| Author |
Message |
 
Victoria
| | Posted on Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 5:49 pm: |  |
Thanks for all the information.
I think I will go with the plain ole ultramarine that I have
and see what happens.
I read this article by Taylor Bush where she outlines
how she does her portraits. She uses a very different
approach putting in the shadows first and then finishing
up with the lighter skin colors. So I wanted to try it her
way and see how it goes. Unless you use the colors
that she uses it's hard to know whether the process just
doesn't work for you or if you have goofed things up
with the wrong colors.
I'm a beginner and so don't have a lot of experience to
inform me as to logical colors to use so plan to go with
the colors she uses even though I will have to buy
several tubes of new paints (new to me at least) in
order to give it a fair test.
Thanks again.
Victoria |
Robert
| | Posted on Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 8:25 am: | |
FWIW --
I don't think there is one key color mix for shadows--facial or otherwise. Cobalt blue, cerulean blue, also work well in mixing shadows. My portrait secret weapon is venetian red--it mixes (when used in dilute amts) wonderfully with ultramarine and cerulean and produces interesting granulations.
granulations. |
Robert
| | Posted on Thursday, July 8, 2004 - 8:17 am: | |
French is usually of a more violet hue. Plain ultramarine is identical to permanent bue which is more mid blue. There is a huge difference between student grade ultramarines and the artist's grades in most brands. Prior to posting this I -- having both student and artist grades of ultramarine in most brands from years of sampling to get the best--
ran a comparison. Here's one example. The Grumbacher academy, the largest selling student grade, has a very intense, beautiful ultramrine with coarse particles that granulate very much--in blotches. It is identical to Holbein ultramarine Deep at a fraction of the cost. However---The Grumbacher "Finest" French ultramarine is even less violet than the academy ultramarine, is very finely ground and granulates delicately and evenly. The Grumbacher Finest ultramarine is a bit less violet in hue, more brilliant and also granulates evenly becasue of very small particles.
In is quite similar to the M.Graham Ultramarine (Mr. Graham designed Grumbacher's Finest line so this is to be expected) but the Grumbacher lacks honey so is less sticky and easier to handle.
The size of the particles relates to how long it is ground in rollers and is a direct measure of quality. I post on Grumbacher though I have all of the others becasue the grumbacher ultramarines in the Finest lines (not the academy student line) are so wonderful as to spoil you.
As far a student "hues" being comparable to the authentic pigments in artist grades, this is simply not a functional truth. A glob on the pallette of cadmium red hue might look to be the same color as authentic cadmium red, for instance, but their mixing properties and handling properties are quite diffrent. I am not claiming one cannot make great art with student paints and in fact many of the student paints ar eof the same, more diluted, pigments, but as far as my experience goes and the experience of most artists who have written on the subject, there is a real different in quality between the two in terms on processing and ingredients. I have found that very often paints from an artist's quality tube as opposed to a student grade tube are more brilliant, more finely ground (and thus less likely to blotch), more interesting in their mixing capabilities, and more blendable (becasue of the addition of sufactatants and dispersants such as ox gall. I too have heard of pros using student grade paints and producing great art --usually the reason given is they feel more free to us a lot of paint when not worrying about the expense--but why not just accept that paint costs a lot and go ahead and use it. Most artists swear they can tell the difference. Me too.
One solution is to use Maimeriblu brand which is definately very high quality and currently is priced low to gain market share. |
Dale Ziegler
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - 6:49 pm: | |
Victoria, For most of us student colors (Cotman)
are fine. Most are the same as artist grade
except when they are labeled "hue" which means the
are the same color but use cheaper pigments and
dyes. My favorite student grade is Van Gogh. Ed
Whitney, a great artist and teacher, use only
Student grade colors. Try them all to see what
suits you best--they're cheap |
John Preston
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - 2:03 pm: | |
Victoria,
I don't now about the Cotman line, but in W&N's regular line the French Ultramarine is a BIT more reddish and granulates SLIGHTY more. This is generally true in most manufacturer's lines. The difference is slight and you have to see both together to notice it. If you don't require a lot of granulation you could just add a touch of your cool red to the mix and it should work just as well. |
Victoria
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - 1:41 pm: | |
Just read an article concerning painting shadows in
portraits. One of the recommended colors for creating
some of the shadow colors was listed as French
Ultramarine.
Is this the same as just plain old Ultramarine? Or is it a
different blue altogether?
I'd like to try the colors recommended and have
ultramarine (Cotman's) and would rather not buy
French ultramarine unless it is significantly different.
Victoria |
|
