Learn all about how to work with color. Color theory has never been this fun!

In this video series, artists Melissa Forman and Paul Richmond break down the fundamentals of color into thirty bite-size lessons so that you can work more comfortably with color in your artwork. Broken up into 10-minute exercises, this course will help you learn the terminology, concepts, and strategies that artists and designers use to choose the most effective color schemes. Students will create multiple quick paintings in this course, each one demonstrating a different color concept.

Understanding color is important for artists at every stage, from beginners to advanced. Learning the basics gives artists a foundation to build on. Rules are made to be broken, especially in art, and this course will go over the “rules” of color theory so you can decide how to incorporate them into your own work.

The concepts covered here are relevant for artists in many different fields - from fine art to commercial illustrators, designers, and more.

At the beginning, we will create a color wheel, which is the foundation for many of the concepts that we will be going over in this course.
From there, we will learn how to break down colors into different shades, working with saturation, neutrality, and value.
Next, we will go over different types of color palettes and how to choose color schemes that work.
Then we will explore different approaches to color, including finding color inspiration, imaginative color, using color to create a mood, color matching, and more.

This course is unique because you get to observe how two artists approach each color concept. Alternating lessons, Melissa and Paul will follow the same overall format, but you will see the differences in their styles and approaches to color. This makes for a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity that will encourage you to develop your own artistic sensibilities too. Melissa and Paul truly believe everyone is an artist, and want to make the creative process accessible to as many people as possible.

This class is for everyone - from beginners to more experienced artists - with an emphasis on foundational skills. As professional artists and teachers, Paul and Melissa have met many artists who commonly face a lot of the same issues with understanding color.

Learn how to master the art of using color, and have fun along the way!

Materials

You are welcome to work with any materials you'd like, but here's a list of everything Paul and Melissa will be using in this series:

Drawing pencils
Paper
Acrylic paint
Paintbrushes
Palette
Palette knife
Paper towels
Cup of water

Lessons

Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tertiary Colors
Warm Colors vs. Cool Colors
Saturation vs. Neutrality
Creating Neutral by Mixing Complementary Colors
Value and How It Affects Color
Tints and Shades
Types of Color Palettes: Complementary
Types of Color Palettes: Split Complementary
Types of Color Palettes: Triad
Types of Color Palettes: Tetrad
Types of Color Palettes: Analogous
Color in Context
Finding Color Inspiration
Using Color Inspiration
Local Color
Perceived Color
Imaginative Color
Color Mood
How to Color Match
How to Use Only Primary Colors to Mis Every Color You'll Need
Color Correcting - Where Have I Gone Wrong?
Working with a Limited Palette
Mixing Flesh Tones
Working with a Plein Air Palette
How Lighting Affects Color - Natural vs. Artificial Light
Layering Color in Transparent Media
Color Thumbnails
Finding Your Color Personality

About the Instructors

Paul Richmond is an internationally recognized visual artist and activist whose career has included exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States as well as publication in numerous art journals and anthologies. His work is collected by individuals around the globe. As an illustrator, has created over four hundred novel cover illustrations. He is a co-founder of the You Will Rise Project, an organization that empowers those who have experienced bullying to speak out creatively through art.

Melissa Forman spends her time creating a richly visual world filled with characters created from an opulent, mysterious, and often eerie imagination. Her lovely, idealized figures seem lost in their own worlds, drifting between the 16th, 18th, 19th and 21st centuries. Melissa has been drawing and painting commissioned portraits since she was 14. She attended the Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA in 2002. She now lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. Her personal work has been shown in galleries around the world, from New York City to Seattle to Los Angeles to Berlin, Germany to Bristol, England.

Michelle McCauley-Tacon

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