8
Colours and lighting are tools
to convey mood and story
The colour scheme and lighting in your piece should not
be an afterthought. Lighting is a tool for storytelling and
the mood of your piece hinges on its colour palette. It’s all
interconnected and should be considered early in the
process. For inspiration and guidance, look at the work
of other artists as well as films. There’s a lot to be learned
by first imitating others.10
Get reference! Shoot your own
or download good stuff
This is the most frequent advice I give to artists. And it’s
the one that so many people ignore. Getting and using
reference is not hard to do, but it’s very easy to put off
indefinitely. Don’t! Get. Good. Reference. My wife and
I make reference for artists at http://www.reference.pictures
that you can check out – it’s affordable and high quality.
You can also shoot your own. Lean your phone up, put on
a timer and run to the other side of the room. It’s
infinitely better than no reference at all.7
Zoom out and check your progress
A piece might look great on a 30-inch monitor, but less so on a little 2-inch
wide card. It can help to open a second window in Photoshop of your image and
keep it zoomed out very small (the Navigator window can also serve this purpose).
This will keep you from getting too far off track with your image.
(^9)
Check your work in greyscale
Colour is important, of course, but values are king. Hue and saturation are
necessary for constructing a good image, but they’re built on the foundation of
strong values. Keep your lights light and your darks dark, and never mix those up.
Keep your values simple. Set a colour-proofing mode to greyscale (View>Proof
Setup>Custom): this will enable you check yourself throughout the process.
Workshops