Colors for backdrop sky, mountains, Etc.

Twibil · 2008-12-27T08:18:55+00:00

Discovered a way to get really accurate colors for painted backdrops.Just take a digital photo of anything from sky to distant mountains,blow it up on your computer until you have a section of one color thatyou want, and then take it down to your local Lowe's where you willfind that they have a color-sensing computer that will mix paintspecifically to an exact match for your photographed color -or colors.To get an accurate color reproduction of our local mountains I firstwent out on a nice clear day and took telephotos of the darkest partsof (A) the more distant mountain ranges, (B) the distant mountain'sfront ranges, (C) the foothills below the front ranges, and (D) thesky just above the horizon.I then went down to Lowe's and came home with 4 quarts of paint, andpainted the entire backdrop sky blue, overspraying a thin coat of gray-brown near the horizon to mimic southern California's smog. Then usingthe photos for reference I pencil-sketched the skyline of the mostdistant mountains on the dry backdrop and filled them in with theappropriate color. (Color "A")When *that* was dry I mixed a bit of sky blue into a pint or so ofcolor "A" -just enough to tell a difference- and using the photos forreference again stippled in the lighter parts of the distant mountainswhere they were in direct sunlight. The effect is subtle, justsuggesting dimensionality, but you have to look twice to see that it'spaint and not a photo.I then repeated the same process for the front range peaks which aredarker in tone (Color "B") because they're several miles closer to theviewer; again mixing a *slightly* lighter second coat of "B" and usingit for stippled highlights to bring out the depth.Next, I drew the foothill's profile in and filled it in with the deadgrass yellow that covers our southern California hills in late spring/early summer. The foothills are close enough for some detail to beseen by the nekked eyeball, so I spent an evening or two addingpatches of sagebrush and the like,...

Dec 27, 2008 20 Replies

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Roger T. 17 years ago

Good description Bob. You can also use 4" brushes, one for white, one for blue and one for clean water to use to blend the blue and white together.

-- Happy New Year.

Roger T. See the GER at: -

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Colors for backdrop sky, mountains, Etc.

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