Geeking Out on Colors

So it seems that my little pile of dried up brown leaves were not actually the only maple leaves in the entire city (go figure) and I managed to gather (and photograph while still fresh) another little pile to draw (later ... one of these days when I have time).

But while I'm already geeking out on leaf color, I finally allowed myself to play this game - oh alright I guess it's not really a game but I could play it all day. This is actually (ahem, I am speaking in a very serious tone right now) an extremely important and useful design tool which I picked up from my friend Sue who got the idea from her friend Brenda, and since seeing it on their blogs have been dying to just go make color keys for every single photo I own so I can play with color palettes all day long.
No, really. You remember me, I was the kid who wouldn't let you color with my crayons because I was too busy lining them all up in rainbow order and facing the labels in the same direction so I could stare at them for hours. We're not even talking about the fact that your possible use of said crayons might change the shape of the tip, and (gasp) we will NOT discuss peeling the paper to sharpen them. Are you kidding me?

Really I was dying to see the leaf colors spread out in neat and tidy squares so I could really see them. Because I have impending client deadlines I allowed myself to play with only 1 other photo (actually shot with my crummy-little-phone-cam on a recent dog-walk) before forcing myself to step away from the computer.

But this (ahem) very important color study work really is helpful when designing palettes for new collections. If I don't limit myself to a specific palette when I start new work, I can't help but use every color in the box and while that can make for really fun art sometimes, it isn't always conducive to the products and clients for which I am supposed to be designing. So if you've got to set some kind of limit, what better reference and inspiration than Mother Nature?

Comments

[Meagan S.]

Beth this is awesome! What a great idea. Now I am wondering...at the risk of sounding like an idiot...if I don't have photoshop or any kind of technology that I use in my art, would you just paint the color swatches? I guess that would work fine.
Thanks for sharing.

[Beth L]

you don't sound like an idiot at all Meagan (don't even think that!) although Photoshop gives instant-gratification for this kind of thing, painting swatches by hand would not only work, it would probably be a great exercise for many of us who haven't done something like that since Color Theory class in college! The thought takes me back - mixing and remixing gouache swatches creating perfect tint/hue charts...

[Sue]

OH WOW!!
Thanks for the mention, I love what you have done with the color!!

Your fall pallete inspires me to want to paint fall art.

[Diane Knott]

How do you do that color patch system? That is great!! Are there instructions somewhere that a tech challenged person could learn?

Looking at your brown, curled leaves, there are so many more shades than just brown! Leaves are great subjects, aren't they!

Diane

[Amber]

I am stealing this.
Also, you are genius.