Yellow, Red, Blue (YRB)

[toonMom]

This seemed to be a good topic and since it deserves it's own thread (as does Don), let's pick this thing up over here.

Mikey said...
The idea (as best I can remember) is that using
1) The yellow tints in the forehead area
2) Red tints in the nose and cheek areas (because that generally is the case where these tints show more)
3) The Blue (or green it said) in the jaw and neck area (blue in men, green in women - because of the beard thing I believe)

The article made a very convincing case. It seems to work very well ... Actually I was more pleased with the coloring on your caricature than most I do. I guess I ought to use the principle more often.

If I can find it again, I'll post the link.


and then he said:
I found the links

www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials/14030

and

www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials/14033

enjoy!

Mikey

[donpinsent]

i find this approach interesting, and done properly, it does seem to work. my problem is, i don't really create the colours out of my head that way. i almost always work off of photographs, and try to duplicate as closely as i can the colours i see there. which ususally does include the red in the nose and cheeks, and often the blue in men's chins, but i don't think i've ever used yellow any more prominently in the forehead than anywhere else on the face.

[AboutFaces]

I agree, particularly after spending a week playing around with the technique. You can't just slap the yellows, pinks, blues and greens on the face without looking at the person you're drawing. Everyone has their own coloring. I was talking to a friend, though, who has excellent color theory, and he explained it to me this way. The forehead is often reflecting lights or sun, and that's where the yellows come from. There's more blood suffusing the cheeks, ears and tip of the nose, hence more pinks and reds and purples there. The bottom of the face and neck, for men, often contain hints of a five o'clock shadow - blues and greens. This area also reflects the ground and picks up colors from the clothes.

I've been trying to tamp down the colors a bit and make it more subtle, and that seems to have worked a bit, although I'm not sure that I've posted those pics here on this board. I'm waiting for a face with the right colors in it to go the opposite way - to really use bright and vibrant and distinctive colors in an almost abstract way (abstract is the wrong word, there - someone correct me, please). I think that would create a great effect on the right person.

[dmcaricature]

Mike:
I find with addition of some of these subtle colour, the caricature can really come alive. One way to introduce them is by using a separate layer and in Photoshop or Painter and have the opacity set low from 15-30% or so. a littl blur may help the cause as well. Also, often the camera records dark shadows of the face quite dark...but we know better....and use our artistic licenses to use darker tones of the face's home colour...
;D

[AboutFaces]

Hmmm... So far, I've only really used natural media. That'll be changing in the future, so I'll try to keep your comments in my head, but at the moment, I don't know much about layers. Thanks, though!