The Magic of Color Class Question

I've just begun the Magic of Color class and have a question if anyone is able to answer it.

The color wheel assignment is shown with choosing the primary colors and also choosing the secondary colors instead of mixing the two primary colors to get the secondary. The wording in the workbook says "add the secondary colors" instead of mix.

Is this something that has to do with painting digitally?

Digital painting is new to me, so I don't know.
I know that if I do it traditionally, the green I get from a green tube of paint will be different from the green that I get if I mix whatever blue and yellow I choose.

If you can provide any insight into this, it would be much appreciated! I'm excited to move forward with this course.

AngelinaKizz

@Stephanie-H hi Stephanie, are you planning to work digitally or traditionally? Mixing colors digitally is a bit different than mixing traditionally. You CAN mix them digitally either by layering at reduced opacity, or by using the smudge brush, but if you choose to do that, I would suggest making a new palette so you can save the colors you mix and work from the newly created palette. If you're working traditionally, mix away, it does give you the most cohesive palette to work with.

@AngelinaKizz Thank you for your help!
I am going to do the assignments both traditionally and digitally.

I've only worked traditionally before the SVS classes, so I want to put in the effort to learn how to do things digitally.

What I understand from your answer about digital painting is that I can mix the secondary colors with the chosen primary colors. From there, you mix the tertiary. For this, you need to save the pallet when working this way.

There is also the option of just choosing secondary colors straight from the color picker and mixing the tertiary colors from my chosen primary and secondary. Is that correct?

Melissa_Bailey

@Stephanie-H not familiar with the class, so I can't answer that question.

But did want to throw this out there: when mixing colors traditionally from primary colors, it helps to have 6 primary colors instead of 3: a warm red and a cool red, a warm yellow and a cool yellow, a warm blue and a cool blue. That helps you get the secondary and tertiary colors that you're aiming for.

Like you, I started out working solely traditionally and moved into digital in 2018. Most of my work now is a mix of traditional and digital, utilizing the time saving capabilities that working digitally offers. When I work digitally, I rarely mix colors and mostly rely on the color picker / preset palette. But there are times when I'm using a transparent brush (like a watercolor brush) that the colors layer over each other and create a new color. So I guess you could lower your opacity and "mix" digitally that way too.

@Melissa_Bailey Thank you for your feedback. I will keep in mind about having a cool and warm of each color when creating my own palettes.

The assignment is to make color wheels. The course is building up to warm and cool colors for later assignments.

Knowing that people use the color picker more often digitally is helpful and very interesting.

kayleenartlover

@Stephanie-H

so the thing about primary colors with traditional paint is, the primary color paints are cyan, magenta, and yellow. Red is not a primary color. You can make red with magenta and yellow, so it is actually a secondary color. That's why printers use those colors for ink.

Digital is different though. You don't actually have to mix colors.

But yeah, a bit crazy that elementary school teachers teach the wrong primary colors...