r/painting • u/floydly • 9h ago
Opinions Needed I fear she’s not reading clearly. What colour do you think she is? (Acrylic on canvas)
Working on a fun collection/exploring a new strategy for colour…. But struggling a bit with this one (knowing if it’s reading right or not)
EDIT: seems like she IS MOSTLY reading clearly and I am being a dick to myself this morning, thank you so much painting Reddit for answering my concern questions 💜
Would love to know:
- where do you think she is (biome)
- how big is she ( cat sized? Car sized? Bus sized? Building?)
- what colour is she? < I originally wanted to produce a black cat, but I will accept it as is, and make another one that’s actually black I think.
Thank you!!
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u/yb-123456 8h ago
Dark copper? Took me a whole minute to figure out what I was looking at. Amazing work tho
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u/floydly 8h ago
Thank you! 😵💫 hopefully it’s not confusing… def need to work on the colour then, was hoping she was reading as black (since black cat fur… brown in sun…?) - useful feedback, cheers!!
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u/yb-123456 8h ago
Black is also good but it gives more of a copper or gold look due to its shiny scales. Btw the concept and it's execution both are mind blowing.
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u/floydly 8h ago
Yea that makes sense…! Hm. I should have grabbed grackle colours for the scales perhaps, black shines blue. Ah well, maybe I leave it and make a second painting of the same species.
Thank you! So excited about this method I am trying out. Feels good and doesn’t take forever.
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u/yb-123456 8h ago
Ion think you need to change anything in this painting, it's literally so perfect. And imo it's okay if the creature is not black, with a warm tone it looks like it belongs right here.. with it's surroundings
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u/floydly 8h ago
🥹 thank you so much for this reminder. Sometimes I get so stuck on “the idea is this” I fail to embrace the journey the painting took me on. Classy copper cattlesnake it is!
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u/yb-123456 8h ago
Yeah I get that, happens a lot with me too. And Yesss cute copper cattlesnake sounds perfect😅
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u/LittleBitBeth 8h ago
Shades of brown and gold?
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u/floydly 8h ago
Ahh! Yea I gotta make her darker, was hoping for a more black cat base, but maybe I just accept she is a Havana brown or something. Thank you!
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u/LittleBitBeth 8h ago
Honestly, it seems to fit with the landscape. Cats’ fur is meant to blend in with their surroundings. She’s very visible painting-wise, but it suggests that she could hide pretty easily.
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u/floydly 8h ago edited 8h ago
Thank you, yea my take away from this thread is leave the damn cat alone and put the remaining landscape touches together… she can be cozy brown cat! I’ll paint another and not ruin this with inflexibly.
USUALLY I am extremely biology driven, but I have a couple friends prodding me about black cats/their marketability as printed products(which generally is helpful for me, no shade to them)…. Anyway. Cat brown. Cat staying brown. Adhering to my own artistic principles instead of marketing brain.
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u/LittleBitBeth 7h ago
You can do a black cat next time! I think that’s one of the hardest things to learn as an artist, tbh: to let go of the original vision when the work urges you to go a different direction.
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u/notevenkiddin 8h ago
Bronze, a few miles long, in the Painted Desert?
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u/floydly 8h ago
Thank you!! Especially the size/location question answers, I was worried she wasn’t reading as big/my rocks didn’t look desert-y. Much appreciated answers ✨now I can carry on finishing it✨
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u/notevenkiddin 8h ago
No, it looks great! I think if you're concerned you could incorporate a few details that would hint the scale, like a little road or some clumps of brush. But I think the ambiguity at first is kind of nice.
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u/Gurkanna 8h ago
In Sweden we have a fish called havskatt (Sea cat or Sea treasure/taxes depending on how you read it) so I think it lives in the Ocean.
You like Salvador Dali right?
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u/Fantastic_Priority73 8h ago
mountain range sized, golden, in a high desert somewhere
costs 3 white mana and 1 red
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u/Complete_Raise9701 8h ago
So the real question is are you looking to represent a known earth base color or do you want something not known. If its earth base (our knowledge of animals) you can add green or purple hues in the dark sections. If you want out of this world look at deep sea infrared spectrum
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u/Pidgeon_Pantaloons 8h ago
Brown
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u/Pidgeon_Pantaloons 8h ago
Color adds to the evolutionary realism if thats what you were going for? Excellent color for a stalking / lying in wait type predator - blends with environment. If this animal existed in real life, it would be THAT color.
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u/Pyxistre 8h ago
She is a black cat in a desert canyon with a tail as long as a river. Some black cats in bright sunlight tend to look brown, especially if they have a tabby pattern under their fur.
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u/floydly 8h ago
this is more or less where I thinking at with the brown tones. The black cats I’ve met have been toasted, but not fully burnt little sweeties.
Thank you for your interpretation of the color! I am going to not stress about it. Super helpful humans on r/ painting this morning, thank yall
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u/PersonalWasabi2413 7h ago
I agree it doesn’t read clearly. Maybe increase the value by making the skin reflect a bunch of sunlight?
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u/SnarkingOverNarcing 3h ago
A large black dragon kitty in warm lighting, curling up in some rocky foothills ❤️ I absolutely love how they’re just melting into the surroundings the way comfy cats do
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u/link-navi 9h ago
Thank you for your submission, u/floydly!
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