Harmony in a Color Pallet from Scott Franson on Vimeo.

This Tutorial shows one way to use Adobe Photoshop to create color harmony.

(A pressure sensitive tablet required)

Mixing a bit of one color into the other colors in your pallet will give the colors a family resemblance.

1. Change the background color swatch to the color you want in common
2. Select the brush tool.
3. Open the Brush window.
4. Select Color Dynamics > Foreground/Background jitter > Pen Pressure (this setting requires a pressure sensitive tablet. I use Wacom tablets.)
5. Choose a color and begin to paint varying the pressure.
6. Choose a new color and repeat as desired.

The result is a series of colors that are harmonized with the addition of a common color to achieve a family resemblance.

There are some things that only a kid can come up with. One of my favorite is, “Shhh please be quiet my foots asleep.”

Safari

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Floating Pare

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

I have begun the last few paintings with an overall pattern (see Pinkerbell and Crayzan). Then I paint on top selecting the colors with the eye dropper tool. I am experimenting with this process as a way to create color harmony.

Cave Girl

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Never out of fashion, CaveGirl wears her new dress with bold poppy print on her first hunt.

Wool

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Pinkerbell is the newest unbook not available at a bookstore near you. It is a book cover illustrated just for the fun of it.

Crazan: our family cat

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Crayzan, our family cat, is named after a previous family cat named Razan.

Icarus: a tragic lesson

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Bare Pare

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Peaches

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Three Suns

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Overlapping texture with scale | Changing the scale of the texture assigned to a brush creates visual color mixing.

Add a texture to the brush

1. Add a texture to the brush. Notice that the texture assigned to the brush can be scaled.

2. This image shows two colors painted using the same scale. Notice that the texture of the top color matches exactly.

3. This image shows two colors painted at different scales. Notice that the color of the bottom shows through the top texture.

Examples

Changing the scale of the texture was used in these images.

Adding texture to a brush | This process simulates how a textures surface such as canvas or gesso influence the texture.

diModule Contents page

Applying a texture to the brush

1. add a texture [diModule | Creating texture]
2. open the brushes pallett  | Menu Bar > Window > Brushes
3. select texture options | Brushes Pallett > Textures
4. choose a texture | Brushes Pallett
5. select a mode | Brushes pallett > Multiply
6. paint

Experiment with the brush mode

diModule Contents page

The Human Touch | One way to add a human touch to illustrations created in Adobe Photoshop is to create your own textures.

I create my textures on 8.5 x 11 inch hardboards. While it is not necessary to use an 8.5 x 11 inch hardboard, I prefer it for the following reasons.

• It doesn’t warp making it easier to scan.
• 8.5 x 11 fits on the scanner.
• It can be painted over and over.

Be creative

Texture is all around us and adds a tactile quality to digital images. The examples shown at the beginning of the post were created with the following materials.

• black ink on a white gessoed hardboard.
• acrylic black paint on a gessoed hardboard.
• single sided courugated cardboard mounted, gessoed and painted with a thin wash of black acrylic paint

Scanning a texture

Scan in grayscale | Most of the textures that I use reference the value in an image. I scan them at 600ppi at 100% scale.

Adding a texture to Photoshop

Once the image is scanned open it. Starting in the Menu bar Edit >Define Pattern. It is that simple. The pattern is now available for you to use.

Bicycle

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

This image was created for illustrationfriday.com.

As a child my bicycle was the ultimate feeling of freedom. It was pre-helmet days and I loved the wind in my hair while riding down the sidewalk feeling the bump of each new section. Bump-bump, Bump-bump, Bump-bump. Because it was a bicycle everything, including sounds comes in two.

Tweet Home

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

There are times when I wonder if I am living a life worthy of the great blessing of liver transplant. | Living a life that matters, a life that makes the world a better place to be.

I once overheard a conversation where a father said that he read a book to his family while they did the dishes. Two weeks ago I started doing the same thing. Surprisingly it has turned into one of the highlights of my day. It is easy as a father to be physically in a house and at the same time be mentally vacant. I wonder what kind of a life my family would be living if I had died three years ago. This thought makes me actively try to be a part of my wife and children’s lives. Death will come. Yet I know that I will be together with my family after this life. Mortal death is just a temporary separation from them. While I am physically on this earth, I am trying to be an active part of my children’s life.

One of the greatest blessings of living through cancer, treatment and transplant is the friendship that I have developed with my wife. Just to hold her hand provides great comfort in the hardest of times. She is amazing. I have been blessed to be a part of her life.

An exploration of the simple beauty of colored thread on wood spools | This image was started for the BYU-Idaho Faculty Art show in the Fall of 2010.

A work in progress

I did exhibit a version of this, but it isn’t quite where I want it. I want to explore the morié patterns created where the thread overlapps, the impossible stacking of the spools and the environment that it is in. I really think there is something more worth exploring. I do like what is there, I just want it to be better.

A warm journey through a wintery park | It is amazing what you can do with the help of a magic umbrella. This image is from my wordless picture book Un-Brella. It was a fun image to create. Can you find the rabbit? If you need a clue, follow the rabbit’s path. (Un-Brella is available at Amazon.com)

An unexpected result | I was experimenting with a new background for my website when I created this image. It didn’t meet my original purpose, but I think it turned out to be interesting. (click image to enlarge)

Wouldn’t it be nice to be young when everyday was a musical?

Created with Halftone, an iPhone app.

Pink Tweet

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital

Potted Square

by Scott E Franson | size: 5x7 | media: digital