complementary color shadows

[Ruleslawyer]

So I'm about to begin my adventure into colored shadows. I've always shaded with black/brown before. I understand that using a complementary color in the shadows is a good way to start out. I'm planning on a blue base figure, so the shadow should be orangish, right? Just seems strange for a shadow color. If anyone has seen the miniature mentor speed painting tutorial, That's what I'm hoping to try. Any suggestions?

 

[GreenOne]

Befor you go into too much colors, I think i'd be right to specify this, the complementary shade would be obtained by mixing orange with the base blue, and then steering toward a more neutral tone in the deepest before the orange actually shows.

 

[gohkm]

Specifically for blue, you could darken it by using various shades of brown mixed in with the blue as shadows. Or you could use a very dark purple.

 

[Einion]

So I'm about to begin my adventure into colored shadows. I've always shaded with black/brown before. I understand that using a complementary color in the shadows is a good way to start out.

Not exactly. Or at least it's not as simple as that. The best single method to dull down a colour is to use a grey. Complements do work well, but the problem lies in finding what is a complement, since theory and practice aren't the same here - best example is Yellow, which theoretically has as its complement a blue not unlike Ultramarine.

I'm planning on a blue base figure, so the shadow should be orangish, right? Just seems strange for a shadow color.

Exactly. Personally I don't think this works but certainly experiment since it's purely a matter of taste.

Have to add: a lot of what is written for artists (by other artists) about shadows being complementary is guff, plain and simple.

Einion

 

[Arne]

Complimentary colors can be pretty effective, visually. In reality, there's no law of nature or anything which makes shadow and light complimentary.

However, simplified, the sky is blue and the sun is yellow. Indoors the situation is the reverse. You often have a warm ambient light, and a cold dominant light coming from the windows. The warm sun is brighter than the cold sky, but the cold sky is brighter than a warm light bulb.

Basically you're often dealing with a weak ambient light source, and a stronger point'ish light source. Render-wise, you can first add the ambient light to everything, then you add the stronger light source on top of that (then crop to whats visible with your current exposure levels). It's a bit like pulling up the RGB sliders to add, say R+100, B+80, G+10. Of course, when mixing physical paints, you have to use some sort of color sense instead.

Then you have to balance realism in rendering against what looks good aesthetically. People who paint deserts sometimes like to crank up the purple a bit in the shadow (and perhaps saturating the shadow edges a little extra), because it looks so nice against the sand.

 

[Einion]

In reality, there's no law of nature or anything which makes shadow and light complimentary.

:good:

That's exactly the way it should be put, but too often isn't.

Einion