How to Practice Color As Self-Taught Artist

The other day, I was having a conversation with one of my patrons, and he asked about how to study colors. In today's post, I want to share the approach I proposed to her so others like you can try out.

Her question was:

How can I effectively practice color theory and sketching as a self-taught artist without an art background? I'm struggling to find the right resources to improve my skills.

Simple Approach To Color

You already know how many colors we have. The challenge is to learn how colors react on different materials through different lighting exposures. I suggest you list a series of objects you find interesting and that also might be useful for a portfolio (in case you plan to apply for a job) and search on the Pinterest board for the specific object with different lighting options. 

For instance, let's say you want to learn how red behaves in an apple. Search for pictures of an apple during different times of the day, maybe with indoor lighting, one with night lighting, and one with daylight. Once you have your references, try to paint the reference and, while painting, understand how the red changes based on the color of the light and how the light interacts with the apple (which is the material/object of your list).  

It's true you might not find references for all the materials, colors, and lighting you wish, but after a while, you will notice that light interacts with materials pretty much the same in many of the objects we paint, creating a color application that is very predictable regardless of whether you have a reference to guide you or not. In summary:  

1. Define your goals by listing topics with colors you would like to learn (keep it simple, choose one color per material/object). 

2. Search for references of those topics on Pinterest or just simply Google, an apple for example: pinterest.com/pin/1119426051114562338

3. Paint the topic and try to understand how light changes the color tone. I encourage you to check my process videos and files so there you can replicate my execution approach when painting; it's simple. 

4. Keep exploring; perhaps you can take the same reference and change the color of the light source. This way, you can learn to evoke different moods by playing with colors. This can be a more advanced goal; for that, you can check this post

Color Theory - Creating Romantic and Mysterious Moods

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Conclusion

Last week, I conducted a survey asking for your feedback on how our Patreon can be improved. Today, I wanted to present a more simple and straightforward approach, based on your feedback, on how to solve artistic problems. I hope you like it.

If you have not submitted your thoughts, please give it a try at https://forms.gle/dwTrDgXrPANDH3kY8

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