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shesta713 — The Big Long Tutorial: Part 04
Published: 2010-08-14 09:47:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 30644; Favourites: 1044; Downloads: 1601
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Description
This series of tutorials will teach you the basics of colours/light/shadow, and how to apply them.Part One: Tones, Hues, and Saturation. shesta713.deviantart.com/art/T…
Part Two: Colours, and Intro to Light/Shadow. shesta713.deviantart.com/art/T…
Part Three: Light/Shadow Continued shesta713.deviantart.com/art/T…
Part Four: Putting it all together. shesta713.deviantart.com/art/T…
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Featured Here:
infinite-heart.deviantart.com/… & fantasystock.deviantart.com/jo… & magicnaanavi.deviantart.com/jo… & deejb.deviantart.com/journal/A…
Re-made & posted on Graphisutra:
www.graphisutra.com/tutorials/… & weeklychallenge.deviantart.com…
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Comments: 90
thank you soo much for these! they have been really helpful in helping me to understand colours, it was never really explained to me at high school OR college properly. I finally understand now, than k you for the few examples you showed as well, helped me get a rough idea as to how it should look as an example 
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I'm so glad it helped, I wrote this when I was in grade 10 - my high school art teacher was absolutely amazing.
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Thank you for taking the time to make and share this with us
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I really liked this tutorial. It didn't feel too long, and the information as presented clearly with relevant examples. I have one question....and actually it's not exactly related to the tutorial but I've always wondered this; Once you create a work in grayscale and do all the detailing and values and such, how do you add in the colours? Do you create another layer and then match shade for shade/value for value the colours to your grayscale piece or is there an easier way to do it?
I'm learning as much as I cna about using colour well, and trying to create realistic variations in values along with the colours being appealing but it seems like doing the entire drawing in grayscale, just to redraw it in colour seems like a lot of time to spend, so I was hoping there was a method to adding in colours afterwards or something. Thanks for the tutorial in any case and I hope to hear from you
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It really depends on what fits you. I find doing more realistic styled work easier to start off in greyscale because you can see the values easier. But for my stylized work, I tend to work in colour right from the start, and switch to greyscale and back while I'm working just to double check the values. But basically once your greyscale is done, add layers and layers and layers of colour (depending on the program you use, usually overlay, softlight, colour).
I took the liberty of finding a few tutorials that start with greyscale and end in colour:
[link] [link] [link]
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Thank you for the response! And for getting the tutorials for me 
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I'm pretty sure you have it reversed. Black comes forward. White recedes. Try having mountains in the background be black and they won't be background no matter how much you say they are. A black ball on a white field will always jump out at you, whereas a while ball will slide back.
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Black and white are in contrast with one another, no matter how you out them together they will always "pop" out against one another. If there is more white and lighter colours in the picture, of course you will notice a black ball quickly, and vice versa.
The difference is that it may be more NOTICEABLE, but that does not mean that it is foreground or background simply based on that. Black is the absence of all light and colour, while white is every colour together with the maximum amount of light possible. If you dropped a black ball into the ocean, it would seem to blend in with the dark blue water, whereas if you dropped a white ball in you could spot it easily until it went deep enough to no longer have daylight touching the ball.
An example of how both white and light appears as though it is higher, or more forward is simply looking at your facial features. The nostrils are dark, as well as the sides while the tip remains lighter and catches highlights and may shine. The nostrils recede into you, while the tip of the nose sticks out and comes forth.
So again, simply because a small amount of black against a lot of white is more noticeable, does not necessarily mean that it is closer to you. This information is taught at high school level art classes, however most people ignore it or forget about it, it is handy when rendering objects and figures. This can very obviously be seen in black and white photography and art work, while a trained eye can detect this in coloured pieces as well.
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even look at mountains in a movie; the more distant ones are lighter and the closer ones are darker
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That is due to the atmosphere, ambient light, environment, weather, and distance, not because the mountains are different colours entirely.
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um, I know that lol
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Right, so logically the effects on colour, tones, shades, and all other variables effect how things appear to us. Try taking a look at how matte paintings are made, they break down each layer and show perspective very well, it may help.
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I'm not knocking your tutorial. I think it's great. Although some of it still confuses me. Saturation and desaturation, for one. But white surround by black will always recede. Black surrounded by white will not. It may have contrast...
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You can think of saturation in a few ways, since it also applies to more than colours. Example, eating a super colourful-sprinkles-and-icing cupcake will have more saturated fat than a bran muffin. The reason I use that as an example, is because - like colours - that cupcake is super bright and is a tasty mouthful of "colour", whereas that bran muffin is bland and lacking life and "colour".
Another way is simply by thinking, the more saturated a colour is, the more it is in it's purest form. It's not mixed with white. While a highly desaturated colour will appear like pastels, and soft, light colours. Once you add black into the mixture, you're able to create shades of that colour.
Take yellow for example, at full saturation it will look like a bright highlighter, at full desaturation it will look white or creamy. If you add black, it will look like a muddy golden olive colour (if it is on the saturated side of the scale). If you add black and the yellow is very desaturated, it will look like greyish, olive, and pretty bland.
I do have another tutorial in my gallery you can take a look at, which explains a little more on applying contrast and such to pictures and photos.
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I'm getting there...lol. And what about midtones? Don't you add gray to get midtones? White creates a tint in the color, right? Gray a midtone. Black a shade. I'm still having trouble nailing down shadows, in digital coloring and painting.
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No matter what medium, or style you use all the ways to create colour, contrast, etc remain more or less the same.
To get mid tones, its a combination of both black, white, saturation, desaturation and everything else. A mid tone is simply the area between the lightest and darkest part. So yes, in the terms of black and white, grey would be the mid tone.
Though I honestly recommend reading as many tutorials as you can on colour theory, value theory, and study, study, apply, apply. The only way you'll be able to improve your knowledge and better yourself in its application is practising. Practice everyday, even if you don't want to or have inspiration. Watch youtube videos and livestreams of other artists, or take a basic art class, it will really help.
I'm sorry I can't be of much more help though, since I'm not exactly giving lessons out to individuals. I hope what I've said has given you some more ideas and taught you a little bit.
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oh, well, that puts me in my place
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Sorry, I think you can understand artists don't have time to teach people individually, hence tutorials. But good luck!
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I wasn't exactly asking for teaching. 
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I can do my best, though again, look up tutorials for help.
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everytime I use a background, whether it be color or graphite, I always go for lighter so the subject will pop forward
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Probably the best art tutorial on the internet for sure. You did a wonderful job of explaining the basics without sounding boring or too complex. I am a total beginner interested in learning digital painting and this is the best place to start. I need to not only know how but why and this tutorial explains it all. Thank you for this tutorial and teaching me what I need to know to get started!
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Youre very welcome!
I'm so happy that it was a big help for you. c:
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o w o May I add these to a compile of references/Link them on a post for a forum I am working on a "Basics of Choosing colour" for? O w O it isn't finished but I wanted to ask before I added references to these in there.
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Sure, just send me the link. c:
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Fantastic tutorial! Thanks so much! I saved these for future reference because I've been really struggling with colors and light/shading. ^_^
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One of the best tuts I've looked at Awesome !!!!!!!
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Not a problem, thanks for reading
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i like the little cheese looking blocks... :] hehe these tutorials are really useful since my art teacher is a complete ninny
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So for blending colors in photoshop, the secret is on how you set the opacity and flow of brushes?
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Awesome tutorial! It actually reminds me of the lesson my class got in Intro to Art my freshman year! Brings back memories. x3
Thanks for making it!
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