Beginners Guide | ALLA PRIMA How to Develop Color

Original Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_aZRjhgGvA

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In this video, my insane knowledge of alla prima is exploded yet again into video form to inspire and educate. If you are a beginner, it can be very difficult to know how to develop the color when there are so many things to juggle in a painting. I made this video so you can learn how to develop the color and how preparing your palette in a specific way can greatly improve your workflow. I walk you through the entire process from start to finish.

This is a master copy of John Singer Sargent's portrait of John Ridgeley Carter I live-streamed on Twitch. Sargent is a master of getting the drawing and impression while maintaining very loose brushstrokes that look a bit messy up close, but from further back, become unified and refined.

I am using a limited palette in this video which means I am only using ivory black, cadmium red, yellow ochre, and cremnitz white. This palette is great for mixing a wide variety of fleshtones. It is also a great way to learn how to mix colors in oil painting because you are having to focus on less colors to get a specific color. If you are first beginning to paint and you want to learn the academic method, I highly recommend starting with the limited palette. You will go further faster and over time, you will be able to slowly introduce new colors onto your palette.

When I first started in oil paint, I had a very hard time organizing my palette, my brushes, and understanding how I was supposed to build the paint and color up. I was told not to focus too much on color at first so I could get the drawing correct. It's not that the teachers were asking me to not focus at all on color, but they didn't want it distracting me from the development of the drawing and the light values. Instead, they told me to get the drawing and the light impression correct first, and then I could hone in on the colors and improve them once the foundation was correct.

In alla prima, you want to get within the ballpark of the correct colors sooner because it is a quick painting. If the colors are too gray in the beginning, you might have a hard time perfecting them in the end especially if you are a beginner. One thing that will greatly help you with the color in alla prima is to spend time mixing your colors on your palette before you start. Doing so will make it so you won't have to worry about constantly mixing them as you are painting. You will be able to put more focus into your drawing, light impression, brushwork, technique, and brush organization without having to constantly mix and re-mix colors.

I normally mix about five to six piles of paint ranging from dark to light. I will saturate them with color to get them in the ballpark of the general color. The general color of the work is often referred to as the field color. Getting this field color in the beginning will greatly help your work and speed the process up significantly.

The most important thing when you first start in oil painting is to have a lot of patience with yourself. Do not get discouraged if you have been practicing for some time and your work seems to be going nowhere or is getting worse. This happened to me and I almost left the Florence Academy like a little B&%^$H. Just stick with it and try to stay on track with the teachings. Do not entertain bad habits but rather, continuously focus on correcting the drawing, light impression, and color. Oil painting is a juggling act so you will need time to morph everything into it being second nature to you.

If you have any questions or need some encouragement, reach out to me. My information is above. I am constantly in our discord where we have a nice community that I am building.

Music in this video from Epidemic Sound & Kevin MacLeod:

"Achaidh Cheide"
"Desert City"
"Folk Round"
"Chee Zee Jungle"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/