My art school professor told me to stop using black in my paintings, and I finally get why.

He said 'black kills warmth' and I ignored him for years until last week when I swapped a pure black shadow for a dark ultramarine mix on a portrait and suddenly the whole thing felt alive. Has anyone else had a rule they fought against that ended up being totally right?

2 comments

2 Comments

jake_mason302d ago

The ultramarine trick is such a game changer once you try it. I used to think black was just black until I started playing with mixing my own darks from burnt umber and ultramarine or even alizarin crimson and green. Suddenly shadows have temperature and depth instead of just looking flat and dead. I bet your old professor would love seeing that portrait now because that warmth probably makes the whole piece breathe differently. It's wild how one small swap can completely shift how you see color mixing forever.

noraj792d ago

Tried that once and accidentally made mud colored soup for three hours.