Thank you for the tip on adding contrasting colours (opposite on the colour chart). I was wondering how to work on these leaves and not have them turn out very similar to each other. I hope that this will be a Christmas card. Any suggestion will be helpful.
This is already looking so beautiful, Helene! I think I would keep some of the leaves less-worked on. I think they are giving this a beautiful sparkly effect. As far as getting more definition, saturation, and contrast in the leaves where you want them to be more defined, I think you are doing a great job with that cluster of leaves on the upper left. On a scrap piece of paper I would play around with tone bars, starting with the toning that you’ve already done with those leaves on the upper left, and then try some different colors in the shadow areas of the tone bars to see what you like. Some colors that I would play around with in the shadow areas are: red-violet, purple-violet, dark sepia, chrome-oxide green, and indigo. But play with a bunch of different colors. Do a bunch of little tests with different combinations, and then add some of what you like to those 3 in the upper left, and then think about how you want to handle the rest of the composition. Go slow, and only work on a few leaves at a time. I wouldn’t want to lose that sparkly feel that this has. Those red berries are great! I would get a little more contrast in some tiny areas by adding itty bitty bits of dark sepia to really make them pop. You could also maybe go in with a little more pale geranium lake and saturate the color some more & make some of those highlights a little smaller. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Hi Pam, I really appreciate your detailed comments (I have a science background too, so I like detail!). I followed your suggestion by trying colours on sample drawings of leaves and made tone bars with the 2 main green colours and it makes a difference, Thank you very much.
Thank you for the tip on adding contrasting colours (opposite on the colour chart). I was wondering how to work on these leaves and not have them turn out very similar to each other. I hope that this will be a Christmas card. Any suggestion will be helpful.
This is already looking so beautiful, Helene! I think I would keep some of the leaves less-worked on. I think they are giving this a beautiful sparkly effect. As far as getting more definition, saturation, and contrast in the leaves where you want them to be more defined, I think you are doing a great job with that cluster of leaves on the upper left. On a scrap piece of paper I would play around with tone bars, starting with the toning that you’ve already done with those leaves on the upper left, and then try some different colors in the shadow areas of the tone bars to see what you like. Some colors that I would play around with in the shadow areas are: red-violet, purple-violet, dark sepia, chrome-oxide green, and indigo. But play with a bunch of different colors. Do a bunch of little tests with different combinations, and then add some of what you like to those 3 in the upper left, and then think about how you want to handle the rest of the composition. Go slow, and only work on a few leaves at a time. I wouldn’t want to lose that sparkly feel that this has. Those red berries are great! I would get a little more contrast in some tiny areas by adding itty bitty bits of dark sepia to really make them pop. You could also maybe go in with a little more pale geranium lake and saturate the color some more & make some of those highlights a little smaller. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Hi Pam, I really appreciate your detailed comments (I have a science background too, so I like detail!). I followed your suggestion by trying colours on sample drawings of leaves and made tone bars with the 2 main green colours and it makes a difference, Thank you very much.
Great!!