Can we talk about how I used to color pick from photos vs now?

I used to just grab colors straight from reference photos with the eyedropper tool and call it a day. But about 6 months ago I noticed all my pieces had this flat, muddy look that I couldn't fix. A friend in a Discord server pointed out that photos already have lighting baked in so you're just copying someone else's light setup. Now I study the photo, close it, and pick my own palette from scratch using color theory basics. It took maybe 15 tries before my art stopped looking like a filtered mess. I still keep the photo open for anatomy and shapes but I hide it when choosing colors. Has anyone else found that reference photos mess with your color decisions more than they help?

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wren8062mo ago

6 months of trial and error taught me that the eyedropper is basically a crutch that kills your control over color temperature. Keep that photo open for pose reference but cover the screen with a sticky note when you start picking your palette. Your brain knows complementary colors better than you think, you just have to stop letting the reference make the decisions for you.

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julia_burns92mo ago

Wait, you mean I can't just stab my screen with an eyedropper and call it art? Who knew that stealing shadows from a sunset pic in Maui didn't make my cat portrait look like a masterpiece? I tried your method once on a landscape piece and ended up with a sky that looked like someone puked a rainbow. Stuck with it for a week though. My dog was confused by the neon green grass but my art finally looked like it came from my brain instead of a filter app. Good on you for cracking the code before I did.

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