color version using value study as a guide

 

Colorizing a value study

This will be fairly short and not as explanatory as I'd like, as I haven't felt well lately.

To go to the next level after value study, I now have to consider colors. What colors do I want to add to create the feeling I am after?

I know that yellows have the lightest values; reds can get up to medium values; and blues and purples can get very dark. Browns also. So the main thing I have to decide is the colors I want in the clothing, because everything is else is a warm, dusty color except for the skin.

I did the sky first. I wet it, though you don't have to, to get a very light color of blue. (I used cerulean). I wanted to leave some clouds for extra contrast of the women. 

 I did the road and the background color using a combination of magenta and burnt umber. (you can also use magenta and green, its complement). ON THE ROAD, I was careful to paint in the direction of the hill. This adds to the uphill feeling. Also I was careful to leave the top of the road white, and the bottom a bit darker. Now I have all my first values in.

I chose 3 or 4 colors to do my first values on the women. I chose quin burnt orange, a yellow, and a blue.

Starting at the very top  of the basket on her head, I painted each woman wet into wet as all one shape. 

For example, on the woman on the far left, I painted some pale blue into the basket, moved to quin burnt orange on the skin, some yellow on the shirt, moving to some blue on the skirt, and orange on the legs, and some blues and oranges in the shadows. These were all connected, not painted as individual shapes. This is just a light value underpainting.  (Sorry I don't have a picture of that stage) I then dried the painting.

The picture above shows the next stage, where I have begun to define some of the details. Before I put details in the clothing, I put in the folds with a #4 brush. I was careful to keep in mind that the sun is on the right, so the darkest shadows would be on the left side of the bodies.

The skin is a combination of quin burnt orange and burnt umber. I put in the general skin tones, then made a darker brown for the shadows. Even tho the painting isn't very large, you still need to use value changes in the legs and arms so they don't look flat. 

We'll be finishing this next week. The main thing for this week is to get your lightest values in: the sky, road, background. And then get at least a light base on your figures and shadow, as if they are one shape. If colors run together, that's just fine; in fact, it's perfect.