Using Color to Turn the Form
Prior to the impressionists, value was used to turn the form. The technique is called chioscuro. The impressionists introduced the idea of of using color to turn the form and introduced color into the shadows.
For example, on a sunny day the warm yellow of the sun will impact the color in the highlights. The shadow areas will not receive direct sunlight. Rather, the shadows are illuminated by the relatively cool blue light emanating from the sky.
My teacher, Scott Nickerson, with whom I study portrait painting, has pointed out that colors tend to follow the color wheel as you progress from the shadows to the highlight area. This can be seen from the following color wheel.
For example, on a sunny day the warm yellow of the sun will impact the color in the highlights. The shadow areas will not receive direct sunlight. Rather, the shadows are illuminated by the relatively cool blue light emanating from the sky.
My teacher, Scott Nickerson, with whom I study portrait painting, has pointed out that colors tend to follow the color wheel as you progress from the shadows to the highlight area. This can be seen from the following color wheel.
For example, if the shadow area is a red/violet, the colors would proceed up the right hand side of the color wheel: transitioning through the Reds and oranges to yellow as the form turns into the lighter highlight area.
On the other hand, if there is a blue cast to the shadow area, the colors would transition up the left hand side of the color wheel to the highlight area: transitioning through the greens to the yellows.
As an example, look at the left cheek of the. ODell in my portrait painting below. The shadow area is a red violet which transitions through the Reds and oranges to get to the yellows of the top plane of the cheek.
On the other hand, if there is a blue cast to the shadow area, the colors would transition up the left hand side of the color wheel to the highlight area: transitioning through the greens to the yellows.
As an example, look at the left cheek of the. ODell in my portrait painting below. The shadow area is a red violet which transitions through the Reds and oranges to get to the yellows of the top plane of the cheek.
i will be saying more about this technique in the future. However, you can see that this is a very effective way of realistically depicting the turn of the form.
