Day 4

Guidelines

• Choose two paintings that you will develop with multiple colour heroes.

•  You may want to add another layer of coloured shapes so that the painting has some colour options for you to develop later.  When the painting has a variety of different shapes, lines and colours you’re ready to add some ink.

•  Choose two ink colours and drop a couple of drops onto the surface.  Spread the ink around with a Colour Shaper or squeegee.  Add a little water if you want.  Mix the colours to create a beautiful new blend and allow the colour to pool and create beautiful liquid marks and effects in places.  Leave the painting to dry.

•  Have a look at the painting - take a photo with your phone and look at it in Greyscale. (Black and White).  Assess your Design.  Do you have strong contrasts between light and dark?  Do you have some dark areas in your composition?  Are they nicely distributed from top to bottom and left to right.  Remember that you will be painting over most of the painting so you will lose some of your ‘darks’.  If you feel you need to add some more, mix up a dark colour and add some shapes into the painting.  Remember to consider DIFFERENCES - skinny/wide, curved/straight, large/small.

•  Now your painting should be really colourful and have some dark shapes distributed throughout the composition.  It’s time to choose your first Colour Hero.  Choose a colour that you really like in the painting and that covers quite a lot of your ‘real estate’.

•  Now you need to choose a colour that will compliment this colour.  So ask yourself: Is Colour Hero 1 light or dark?  Is it Warm or Cool?  Is it Saturated or Desaturated?  Make sure you Colour Hero 2 is different in at least 2 of those elements.

•  When you mix up Colour Hero 2 make sure you add a little of Colour Hero 1 into the mix so that it harmonizes and shares some DNA.

•  Distribute Colour Hero 2 throughout your painting - remember to focus on DIFFERENCES again.  Thick/thin paint, hard/soft edges.

•  Look at the Design again (Greyscale) - do you need a light colour to provide greater value contrasts?  Or if your Hero Colours are light you may need more dark areas?  Mix up a colour which will strengthen the Design by increasing the Value Contrast and that will also live with your ‘family’ of colours in the painting.  In my painting I chose a light pink because one of my Colour Heros was a rich pink/red.  This is Colour Hero 3.

•  Check the Design again (Greyscale) and lighten or darken your Colour Hero 3 to create beautiful subtle shifts of colour/value.

•  Look at the colour in your painting now.  Is there another colour that you could extend or develop (I did this with the yellow) to help link areas or add richness to your palette?  Your Design should be strong by now, so adding or making another colour stronger will only add to the colour story in your painting.

•  You can continue to make adjustments, add marks and details, or remove distracting elements until you’re happy with the final result.