colour and shading

[igmr]

This will show you guys how out of my depth I am here. I sort of understand light and shading from years back when I did a little sketching with pencils and from photoshop burn and dodge.

I have never used paints and have no idea how to mix them.

I cut stencils from a print and my first attempt at a skull was done by laying down a white primer and airbrushing black Trident reduced 1:3 with an 0.15 needle. That was okay but too high a contrast.

I then thought that if I tinted Trident white with a light brown (failed attempt at mixing an ivory) and used a bigger nozzle I could lay that down without primer and build up the dark areas with layers. That was okay but way too flat.

BTW, when I say okay, I mean the paint went on, didn't run, didn't spider and the frisket didn't rip of paint and paper. Big result for me that.

So, two questions really. How do I mix an ivory colour for my skull base colour and then what do I use to lay down the shaded areas.

 

[Mr.Micron]

Skulls When I mix an ivory I start with 6 drop White and 1 drop yellow than with a paint brush add a bit of brown until I get the Ivory color I am looking for.
I am sure others will join in and explain their way.
Most time when painting a skull I will start with the brightest places and let the over spray give me my shadows.
When using a stencil I will only dust in the color to give me a map of the design, then remove it and paint the subject matter.

Here is a link to a video that helped me a lot :Top Pro Stencil Techniques, by Crosseyed - YouTube

 

[Visual Realm]

Since i mainly like to do skulls in black, ive done a few in color and i would start off with a base mix of heavily reduced white and add a small drop of burnt umber and about 5 drops of yellow. This will give a good base color. Then i add a drop or two of burnt umber to that mix to start the shading of the darker tones as i go building up to my liking. Just play with a mixture of colors on a separate piece of paper till you find the tone your looking for before you apply it to your painting. There are many different tones to an aged skull. Some darker and some lighter. Just pick out these tones in say a picture and apply them in layers from lightest to darkest.

 

[igmr]

Thanks guys, white+yellow+brown it is (Trident do not make a burnt umber).

 

[RebelAir]

Heres a thought for ya, when your nearly finished your next cup of coffee, load it into the airbrush and use that for your lighter brown bone shade, then go in with a really reduced black (or add more coffee to your mix )...and if it ain't going well for ya, just point the gun into your mouth and pull the trigger, Mmmm cold coffee LOL..but yer...As above, though personally I don't use the yellow, just various shades of tan and brown..For me I work it up in opaques then use various brown transparents for ooomphing it up in the final layers..GL

 

[igmr]

Heres a thought for ya, when your nearly finished your next cup of coffee, load it into the airbrush and use that for your lighter brown bone shade, then go in with a really reduced black (or add more coffee to your mix )...and if it ain't going well for ya, just point the gun into your mouth and pull the trigger, Mmmm cold coffee LOL..but yer...As above, though personally I don't use the yellow, just various shades of tan and brown..For me I work it up in opaques then use various brown transparents for ooomphing it up in the final layers..GL

That sounds my kind of technique although I think I'll swap the coffee for whiskey :unconscious:

I like the idea of an opaque pale ivory base with lots of thin transparent layers to shape out the skull. I'll start with a simple monochrome version - white base, heavily reduced sepia - before practising the dark art of colour.

I thought swapping out my photo printer for an airbrush would be easy. Ha! Totally lost at the moment. I now have a few crazy skulls worked up in Photoshop ready to print and / or use as stencils (must buy a stencil cutter) but no knowledge or skills to paint the images.

 

[splasha]

Practice the basics and paint what you see.
Sounds simple, but takes time.
Do not be like me and attempt something grand first up, only to be disappointed with the result.

 

[igmr]

Practice the basics and paint what you see.
Sounds simple, but takes time.
Do not be like me and attempt something grand first up, only to be disappointed with the result.

Very different to what I expected but very slowly getting there and having great fun just experimenting and learning.

Not quite sure how my mixing an ivory transparent resulted in a purple/red opaque but there you go. I must believe the recipe next time.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[RebelAir]

Browns are only easy to make when your not trying to make brown LOL..and I only use whiskey on portraits..its lighter

I do generally buy my browns these days as it does tend to use a lot of other colors getting the shade ya want, so now I just buy a cool and warm brown and if I want it lighter, I just thin it a crapload..You could pretty much just use one reasonably dark brown, thin it right down, start your lighter shading and then gradually add more of the full trans color to your cup to build into your darker layers similar to what some do with pure black work...GL

 

[igmr]

Browns are only easy to make when your not trying to make brown LOL..and I only use whiskey on portraits..its lighter

I do generally buy my browns these days as it does tend to use a lot of other colors getting the shade ya want, so now I just buy a cool and warm brown and if I want it lighter, I just thin it a crapload..You could pretty much just use one reasonably dark brown, thin it right down, start your lighter shading and then gradually add more of the full trans color to your cup to build into your darker layers similar to what some do with pure black work...GL

Ah, I think I've been expecting too much from the paint. Photographically I've been expecting to get about 8 stops and the paint, thinned down and layered is only giving 3, hence low contrast.

Glossary: Tonal Range: Digital Photography Review explains the way I think.

Now I understand why there is a blending tutorial.

Do you know of any tutorials on pure black work? That's a direction I want to go to begin with anyway.

This mixing of paint giving any brown bar the one I want works fine for tinted monochrome. I'm staying with Trident as I seem to be getting the hang of it and have quite a bit. Shame it has limited colours (a brown and a sepia though) but I need to learn to mix.

 

[RebelAir]

Because I'm a lazy bugger I tend to only use 3 different strengths of a paint if doing mono work..One really thinned down to map the painting out, leaving as much white/canvas color poking through as I can, one medium thinned down to start building my darks and to texture with and the last full strength color to knock down texture and build my darks right up..A lot of it also comes down to the angles you use on the airbrush as angling it correctly with give you nice blends and fades, even with only one strength..Erasing can also really help, especially if using only one color as ultimately you may want you pure canvas color back in some spots where it may have oversprayed..I did a video awhile back called Batman in Black which shows some of the basic technique, check it out on Youtube, may help with some of the basic idea for ya and I'm sure there are other vids on the idea..GL

 

[igmr]

Because I'm a lazy bugger I tend to only use 3 different strengths of a paint if doing mono work..One really thinned down to map the painting out, leaving as much white/canvas color poking through as I can, one medium thinned down to start building my darks and to texture with and the last full strength color to knock down texture and build my darks right up..A lot of it also comes down to the angles you use on the airbrush as angling it correctly with give you nice blends and fades, even with only one strength..Erasing can also really help, especially if using only one color as ultimately you may want you pure canvas color back in some spots where it may have oversprayed..I did a video awhile back called Batman in Black which shows some of the basic technique, check it out on Youtube, may help with some of the basic idea for ya and I'm sure there are other vids on the idea..GL

Great video thanks. I've got it all very wrong:uncomfortableness:, guess that's what playing with a Photoshop airbrush does for you. I shall go back to practising for the time being and working on just little bits of 'my' skull.

Thanks, you've been of great help, hopefully I'll post a pic up in 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[splasha]

All part of the [steep?] learning curve we all been through, I guess.
So much of what we want to do is done by trial & error, but the end result is worth it IF you get the desired result.
Keep on trying!

 

[Mr.Micron]

Practice the basics and paint what you see.
Sounds simple, but takes time.
Do not be like me and attempt something grand first up, only to be disappointed with the result.

Hey that sounds like me when I first started...LOL

 

[Squishy]

Hey that sounds like me when I first started...LOL

That still sounds like me now Lol

 

[tucky]

ok so consider light..it travels on a straight line according to the moron physists who make the rules... but according to the light travels in a straight line...so if you are doing a roudnded surface... light will hit the top of that surface and gradually desend as the light curves away from that surface..... representing a two dimemsnal a three d object on a two d surface is a trick of the light.......so when you paint... think of the light and the path that it will follow.

 

[igmr]

That still sounds like me now Lol

I was really pleased with my first couple of toothless skulls; got some great 'shape' into them. Not necessarily where I wanted shape but that's artistic interpretation for you. And teeth, well, who needs them and who expects detail this early.

But then my photography brain kicked in and none of my airbrushes have a curves button. I know how to place and smooth my shadows and highlights with camera exposure and photoshop but not with paint.

I love mono anyway, miss my old photography darkroom like crazy, so I've now bought some FW inks, white, cool grey, paynes grey and black and will see what sort of tones I can get with that. Maybe learn to paint teeth while I'm at it.

Long way to go but I'll get there, although where 'there' is I have no idea - it's going to be fun learning.

Thanks for the support guys.

 

[Mr.Micron]

I was really pleased with my first couple of toothless skulls; got some great 'shape' into them. Not necessarily where I wanted shape but that's artistic interpretation for you. And teeth, well, who needs them and who expects detail this early.

But then my photography brain kicked in and none of my airbrushes have a curves button. I know how to place and smooth my shadows and highlights with camera exposure and photoshop but not with paint.

I love mono anyway, miss my old photography darkroom like crazy, so I've now bought some FW inks, white, cool grey, paynes grey and black and will see what sort of tones I can get with that. Maybe learn to paint teeth while I'm at it.

Long way to go but I'll get there, although where 'there' is I have no idea - it's going to be fun learning.

Thanks for the support guys.

Now Dark rooms is almost a dying art.. The digital age, I have some really cool double exposure I took years back with my old 35mm
But most of the new cameras will not do that and it is getting harder and harder to find film.

 

[jord001]

Found this when I first brought my Trident paint Might help a little sorry if it doesn't

Trident Airbrush Paint - Color Mixing Guide

Lee

 

[igmr]

Found this when I first brought my Trident paint Might help a little sorry if it doesn't

Trident Airbrush Paint - Color Mixing Guide

Lee

Thanks Lee, they still haven't come up with their Grey Scales or Fire recipes so I bought the FW inks. I will use them to give me some targets for mixing scales with Trident. I also bought a couple of dip pens to use with the ink so I that I can pretend that I airbrushed fine lines.

I suspect Trident's colour mixing guide is quite accurate; I must learn to follow it.