Color Theory - Project 3

The third assignment for my Color Theory class was to pick a celebrity and create an analogous split complementary painting that tells their story with color.  Easy, I know.  After failed attempts at the likes of Megan Fox, Natalie Portman, and even Sarah Chalke, I finally came back to reality and chose Steven Spielberg.  I found a fantastic picture of him in that famous director pose where they use their hands to frame a shot.

Then, I had to render that image, simplifying the shapes and assigning values that create form.  Additionally, I had to think about the story I wanted to tell with my illustration.  I also had to find another picture of Steven where I could actually see his left hand (since the right part of this image is blocked) and had to try to blend it into the scene.

You'll notice I also placed extra emphasis on the eyes to make sure that the focal point is clear.  He sees the composition of his shot through his hands with his eyes.  This was actually drawn roughly on paper first, then values were cleaned up and assigned in Photoshop, which made it much easier to play around with the values and colors of each shape.

Speaking of the colors of each shape, I decided to go with the Red Analogous Split Complementary color scheme, using the complementary Green around the eyes and splashed around the "Golden Rectangle" that his hands create.  Cool colors for the hair and background, oranges for the face, and reds for the hands.

You can then see how all that work was for not, as my horrid painting abilities killed all my weeks of preparation (okay, so I can honestly say that it looks a bit better in reality than this scan shows, but it's still not so great).  Gouache painting is not as fun as you may think...especially when you also have Layout Design and Preproduction work to get done, too.  I think I'll be rather pleased when this semester is over...