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I've been working with color keying lately, which just means focusing the spectrum of color to a particular area of the color wheel. There are several ways to make this happen technically, one fun method is called Gamut Mapping and is something I teach in my workshops. I’ll do a video using that method upcoming. But meanwhile you can look up that term (gamut mapping). James Gurney has some of the best information about it out there and has a wonderful YouTube video showing how he does it. 

I’ll provide both model reference images below so if you do want to paint this subject you can choose to key the color or not. 

  • Feel free to use, edit or reinterpret the actual photo any way you choose for your own artwork. But do not share or redistribute the actual photo! The model and myself appreciate your professionalism and discretion.


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Comments

Alexandra Veneziani

Hi Bryce! First time using oil for me and it’s kind of hate/love for now! I follow this amazing tutorial and if I may, I have some questions for you.. the first big one that it’s driving me crazy, is why my Titanium white seems to not cover the other dark colors underneath but drags them and turning them into mud :(

Bryce Cameron Liston

Hey Alexandra, honestly if it’s your first time I completely understand the frustration! And I applaud your tenacity!💪💪 I once taught oils to college students who had all been used to using acrylics, it was really hard for everyone! The mud issues are pretty common. The wet into wet paint approach takes time to get used to. More specifically for your issue it could be a multitude of factors. I’d have to actually watch you paint to know specially what’s causing the issue. But I think the most important aspect for someone first trying oils is to simplify. In my class the students were so frustrated I ended up giving them some super simple exercises just to get them used to the medium. We painted still life set ups of colored cubes and blocks and in some cases I let some students just do pure abstract. We also did value scales which was actually pretty helpful. Just black and white paint and we duplicated an 8 step value scale. Just restricting yourself to two colors is a very useful technique. White and any other darkish color. Trying to manipulate a difficult medium such as oils takes time but I promise if you stick with it will also be the most rewarding medium. I’ll see if I can put together a video sometime where I approach the subject in oils using a super simple approach to help artists who are new to oils.

Emma-Lisa Hansson

Beautiful! Thank you for this tutorial! I just added a first layer to mine. I love palette!