[Northkeep] Re: Winsor & Newton Designer's Gouache Colors
Zubeydah the Wanderer
zubeydah at northkeep.org
Tue Sep 30 03:11:42 PDT 2003
greddi66 at juno.com writes:
> I am wanting to expand into Illumination (Scroll Painting) and wanted to know what the best starting colors to get. I not good at color mixing, so I would like to start with the closest colors possible. I might be thinking about Heraldirc colors?
> Ron
Here's my Super Secret Ninja Blending Tip:
The trick that I use when mixing colors, is to make sure that if I am using
one type of primary colors, that the secondaries I use are variants of
that... I'm not sure how to explain it well... but... If I am doing a scroll
that is primarily Blue... I make sure the red or green or other tones I'm
using have a blue base, rather than a yellowy base. If it doesn't have it
normally... I add a dab of the blue I'm using. That gives the colors a
'consistant' base, so they don't have that 'angry conflicting' look to them.
It's either a 'hot' (yellow based tones) or a 'cool' (blue based tones look.
(Please keep in mind, I've been an art model, but never an art MAJOR! :-> )
As for which colors to use: The Beginner's Kit they've got is pretty cool.
The tubes I use the most:
Zinc White
Alizaran Crimson
Golden Yellow
Viridian Green
Windsor Blue
The Green and Blue tend to be real dark, which makes it hard to see the
black linework on the charters, so I usually start off with a glob of white
and add the blue to it (yeah, I know, it should be the other way around),
until I get a blue that isn't too light, or too dark.
Don't be afraid to play around and practice with your blending colors! Just
remember that the primary palette of the midaeval scribal dude was the
condiments: Mustard yellow... kechup red... Relish green... Take a look at
books of scrolls, and hold up your brush close to the picture, until your
blended color looks like what's in the book. (worked for me!)
hope that helps,
zubeydah the wanderer
Founding Member: Northern Region Waterbearing and Cheerleading Squad
Evil Creatrix of Things Chocolately
and occaisional dabbler into painty chartery sorts of things
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