Look at your painting like a stranger
When you look at your own painting, you remember how you made it. A stranger sees only what is there. Five plain questions help you see your work the way they do, and Image to Palette answers the color ones for you.
What do you see first?
Step back, or look at a small photo of the painting on your phone, for one second. Write down the first thing you notice before you start to think about it.
In my portrait, the eye goes to the gold earring, then the white ribbon. Questions 2 to 4 show why.
How light, how dark?
Value is how light or dark a color is, from 0 (black) to 10 (white). Two colors can look very different and still be the same value. In gray, you see only the values.
Add your painting to Image to Palette and choose See it in: Gray. Each color gets its value, and one line says what the values show.
- Silver 8
- Gray pink 7
- Mauve 5
- Dusky rose 5
- Claret 2
Image to Palette finds five colors in the portrait, from value 2 to 8: mostly light and mid values, with the claret of the pencil lines as the only dark. The white ribbon is too small to make the five, but in gray it is the brightest spot, which is one reason it catches the eye.
Bright or muted?
Look for the strongest color, and for how much of the painting is gray or neutral. A bright color says more when it sits among muted ones.
Here nothing is fully saturated. The strongest colors are the dusky rose of the lips and cheeks and the apricot gold of the earring, and they sit among silver and cool grays. That is the other reason the earring stands out: it is the warmest, brightest note in a quiet picture.
Big areas, small areas?
Notice how much room each color takes. Image to Palette finds each color’s share of the picture, and Color Taste shows it as a band.
The gray background covers 39% of the portrait. The earring covers under 1%, and it is still the first thing you see. A small area can carry a painting when everything around it is calm.
Where does the eye rest?
Find the quiet parts: plain, soft areas that ask for little attention. They give the busy parts room to be seen. Quiet does not mean empty; it can hold subtle changes of color.
In the portrait, the eye rests on the flat gray background and the soft cool shadow behind the head.
Good to know
Describe before you judge
Write what is there before you decide what to change. “The values all sit between 5 and 9” is more useful than “it feels flat”.
Check while you work
Every few sessions, take a photo of the painting and look at it in gray. It is easier to change values early.
Your habits are part of your voice
Answer the same five questions for ten of your paintings. What repeats is your habit. Keep it, or choose to try something new.
Many paintings at once
Color Taste reads several paintings together and shows the colors you keep coming back to. See the Van Gogh guide.