In arts, there is the need for the artist to continually explore different options to arrive at a perfect artwork or what is generally referred to as a masterpiece. Coming up with a masterpiece takes a lot of time and practice from the artist’s point of view. It usually involves trying out different combinations until the desired one is achieved. One of the tools a visual artist uses in making a perfect artwork that is desired by all is discovering the art of color study and how best to use it for the various artworks being embarked upon. This article intends to look critically into the art of color study and how it can help an artist come up with a masterpiece.
So, What is a color study? A color study is based on the premise that, the right color for any artwork is intentional. The proponents of color study try to show that achieving the perfect color palette for a painting or any artwork for that matter is not accidental. Rather, it is intentional and the result of a carefully planned study and exploration.
The purpose of a Color study is to achieve the right color, so for that matter, there is the need to carefully try different forms of color combination to determine which one would do the best job of bringing light to the painting. It is believed that there is a relationship that exists between colors and exploring the relationships would help in bringing out the best color at all times rather than just using whatever color comes to mind. From experience, it has been affirmed that engaging in color study before embarking on painting any artwork would help the artist in coming up with an artwork that is better in all ramifications than an artwork that has been painted without considering the color study.
With a color study, the artist is able to learn more about the relationships that exists between colors such as the complementary, achromatic, monochromatic, etc. and how to harmonize all of them together to make the best paintings that fits the artwork at all times.
Why You Should Do a Color Study
For an artist who wishes to come up with an exceptional work of art, there is the need to do a color study. A color study is just an equivalent of what a rehearsal is to a drama group, maybe more. With a color study, you can set out every plan you have for your project and determine which path to take. A lot of artists have made the mistake of starting a painting without actually having a sufficient plan on how they want to go about the painting. This could actually have a negative effect as they usually have to go back to the basics after putting in a lot of hours because they didn’t have a sustainable plan from the beginning. With color study, you have everything you need to know from the start. You know the color combination you want for your subject, the moods, drawings, etc. A color study gives you adequate cover and saves you from unnecessary headaches midway through your projects.
How to Do a Color Study
Art by Dizzysun
A color study is an important part of every artist’s work. It helps in giving direction on how to handle painting projects at all times. Basically, color study involves the putting together of all elements of colors and trying out which best brings out the best in whatever painting you want to embark on. It involves either mixing color together on a palette or carbon paper by hand to discover the right combinations or using the digital means of mixing color together to determine the perfect combinations for your painting.
In all cases, color study involves a lot of experimentation of colors and putting them together to determine what works together at different times for the paintings of the artwork involved.
Things to Consider When Doing a Color Study
There are a few things every artist should consider to help in guiding them in the process of doing a very good color study. They are:
• There are no Bad Colors
What every artist must realize before embarking on their color study is that there are no bad colors. A great deal of many artists makes the mistake of thinking some colors are bad and should not be considered. The truth is all colors are good in their own way. They just need to be complemented with another color that works fine with them and you would be surprised at the result you get. This is why it is very important for every artist to do a lot of color studies as these would be revealed in the process.
• Experiment as Much as You Can
To get the best results from your color study, you need to experiment a lot. Don’t be restricted in your study. This is the beauty of the art in the first place, isn’t it? A great artist is never afraid to explore and experiment with different colors and different spaces. When you dedicate your time during the color study to the experimentation and exploration of a lot of color combination and their relationships, you would be thoroughly surprised at what you can achieve. Experimentation would open your eyes to a wide range of possibilities that would serve you right in the course of the job you are on and prepare you for a lot of things in the future.
• Don’t Be Afraid to Spend a Lot of Time
In getting a masterpiece, it is important that you spend a lot of time. Don’t be afraid to spend a lot of time on your color study because you think it is derailing your whole project. Instead, you should spend a lot of time discovering what you can in the color study so that you can arrive at a point where you are confident that what you have is truly sufficient for whatever you wish to achieve. It is true that you mustn’t be too slow in getting things done, however, spending a lot of quality times in the process of the color study is not synonymous to time wasting and the lessons you will learn from such engagements would truly be rewarding for the project in the long run.
• Do More Than One Color Study
When it comes to color studies, one cannot be enough. As an artist, you must realize that there is the room for further discoveries when time and effort is invested in any study. Also, there is the penchant of always discovering something new and better from every study. Whatever might have been discovered from the first study can be bettered by further researches. Even if what you discover is not entirely better than what was discovered in the past, they would definitely help in complementing whatever you have in the past and give you options when trying to move forward with your projects. Also, whatever you learn now would definitely be useful in the future with other projects.
Benefits of Color Study
Color studies come with a lot of benefits to the artist. In fact, the benefits are so much that it is hard to understand why anyone would even want to start a painting without first conducting a color study. For the purpose of this article, we shall be discussing a few of the benefits that come with color study and how it could help the artist come up with the perfect painting for all artworks at all time. The benefits include:
• Helps in Understanding Relationships that Exists Between Colors
A color study gives the artist the perfect understanding of the relationship that exists between colors and how to use it for their benefit. Colors could be very difficult to understand sometimes even for the best of artists. However, with the conduction of a series of color studies, the artist would perfectly understand the various forms of colors and how they relate and harmonize with each other. This understanding would definitely help such artists to break new grounds in their works. Knowledge of any art helps in bringing out the best in people who have acquired such knowledge, and the same thing can be said of an artist. Whatever is discovered from the color study would help a lot both in the short and long run to help the artist in making better artworks.
• Helps in Testing on Small Scale Before Larger Works
Color study is the perfect template needed to test the efficiency of your paintings on a small scale before embarking on a larger work. With color study, you can try a lot of different color combinations and relationships on the small-scale level just to try and get the right solutions. We all know no one experiments with the larger works as they are what truly define the value of an artist. What you every artist must understand is you can’t learn to be the world beater you need to be on the large project. Whatever you need to pursue the large projects and make it successful would have been learned somewhere else. This is where the lessons from the color study come into play. Everything that has been learned in the course of the color studies can then be put into making the big projects great and admirable in all aspects.
• It Gives the Artist a Lot of Color Options
Color studies give the artist a lot of color options from where he can choose from. Oftentimes, a lot of artists are restricted to a number of colors they can use in making their paintings. This is not good as it could make the jobs to look too similar. If an artist has studied color, this would not be the case as he would have been able to explore and experiment with a lot of colors in the past out of which he could choose the perfect ones for each painting. Paintings and all artworks are supposed to be refreshing and exciting, this is exactly what color studies would do to any artist as there would always be something new to create at all times.
• It Boosts Creativity
Creativity is everything to an artist. In fact, it is one of the single most important attributes of a successful artist. There is the need to be creative and come out with a newer and refreshing way of doing things. This is one of the benefits of the color study. It helps the artist to see new ways of doing things and bring new artistic inventions into being. Every artist realizes that there is no limit to what can be achieved with practice and consistent exploration of the art. Studying colors and how it works help the artist in consciously or subconsciously creating new and improved methods of painting from time to time.
• Helps in Mastering the Art of Painting
Color study helps the artist in mastering the art of painting. Painting is basically based on color and how it can be used to create light on subjects. A lot of artists have struggled to get a hold of how exactly to use the right color to bring light to a particular subject in the past. Even some supposedly international artists still make this mistake on the grandest of stages. This simple but seemingly difficult mistake can be handled by adequately studying color and how it relates to all subjects to be painted. An artist you has a good grip on colors through color study would know the exact color to use for all types of paintings at all times. This is because he has experimented and explored colors at all levels under no pressure. Someone who has put in a lot of hours studying what to use, when to use and how to use a color would definitely be able to apply the knowledge at all times without much hassle.
In delivering what every artist’s dream of giving in their lifetime, a masterpiece, there is the need for adequate preparations coupled with experimentation and exploration of the art. Fortunately, the color study gives this platform to every artist who is willing to travel the path. Any artist who is willing to be the best at what they do must discover the art of color study and use it to enhance their works.
