What do all these color swatches have in common? They're all bright yellow.
OK, so what's the catch? They are all bright yellow as seen in the right lighting context. That pale one and gray one at the bottom left are bright yellow in a bluish light. The dark brownish colors are yellow in shadow.
(Link to video) Here's the new trailer for Despicable Me 2 where the screenshots came from. The lighting designers did a great job of shifting the gamut from one range to another in less than two minutes of screen time.
To achieve a feeling of colored light, a painter must often shift the mixture far from the local color. A good rule of thumb is that the color of a given mixture is a combination of the local color and the color of the light source.
Related post: Color Constancy
All this is covered in my book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
Images ©Universal
Another really eye-opening post (literally and figuratively).
ReplyDeleteNot to get off topic, and NOT to get too corny, but as Thanksgiving approaches I want to be sure to express my thanks for this blog. Very single day I look forward to the insights and the conversations I can count on finding here. James your generosity and your grace are deeply appreciated. Thanks.
I agree with Tom Hart! This is yet another of your posts that I am bookmarking, James.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of something I saw on youtube the other day. Vsauce did a webisode on how the yellow we see on computers ( and I geuss movies too, maybe?) arn't actual yellow. Thought it may interest ya'll in addition to this. I'm with Tom and Janet too! Super thankful for your blog as well. Daily enjoyment!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3unPcJDbCc
Sorry, "isn't actually yellow" Coffee didn't hit my brain fully yet this morning. ;P
ReplyDeleteNice
ReplyDeleteThe sound on the movie trailer is spectacular.
Andrea, I did see that V-sauce, and as I remember it, he pointed out that the yellow you see on your computer screen is really the green and red mixing.
ReplyDeleteTom and Janet, you're welcome. You two have brought so much to the table with your comments. The reason I do the blog is to have a reason to learn something new every day, sort of mental calisthenics. Now if only I could do the same with my muscles.
Is yellow_brain!, aka stupid dogs, my kids love Gru!
ReplyDeleteI have never commented here, but I needed to chime in show of my appreciation for the blog and your work, James. Thank you for taking valuable time out of your busy schedule to do this every single day, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience and thank you for helping rekindle the passion for art, that in my own case was almost gone, but came back slowly because I was always keeping in touch with it through your posts.
ReplyDeleteAdriano
Adrian, Wow, that puts fuel in my tank.
ReplyDeleteVery charmiFg animation. I wish I understood french better (if that's what it was). Off topic - I there a difference between oil painting Alla Prima and Wet-into-Wet, or are these the same things? If different, how so? Thanks
ReplyDeleteClaire, it's a good question. They're nearly the same. Alla prima means doing the whole painting in one session, or "from the start." By definition that means painting wet into wet. But you could do a painting over several sessions by working in sections, each one laid down all wet together.
ReplyDeletenice post,,,Thought it may interest ya'll in addition to this. I'm with Tom and Janet too! Super thankful for your blog as well,,
ReplyDeleteJames, it must be incredible to view the world through your eyes.
ReplyDeleteNothing very constructive to say, except that this is a very timely post. I'm helping my friend with some color theory, and we were discussing how environmental factors can change perception of a color. This is a perfect post to link him to. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJames, a fellow plein air painter tells me, "there is no yellow in nature"....I understand that a greenish tree should not be overly described as yellow in sunlight...it should still have a greenish cast, also as a result of the cool, bluish effect of the sky...He also states emphatically that a yellow school bus is not yellow...it is yellow-orange or yellow-green (in noon light the top would be yellow green the sides more yellow orange). But really, in the case of a yellow lemon...what about the transition between sky light and reflected light...wouldn't that be "yellow"?
ReplyDeleteIs his observation because of the additive quality of RGB light? Or as a result of the fact that, according to "Vision and Art, the Biology of Seeing" by Margaret Livingstone, that for an object to appear purple, objects have to selectively absorb a very narrow range of light. As purple and yellow are complements and there isn't much purple to see is that why we also don't naturally see yellow?
I have your books on Imaginative Realism and Color and Light and have loved both.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this...I am mystified.
James, a fellow plein air painter tells me, "there is no yellow in nature"....I understand that a greenish tree should not be overly described as yellow in sunlight...it should still have a greenish cast, as a result of the cool, bluish effect of the sky...He also states emphatically that a yellow school bus is not yellow...it is yellow-orange or yellow-green (in noon light the top would be yellow green the sides more yellow orange). But really, in the case of a yellow lemon...what about the transition between sky light and reflected light...wouldn't that be "yellow"?
ReplyDeleteIs his observation because of the additive quality of RGB light? Or as a result of the fact that, according to "Vision and Art, the Biology of Seeing" by Margaret Livingstone, that for an object to appear purple, objects have to selectively absorb a very narrow range of light. As purple and yellow are complements and there isn't much purple to see is that why we also don't naturally see yellow?
I have your books on Imaginative Realism and Color and Light and have loved both.
Thanks for any light you can shed on this...I am mystified.