The fine art of mixing color

















The wonderful thing about Justin's demo blog is that he goes into great detail about his color use and layering to achieve the final effect.
For instance, he says that it's easier to judge colors more accurately by painting on a warm grayish tone on the canvas versus a bright white. Hm, sounds just like what I do when I'm presenting color palettes to business clients- I mount my images on a neutral 50% gray matte board to best represent colors and value.

Ever wonder how to mix colors for realistic Caucasian skin tones? Justin mixes yellow ochre, alizarin crimson and viridian to create the shadows for this little girl's face. (For those unfamiliar with traditional paint colors, yellow ochre is a brownish yellow, alizarin crimson is a blueish red, and viridian is a blueish green.)

Layering one color over another can also help achieve a greater sense of depth and dimensionality. Justin states, painting cool colors on top of warm colors often adds an effect of realism. Want to learn more? Head over to his new blog to see for yourself.

These tips and examples are not exclusive to fine art painting. Borrowing from a diverse range of sources and backgrounds can sharpen your color knowledge and help you in just about any color application.