Working with Pure Color Hues

I have been working on three brand new e-projects for my pattern website at ArtDesignsStudio.com and in today’s work of one of these new e-projects I realized I had a set of images that taught the power of working with pure color hues.

I’d like to share these images with you !!!  Please click on any image for a full-sized photo.

We work with three types of color in relationship to their tonal values – pastels, pure hues, and jewel tones.

Pure hue = a color that has not been altered by the use of white, gray, or black as red, yellow, and blue.
Tonal value = the amount of white, black, or gray in a color as a pale gray tone to a dark gray tone.
Pastels = pure color hues that have white added as pink, pale yellow, and baby blue.
Jewel tones = pure color hues that have black added as maroon, deep gold, and gunmetal blue.

Tonal values in pyrography are what we use to shade and contour an area of the design, working in sepia (brown) tones.

1  The images below show my pyrography shading for one of my upcoming new projects.  I am working on birch plywood using my Colwood  burner with my loop-tip pen and a soft, scrubbie stroke.  The image to the right is the gray scaled photo of this shading which shows the black tonal value range.

 

2  After my shading was worked I added my fine line doodle detailing using my ball-tip pen at a medium-hot setting.  Part of that detailing step included creating some solid black areas in the design.  Again, to the right is the gray scale image, showing only the black tonal values.  All tonal values to this point have been specifically created with the tool tip and burner temperature setting in my pyrography.

 

3  But what happens to that pyrography tonal value work when colored pencils are added to give individual coloring to the design.  In this photo you can see the added color pencil work, using artist quality pencils which contain little or no chalk base. Inexpensive colored pencils, or school quality sets often contain chalk as the base filler which adds a white, gray, or black toning to the color hue.  Artist quality pencils use either a wax base which makes the blending of the colors easy without changing the color tones or if you are using watercolor pencils no base at all.

I am working with pure hues – red, yellow, and blue or secondary and tertiary mixes of those hues.  I have used some white as shown in the small left-side tear drop accents and I have worked a graphite pencil shading in the background area directly to the birch plywood.

4  Now let’s compare these three stages of work.  Stage one is the simple pyro shading, stage two is the pyro detailing, and stage three is the addition of pure color hues using colored pencils.  Now compare the gray scale photo of stage two to stage three and you will see that the colors have added very little to almost no tonal value to the work.

This means that all of my pyrography tonal value shading remains unchanged and therefore totally in my control even when I am laying colored pencil over the work !!!!

OK … I’m off to work on your new e-projects but will get back to you if I come across another ‘quick tip’ idea.

Thanks you ~ Lora Irish