š Rainbows are not what they seem š½
āÆļøĀ Being a child of the 90s, I developed a healthy obsession with a certain rainbow-colored animal illustrator. Rhymes with Pisa Drank (Sheās problematic, but that doesnāt change how much her art influenced me as a young artist.) I own some original merch that I still cherish! Peep my sewing notions box below š
To be clear, my goal isnāt to imitate her art; it's to create my own artistic language! Looking back on my art practice phases and how I use color, it's very obvious that they reflect the state of my mental health at that time. I stick to black ink when Iām deeply depressed, and when Iām happy, everything comes to life in color.
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ā This year, I received many comments, compliments, and questions about how I use color in my work.Ā I will attempt to explain my thought processes around color clearly, but please understand that this is knowledge Iāve cultivated over 20+ years of art-making! Itās complicated!! And sometimes I overcomplicate things further!!
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šØ First off, forget the traditional primary colors.Ā (This model was first developed in the 1600s) Red, Yellow, and Blue will work, but wonāt give you the candy-cloud type of color spectrum. When I need to, I still use every color available, but I default to CMYK! š©µCyan, š©·Magenta, šYellow, and š¤Black. (This model was developed in the 1890s with the rise of printed media!) If this color wheel sounds familiar, itās because most printers šØļø use these pigments!
š The color wheel above is how I imagine the rainbow.Ā When I mix colors, I tend to add a lot more white than you might expect. And I always consider a hue's neighbor. In terms of value, there are obvious darker and lighter sides to the wheel, but adjusting the saturation of any hue will make it brighter.
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š For highlights, I tend to go for a very pale yellow, and create shadows with cyan and magenta. However, if you use any cooler shade of cyan, yellow, or magenta, it will read more as a shadow than its warmer counterpart.
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āļøĀ So much of how I use color has come from years of experimenting, reading, and obsessing over the science, history, and theory behind it. Color is an incredibly powerful element of art that often carries innate and societal associations. Experiment and see what brings you joy!!Ā In my experience, that is the best way to develop an art practice.
ā¤ļøāš„ HECK!@!!
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