 

Thanks for your reply Alex ^^

 

I tried the experiment. For the first one, I got a question.

You said try to mix a skin tone color, what do the color of the skin tone should looks like?

Because after many mix, what I got are usually some dark+redish+purplish+brownish color. Sometime, I get real brown, sometime, I get red brown or dark purple brown

I dont know do I get it right or wrong... because they do not looks like skin color in my opinion (ummm....i dont know? :lol: )

The second one is kinda fun. (wow, I found some of my faourite color!lol)

but keep opening and closing paint pot is killing me XDD :devil: (joking)

Actually, the experiment is quite fun! ok now is the time to "digest" what I have learned so far

 

:lol:

[Berzerker Pezz]

Mario, have I ever told you that I love you? This is the greatest topic on the B&C ever. And yeah, I was using Winton oil paints in my examples instead of GW colors; GW colors almost seem like they have no coherency together as system. However, I'm finding little ways to mix them with each other to sort of make them work at least for me;

 

I've found that Golden Acrylic makes a good thinned paint line, still thicker and heavier bodied than GW paints but it's not a tube paint. I love their metallics.

[Hubernator]

THis sounds like someone took the perspective of colour from the printer and a graphics program like Photoshop. So why not use this system for R/B/Y? It's the simplest I would've thought, since its the three arty primary colours and mix quite easily.

 

red + yellow = orange

blue + yellow = green

blue + red = purple

red + yellow + blue = brown

 

In art when I did it we had to learn shading for skin tones, and that was purely a mix of red, yellow and blue to a rough ratio. I use this method sorta for painting skins and so on (despite only painting one bare head so far :P). Maybe incorporate this into the whole thing up there - helps cover all teh aspects of the "primary colours"