Excercises : Black . opaque or transparent ?

Diegojavbau

Air-Valve Autobot!
Hi , another a beginner question :adoration:

I'm training control with the exercises (blends are the most difficult for me) , I'm using opaque black but recently I notice that in the video , Mitch use transparent black.

Transparent make the blends more easy ?

"The Eye" (and tiger) is painted using tranparent or opaque black ?
 
With transparents you need to build up the opacity. You can stop when think you've reached the correct colour. With opaques, unless you give it a really light misting, the colour is what you are gonna get. Each have their purpose. I think the eye and tiger was done with transparents.
 
I prefer to use transparent colors, you better check the nuances, to cover an area you have to make more steps but the results are great.
 
Hmm, Does that mean the problems I have with "Colouring in" are because I only have opaque paint please?
 
I think for covering an area to an even tone, opaques are good because they get to an optimum colour and will be more consistant and less likely to be patchy. With transparents the more layers you add, the deeper the colour gets, which can be a problem when doing larger areas as it's eay to get a patchy look where paint overlaps.
 
I think for covering an area to an even tone, opaques are good because they get to an optimum colour and will be more consistant and less likely to be patchy. With transparents the more layers you add, the deeper the colour gets, which can be a problem when doing larger areas as it's eay to get a patchy look where paint overlaps.
What squishy said.

I like to do monotone artworks with transparents and when it comes to full color i'd use alot more opaques. you want a base for color artworks and the more paint the merrier whereas with monotone artworks transparents are thinner and easier to erase off/ scratch. they are also generally finer and you can get greater detail with transparents.

i wouldn't ever recommend painting over transparents with opaques but by all means paint over opaques with transparents..

if you only want one set of paints - get all transparent, with an opaque white (technically white shouldn't come as translucent - that's an oxymoron).
 
Blimey, Mitch It's not true you haven't been Banned :)

So when colouring in a t-shirt I should try laying white doen first then the colour I really want? Ok I will give it a try.
 
To re-iterate much of what is above, there's 3 basic painting methods..Opaque only, transparent overlay and a mixture of both..

Opaque only-Opaques are much easier to control as they will only get to a certain color or tone and generally won't look patchy if you take the color to its full intensity. They cover the layer before so mistakes are much easier to fix, main problem with opaques is they look chalky due to the white that's mixed in, Its hard to create anything realistic looking with an opaque only system..

Trans Overlay- This is primarily using transparent paints only, sometimes it is done on top of a white layer if your using a dark background. Here you want to use the white of your canvas as your white and try to avoid covering it all..As the trans is transparent, the colors look brighter than likely what you see in your mixing cup, they can look much more lifelike and realistic when done correctly but are much harder to control and learn the ins and outs off and you have to avoid coloring over a previous layer unless your using transparents of similar tones..IE Add Blue close to or over a yellow and you'll get a green tint

Both systems-Likely the choice of most and a system that has been utilized for eons in oil and acrylic painting with final glazes/washes being painted over a opaque base..The trans being painted on top of an opaque allows a huge range of color possibilties and helps remove the chalkiness and gives nicer shading to an opaque only painting with can look flat and 2d without that help from the transparents...

Ultimately I would suggest that most beginners become comfortable with opaques first as mistakes and such can be easily covered up, when comfortable try finishing your opaque paintings with a transparent color or two to really pop your pics and add depth..If you want to try transparent overlay, a very good understanding of colour and how it works is critical as much of the mixing takes place on the canvas..Though there are many reasons to break the rules, even if just for fun as it will teach you the do's and don'ts pretty quickly that will suit your own future desires..But taking the pain out of it to begin with will provide most with much more encouraging results...

Traditionally in most painting styles black and sometimes pure white is avoided at all costs, personally I luv to use black as many do as it provides some great contrast, especially in the darker subject matter that most AB artists take on, but in regards to portraits and landscapes and other traditional area's try to take black out of the equation all together to get more realistic works as even the darkest shadows, generally have color to them..GL
 
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