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Old 6th March 2013, 09:17     #12
mpx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxton
You are so right. From the moment I picked up some colours to try a background I have been really aware that I don't know what colours go together. How did you learn this?
Basically just by learning basic colour theory (this seems to be all right http://www.colormatters.com/color-an...c-color-theory) and then experimenting and looking at great artists like Monet in how they cast their shadows, etc. For example, I pretty much never make a shadow just a darker shade of the colour that's in the shade. So say if it was a yellow shirt, I wouldn't make it just a darker yellow, or black. It looks too flat and unnatural, I would use the complimentary colour which is purple/violet, it gives off the feeling that the shade is cool from the yellow heat, and has a real feeling of shade and depth. Learning the basic colour wheel and subsequent complementary colours are invaluable to me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxton
I have moved to using varying pen thickness's in other pictures but I have found they still seem flat to me due to the colours


atm I am googling stock photos for my backgrounds. do people normally just pull them out of their mind meats?
That's pretty much the end game for art. You're basically doing reference paintings and studies all the time so that you can pull them out of your mind when you need them. I still use references for a lot of things, and when I don't it really, really shows. Many amazing artists still use references as a basic guide but the final product won't resemble anything like their reference, so they just use it as a guide and then create from their imagination, or even other references (for example, a reference of a human, then a reference of a bird wing for an angel or something).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxton
actually this is something I had considered doing, However I had thought my weakness was in not understanding colours and perspective when I posted this. Do you think my characterisation could be vastly improved but going to some life study sessions? I have been dabbling in drawing for ages but have never done any formal lessons (never did art at highschool).
The single most important thing I think you can do is take life study classes. It, in my opinion, is the core and when you've got a strong core everything else can feed off of it. Another bonus is that if you take a public class, you'll be around likeminded individuals and can feed off of them, gaining and giving information. There is absolutely no negative to doing it, and the rate you progress will be astronomical when compared to not doing it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxton
so helpful. Seriously. You have put a voice to the murmuring noise in the back of my head.
Main question is what is the best approach to improve on these areas (or learn them outright ) My goal is not to be a professional artist or nuffing but I intend to be drawing for the rest of my life and since I started trying up my game and draw whole images have been fairly unhappy at where my ability is sitting.
I think, in my opinion, if you want to just keep this up as a hobby and be happy with your end results, life study classes are at the top of the list of things to do, but I wouldn't discount Googling colour theory and focal points for drawing. You don't need to go deep into those topics, but a general understanding will take you far.
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