Portrait Artist Forum - View Single Post - A question for Marvin about his palette of limited color

Douglas Flynt · 09-05-2005, 12:34 AM

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post here on the Forum, I was reading these threads on a limited palette consisting of three or four strings and thought perhaps I might be able to give a little insight into this type of system.

The system is quite simple and I found it quite useful when I first began painting with color. It basically breaks the color selection process into a three step system pertaining to the three components of color; "Value", "Hue" and "Chroma."

The palette is laid out as follows a red string (a string being globs of various values moving from light to dark or vice versa all of the same hue family, often nine), a yellow string and a blue string. Some artists also perfer to add a neutal gray string. All the strings are laid out left to right according to which string they belong to. Additionally, the values are the same as you move up and down between the various strings.

The way this is then used is the artist first considers the value they need and scans left to right or vice versa to the correct grouping of values.

The artist then decides on the hue choice they want. Hue meaning red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and or some combination such as red-orange. The artist then mixes the appropriate strings together to make the correct hue choice. For instance If the artist wants orange they would mix from the red string and from the yellow string. Because the values they are mixing from are already the same they do not cause an alteration in value as they are mixing the color.

Lastly, the artist must then decide if the hue and value mixture they now have is correct in terms of chromatic intensity. If the color is too chromatically intense they need to either mix up the complement from the hue choices they have at that same value and slowly add it to what they already have or if they have a neutral string slowly add the neutral of the same value until they have sufficiently grayed down their mixture.

Wow, for something relatively simple that came out quite lengthy. Basically this palette allows the artist to address value, hue and chroma one at a time.

Hope that helps someone.

09-05-2005, 12:34 AM	#24
Douglas Flynt Juried Member Joined: Feb 2005 Location: Sanibel, FL Posts: 1	Hi Everyone, This is my first post here on the Forum, I was reading these threads on a limited palette consisting of three or four strings and thought perhaps I might be able to give a little insight into this type of system. The system is quite simple and I found it quite useful when I first began painting with color. It basically breaks the color selection process into a three step system pertaining to the three components of color; "Value", "Hue" and "Chroma." The palette is laid out as follows a red string (a string being globs of various values moving from light to dark or vice versa all of the same hue family, often nine), a yellow string and a blue string. Some artists also perfer to add a neutal gray string. All the strings are laid out left to right according to which string they belong to. Additionally, the values are the same as you move up and down between the various strings. The way this is then used is the artist first considers the value they need and scans left to right or vice versa to the correct grouping of values. The artist then decides on the hue choice they want. Hue meaning red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and or some combination such as red-orange. The artist then mixes the appropriate strings together to make the correct hue choice. For instance If the artist wants orange they would mix from the red string and from the yellow string. Because the values they are mixing from are already the same they do not cause an alteration in value as they are mixing the color. Lastly, the artist must then decide if the hue and value mixture they now have is correct in terms of chromatic intensity. If the color is too chromatically intense they need to either mix up the complement from the hue choices they have at that same value and slowly add it to what they already have or if they have a neutral string slowly add the neutral of the same value until they have sufficiently grayed down their mixture. Wow, for something relatively simple that came out quite lengthy. Basically this palette allows the artist to address value, hue and chroma one at a time. Hope that helps someone.