Illustrate Color & Light II: Color

Welcome to Color, the second class in this three-part series, Understanding Color & Light. This second class covers the physics of color and how to achieve the real, lighted appearance of color in your illustration.

The skills in this class will allow you to render light from your imagination and capture realism. Once you've explored, understood, practiced, and applied these skills, you will have a huge advantage over those who depend exclusively on photo references. 

Whether you're looking to expand your existing work in digital illustration, or you've never considered Photoshop for illustration and are just feeling inspired, this series is perfect for taking your work to that next level.

Throughout this three-part series, we'll cover everything you need to know to add value, color, and light to your scenes & cartoon character designs using Photoshop. By the end, you'll feel not only comfortable with Photoshop's techniques and tools, but also excited by their many possibilities. We will start with a simple monochrome scene, using just one simple light source. As we move forward, we'll add different light sources, colors, and materials. Our final scene will include various materials that each reflect light, color & depth differently.

Also see: Understanding Color & Light I: Ambient Light & Understanding Color & Light III: Direct & Reflected Light

What You'll Learn

In this class, you'll learn the basics of light and different types of color. You will learn to paint realistically without any photo references, basing your knowledge and understanding on the physics of light.

• Basics of color. How does color affect 3-D objects?
• Color physics. How do you use color in rendering?
• Color & lighting conditions. How do colors change with lighting conditions and shapes?
• Applying color. What are techniques for applying color to your rendered piece, and how can they add depth and variety?
• Final touches. How can you add highlights and shadows with color?

What You'll Do

Deliverable. You will color a simple, digitally illustrated scene or character.

Description. You will build on your project from the first class, adding color that brings depth and value to your work.

Specs. By the end of this second class, you'll have an illustration rendered with light and color, as well as a solid understanding of the power of color in digital illustrations.