understanding colours and mixing

[jamesc94]

hi guys, recently I've got the urge to do some figure painting. Assembly etc. doesn't bother me but I don't understand how some modellers mix paints to achieve the colours they want and that from articles that I've read very few use colours straight from the bottle. is there a way I can understand how to mix colours and how colours work with each other?
thanks
james

 

[megroot]

You can always buy a book about the color theory.
When you surch for a torrent for some E-book : Mixing Color - The van Wyk way, gives you something to start with.

Marc

 

[Wendy]

Hi James, I would suggest checking out your local library (or bookstore) for books on color written by artists, specifically color theory. A color wheel is also helpful.

 

[jamesc94]

thanks for the responses
i will see what i can find

 

[Gary D]

Hi James. Go down to your local Michaels Arts and Crafts store and pick up a copy of "Color Mixing Recipes for Oil and Acrylics" by William F. Powell . It's a great little book to have and only costs about $13. I also picked up one off Amazon by the same author for color mixing for portraits. It has sections on painting eyes and hair as well as different skin tones.

Gary

 

[kansas kid]

You can probably get a visual copy of the Colour wheel on line, without
any cost. I am not against those books mentioned however. All colours are
made from the three primary colours, Blue Red and yellow. Black and white
can be used to add to mixing of paints. Blue and red mixed together make
violet (or purple as some call it) blue and yellow mixed together make green;
and Red and yellow mixed together make orange. So then, Orange, violet,
and green are the secondary colours. The colour wheel shows this, and
it explains complimentary colours which are on the opposite side of the colour
in question. If you can not find a colour wheel picture, just PM me (send me
a personal message) and I will e-mail you a graphic copy of it.

Browns are made mixing the primaries. Blue and red mixed with yellow.

Like most things in the model building field, we do learn it by doing it. You
have to put the time in.

Hope this gives you another view about mixing colours.

Jayhawker

 

[Einion]

James, knowing how to predict the outcome of mixes mostly comes down to practice and experience with your own paints. Painting books and mixing guides, as well as guides you can find online and in posts on forums pF, are a useful starting point but when you get down to wanting specific shades and light-medium-dark for a uniform colour that's where you need to put the time in.

The very basic stuff like how to mix green and orange from scratch you probably already know, beyond that it's important to develop an understanding of what you need to mix to get bright or dull greens or oranges, depending on which you want. And then onwards to more subtle stuff like how to mix beige, olive drab, ivory, sky blue, that particular shade of khaki in a reference and so on.

The second part of your question - how colours work with each other - is right at the heart of the matter. First off remember you're mixing paints, not 'colours'. This can be very important because two paints for example can look nearly identical but actually mix quite differently, due to the pigment or pigments that they're made from.

Colour mixing is about paint, not colour in the abstract. This is why colour wheels and mixing guides can only be a starting point.

...

Need to correct a few things already posted:
technically the subtractive primaries (the primaries of paint, inks etc.) are cyan, magenta and yellow;
the secondaries are therefore red, green and blue;
colour wheels show visual complements only*, one has to look into mixing complements separately, if one wants to use them.

*And only if the colour wheel is complete - must have cyan and magenta.

Some existing threads for more info:
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25756
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28808
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25163
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31372

Einion