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Color studies. Are they really all that important?
Yes!
Because of laziness, hectic schedules, or overconfidence in my painting skills, I don’t always make a color study for an illustration. But after devoting myself to doing them, I’ve been able to create images faster, more easily, and of better quality.
Solving Problems
Art takes a lot of brainwork, and the better you organize your thinking, the easier it will be to paint. When you make a color study, you are thinking about specific issues like lighting, harmony, and mood. Once you reach your final painting, the process will be less stressful and easier because you have already solved most of your visual problems beforehand.
Productivity
Completing a good, solid color study gets me excited about the final painting and I’m motivated to finish it. I get more work done. On the other hand, if I struggle with a study, I put the project aside and don’t waste precious hours on a weak painting.
Completing a color study also means spending less time fixing mistakes. For example, I was making my color study for a painting of witches stirring a pot of evil brew. My first instinct was to make the brew orange and give it a nice, warm, fiery glow. When I tried it out, however, it didn’t have quite the effect I wanted. With a little experimentation, I discovered that it was much more effective and creepy to make it bright yellow-green. It was a simple problem to solve with a few scribbles, but it would have been a pain to change if I was already hours into my final painting.
My Process
Keep It Small
When painting, I keep the study no larger than a thumbnail sketch. On the computer, I work at a low resolution and try not to zoom in too much. This will help me concentrate on the overall shapes and patterns the colors are making.
Keep It Simple
Some of my studies get really detailed, but that is only because I had big issues I was trying to work out. I only go so far as I need to, then move on. Most of the time, I will end up with a blobby mess, but they always give me a solid direction for my final painting.
Focus on the specific problems at hand. Try not to worry about the details and rendering - those are problems you can worry about in the final painting.
Experiment
I always try to make at least two or three different color studies for a project. I don’t want to be limited by first impressions or preconceptions. Sometimes a slight color shift makes the image a little more sophisticated; other times, totally wild and crazy colors give the image a stronger mood that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
In fact, I’ve learned that my first instincts are usually NOT correct. Color studies have saved a lot of my best illustrations from being merely mediocre.
First impression: 
After experimenting: 
Close-up (check out those scribbles and googly eyes!):
Since my studies are small and simple, I can easily try out several different directions without taking a lot of time or effort. It’s especially easy in Photoshop, where you can manipulate the color at the touch of button.
Make the Commitment!
They seem like a hassle and not always necessary, but I would definitely encourage you to create a color study for every painting you make. I’ve learned a lot about color just by becoming more aware of my choices. And in my own body of artwork, I think the extra effort really shows in the pieces that I’ve done color studies for.
How do all of you plan and prepare for your own paintings? What tools do you use and how detailed are your studies? I would love to know your thoughts…let me know in the comments!
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April 1st, 2008 at 8:15 am
Another great post Dani! I almost always do color studies as well. I do them fairly similar to how you’ve shown, rough and quick, in Photoshop. I’ll keep a rough printout near me as I paint so I can refer to it as I work. I change things A LOT at this stage too. The process of doing a color study feels like a dress rehearsal, so when it comes time to get the brushes and paints out I’m more confident and prepared.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:51 am
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator allows you to create color studies simply and easily, especially if you have specific sections or color combinations layered. Because you can easily change a color composition with a click of a button I don’t think a tight deadline will get in the way. I would probably start with a layered tonal base and then work my color combinations from there. I would definitely take advantage of Adobe’s Kuler website.
http://kuler.adobe.com/
If your working in Painter or Photoshop, I would explore working different brushes and textures to see what would work best in addition to the color studies. I know that time is always an issue, so I usually try to practice and explore well before I begin an actual project. Thanks for posting this because it is also a great reminder.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:00 am
Well…for me, I usually thumbnail all my ideas. Most of the time the thumbnail sketch deviates a great measure form the final piece, especially with the fact that I take time to try out different brushes and stuff. So experimentation has become a big part of my usual process. And doing work in Photoshop makes it easy to experiment and edit particular sketch mistakes before hand so that it doesn’t show up in final coloring. One question I’d like answered though…how dodyou do a color study anyway?
April 1st, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Maybe thats why I love working in Illustrator because I can change the color a gzillion times.
Would love for you to do a post of dramatic lighting and how to achieve them. Your samples on this post are great.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:16 am
This is a great post. The examples are awesome. You gave me some good ideas on how I can do color studies a little faster. One thing I have done lately that has saved me a lot of time is used my color studies as an under painting for my finished piece. It requires a little more detail that you have in your studies but after I get what I want it is great to print it right onto my paper and go to it.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
First thanks for this post. It’s great!
Most of all ignore color studies. I rarely do a color study, but from now I effort to not forget that.
This is my method: first I place the “unchangeable colors” [requested or pre-determined colors].
Then I add the “changeable colors” and analize the result.
So I try some new schemes and decide what the best one.
So long.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Thanks for all the comments! I have some more ideas about color studies, so I will probably make another post. Stay tuned…