3 Things Every Artist Should Know About Complementary Colors 🧡💙 (Ad-Free YouTube Video) (Patreon)

This is an ad-free version of my recent YouTube video, covering the topic of complementary colors and how we can apply them effectively in our watercolor work.

We paint an orange frog against a blue background, and along the way I go through three essential reasons these complementary pairings are so effective - how the eye is wired to see color in opposing pairs, the difference between complements in light and complements in paint, and why orange and blue is the "best-behaved" complementary pair of them all. There's also the story of Chevreul at the Gobelins tapestry works, where a complaint about black yarn led to one of the most useful discoveries in color theory.

Plenty of practical watercolor in here too: mixing chromatic greys from the pair rather than reaching for a black tube, letting the two colors meet on damp paper instead of in the well, and why the vivid note should always be the smaller one.

🐸 A full demo recording of this frog - with outlines and full materials list - is already up here on Patreon, so do have a look if you'd like to paint along: https://www.patreon.com/AnnaBucciarelli/posts/169514175 And of course I'll be using this small sketchbook study for an upcoming fully narrated tutorial, featuring a frog alongside other organic elements in a more complex composition.

🧡 No ads, no interruptions! Thank you for supporting my work here - it's what makes these lessons possible.

🎨 Enjoy other ad-free YouTube videos here on Patreon in this collection: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AnnaBucciarelli/collections

🎥 Explore the fully narrated tutorials by browsing the Tutorial collections - Botanical, Birds, Animals, Portraits and more: https://www.patreon.com/c/AnnaBucciarelli/collections