Color Theory: Lesson 1

Lesson #1: Tint & Shade charts for every color of acrylic paint you have...

(Please note that I'm giving you a snippet of the notes I got from my Mati, and notes I jotted down during the day)

This first assignment is meant to aid in learning about color and painting in general. I was informed that the whole class is based on warms and cools so let's begin... Cool colors recede while warm colors come forward (warm colors are the ones you see first when looking at a piece of art)... the exception is lemon yellow because although it is considered a cool color it's brightness tends to dominate the page...

Tint = Color + White
Shade = Color + Black
Tinted Shade = Tint + Shade (Black)

This first assignment involves making value charts for each of the paint colors you have (see mine below as an example)... Making these different scales of gray will range from 1 to 9, where 1 will be black and 9 will be white... Then you will continue by making Otswald's hue diagram that consists of the color plus five tints make by mixing varying amount of while, five shades made by mixing in varying amounts of black, and five tinted shades of each color make by mixing varying amounts of gray...

The colors you should at least have is... (I use both Liquitex and Golden heavy body acrylics, but please note that you MUST make a value chart for each paint even if you have the same color in two different brands)

Cadmium Red Medium or pyrole red

Alizirin Crimson

Cadmium Yellow medium or Hansa Yellow Medium

Lemon Yellow

Ultramarine Blue

Prussian Blue

Here's an example of my value chart for Cad Red Medium and Alizirin Crimson... Make sure to label your color with the brand and color number shown on the tube of paint... The first column indicates your tints (color+white... the first circle should only have a very tiny amount of white), the second column your shades (tint+black... the first having a very small amount of black), the third your tinted shades (color+black... the last circle having only a small amount of color), and the very top bar should be the plain paint color with neither black, nor white added...

Yes, I know, it takes a little time, but my Mati assured me that it will help immensely throughout your entire painting career... enjoy and have fun...