The KEY to form in paintings - Clear separation of light and shadow

This Friday's Paint Along will be about how to use ChromaMagic to help simplify the form.

There’s a danger with chromaMagic that you can end up sampling a bajillion different colours from a reference photo but not be any clearer on which ones you actually need to mix and paint with.

So today, I’m going to demo how to use the app to help you simplify the form.

Simplifying form is absolutely critical in making paintings work. We don’t paint what we see, we translate what we see into paint, and to make a strong statement with form and life, we need to simplify as much as possible.

Specifically, we need to keep a very clear separation between the shadow and the light areas. It’s VERY easy for that to get lost.

So that’s what I’ll be showing you how to do today, using chromaMagic to find general colours for each of the main areas of light and shadow.

I’ll be painting the minimum I need to make the form come alive - I think you’ll be surprised how little we really need to paint to have that happen.