"Sam Dead" from "The League of Elder"

Currently I´m in a phase of making advanced use of colors in my work to enhance depth, mood and to underline certain values.

While doing so, I found a necessity to share this knowledge and insights in some kind of a reference. There are practical tips for everyday use, this post is useful for traditional artists as well.

When working in a professional environment there is rarely the time to go out and do plein-air paintings or studies, this is something artists have to do in their spare time, to form the foundations and understanding of perception of our environment. On the other hand it is extremely important to see processed works as well, to see the differences and to learn from these observations.

Basically, all knowledge artists have, is built upon passion and is acquired through personal experience, museum-visits, observation and anatomical studies have to be done volunteering for the arts.

Today I want to explore possibilities on how to find working color schemes.
There are several options to use colors and to prevent a misconception here: I just want to explore ways on how to technically utilize colors, not on how to apply them, because the color as inspiration is a universal approach followed by every artist on earth, regardless of the application or final use.

For this it is inevitable to have a decent knowledge on color theory, which is required to get the most out of this post, so if you get stuck on the term "tertiary color scheme" you should get into basic color theory first.

Below there is a list of different ways to get color inspiration, maybe I´ll do a post on how to apply a specific color scheme on a work later.

Like everything from brushes to reference images even colors should find a place in the artists library, lets go:


Inspiration from nature 
The first and most basic palette everyone recognizes, even if broken down to just two(!) colors.
Advanced color palettes can be found too but require a keen eye and understanding of secondary and tertiary colors.



Inspiration from other artists work 
The most common practice used by artists from all around the world. For artist, this still requires understanding of colors, but gives a potential idea of what is possible, what works and what not. Analyzing combinations from masters and successful predecessors is now easier than ever.


Inspiration from Movies

Image courtesy Walt Disney pictures

Movies shape and change our perception without us even knowing it, sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse. But since art has the freedom to be exaggerated, movies can be a valuable inspiration if used with care.