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Confusion about Mid-Tones

Discussion in 'Painting Techniques' started by Kirks1, Nov 9, 2004.

  1. Kirks1 New Member

    Greetings everyone,

    I am a bit confused about how mid tones are used (specifically, how to know what color to use as a mid-tone)? I am used to painting a base, highlight and then shadow only. I picked up the Andrea CD on how to paint with acrylics a while back and from what was shown on the CD, a base, highlight and shadow ere painted "followed" by a mid-tone to soften the transition between highlight and shadow. For example, a color scheme of blue would have a mid-tone of some shade of green. A color scheme of flesh had a mid-tone of some shade of red. Looking at the color wheel, these mid-tones for both the above mentioned color schemes are directly to the left of the base color on the wheel. Is this true of all colors on the wheel when looking for mid-tones (using the color on the left of the wheel as a mid-tone)? As I am looking at the wheel now, If I had a color scheme of violet, The color directly to the left of violet on the color wheel is blue. Would that be the correct mid-tone to use? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!!

    Sean
  2. Kirks1 New Member

    Clarification on the wheel: The color wheel I am using is the run of the mill that are found at Art Supply Shops (the kind with dials on it). It goes a bit more in depth about complimentary colors, split complimentary colors, triads, tetrdads.

    Sean
  3. Einion Well-Known Member

    If you paint a base colour the midtone glaze they're referring to, to 'pull things together', would commonly just be a very thin layer of the same base colour. It's rare for a glaze to be a completely different colour and I don't think this would work well in most paints - in oils or enamels yes, not in acrylics unless you used an airbrush.

    Since I guess you're using acrylics I would recommend you try both side by side and judge the success for yourself, I'm sure you'll agree that it's better (i.e. looks nicer) to use the base colour than something completely different.

    Another issue with this is if you wanted to touch something up afterwards you can't then use the same mixes you used initially because on the figure the highlights and shadows are not the same colours any more if you can see what I mean.

    Einion
  4. Kirks1 New Member

    Hello Einion,

    Thanks for the reply!

    I do use acrylic paint, and agree with what your saying in that a thin coat of the base should be used to pull things together. That is how I am used to painting. I had never seen someone use a different color for the mid-tones until I saw it done on the Andrea CD and am guessing that it is not a common thing? I am still quite green when it comes to color variations (what works for highlighting/shading a particular color). Best I can do is experiment and see what happens. Thanks again for the reply.

    Best Regards

    Sean

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