Question about underpaintings

[andymania]

I was wondering how do you know what hue to use for creating a preliminary underpainting? For example: A red shirt. What would the underpainting be for that? Or blue jeans. I know there is a great thread about the uses of underpaintings on this site and I have read it but it didnt really answer my question. Also, can hues light in value such as yellow be used in underpaintings, or are all underpaintings usually done in dark values such as burnt sienna, umber, green or ultramarine blue?

-Andy

[That fat kid]

Break out the color wheel and check for complimentary colors. The whole idea of underpainting is to add depth, thus using compliments will make the painting vibrate and shimmer, especially if you use transperant glazes. Blue goes against orange, violet against yellow, red against green and so forth. However, pigments in practice aren't exactly the same as color as a theory, so think about where the colors actually are in relationship to each other. Also, value is a major part of how color works, and it's actually much more important in the grand scheme of building a painting, so always take that into consideration.

Moreover, it can just be up to you. I tend to just use raw sienna for my 'underpaintings' as I use it to block in the major shapes and draw with since it's a weak color and pigment.

[Qitsune]

Five stars thread about underpaintings:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64674

[That fat kid]

He said he read it. I don't think he read it thoroughly enough. Besides, reading, applying, or experiencing are tragically different.

And just posting the link was my original reaction, but I figured what's the harm in thinking it through myself.

[Qitsune]

Doh...I read in diagonal I guess. Actually, if the major thread didn't answer your questions, the only way to solve that is to test it yourself. I'm not done testing all the possibilities myself but I now use variations on underpainting (different colors etc) for every acrylic painting I do.

[dose]

There's no set answer. I'm sure every artist has a slightly different technique. Generally/traditionally underpaintings are done in a single, neutral color plus white. But I've heard of many many variations:

- the underpainting is done in one color for warms & one color for cools plus white
- underpainting is done with only earth tones
- undperpainting is one bright color to "unify" all the other colors plus white
- underpainting is the color that most closely approximates the general shadow color for the situation (plus white, or keeping everything transparent)
- everything in the underpainting is painted the compliment of the actual color
-the underpainting is done with special colors depending on the materials of the forms
- the underpainting is done with fairly random colors to introduce variety
- other ones that I can't think of right now.

So, there's really no correct answer to the red shirt question. It depends on the effect you want. Qitsune is right- you'll need to experiment and find what works for you!

[DavePalumbo]

hell, some people don't even use an underpainting. Generally, the most common approach would be warm monochrome for a cool painting and cool monochrome for a warm painting. Personally I use a light burnt umber for pretty much every painting. I've recently seen some underpaintings that were made of wildly shifting bright prismatics that looked amazing at the finish. Try some different methods and find which works best for you.