Christine Retirado’s Project #4 –  Grids and Scales, Research, Final

Part 1 | Color Palettes – Grids and Scales

Part 2 | LANDSCAPE SEQUENCE: Color, Light and Composition

Project #4 focuses on color and is divided into two parts. The first part emphasizes color mixing to deepen our understanding of color attributes, palettes, and terminology, involving the creation of two color grids using colored pencils limited to the primary colors: cyan, magenta, and yellow. By blending these, we can achieve any color on the color wheel. For the first grid, we created a 3” x 3” square divided into ½” x ½” squares, ensuring each square featured a unique color, with differences in value and chroma producing as many distinct colors as possible. The second grid, the “Color Memory Grid,” was inspired by memory, where we pixelated a photo in Photoshop to replicate it using the primary colored pencils—I chose a photo of Saipan’s Micro Beach. We also created a 2″ x 7″ saturation scale using a complementary color pair; I selected red-orange and blue-green and worked analog with paint. This scale was divided into fourteen 1″ x 1″ squares, with the top row desaturating the colors toward the center through the gradual addition of the complementary color, and the bottom row representing tints achieved by adding white to the corresponding color above. 

The second part applies our knowledge of color from the first part to accurately draw from observation. We first created a 5” x 5” colored pencil piece of a landscape or cityscape with a distinct foreground, middle ground, and background. All colors were limited to the three primary colors—cyan, magenta, and yellow—but I also used white, not to add color, but to better blend and reduce graininess. After completing this piece, we moved on to a 6” x 6” analog painting, in which we translated and simplified the previous colored pencil work into flat-colored shapes while maintaining its recognizability. This process resembles cel shading, which relies on flat colors and hard-edged divisions. We then simplified that piece even further by identifying the strongest figure-ground shape interaction across the picture plane and converting it into simple shapes, with the new piece consisting of three to five hues—or a little more, depending on the piece. Through this project, we gained a stronger grasp of concepts such as Hue, Saturation, Prismatic and Muted Colors, Grays (Achromatic, Chromatic, and Desaturated), Warm and Cool Colors, Primary and Secondary Colors, and various Color Models/Systems. 

I think this project has been the most labor-intensive one so far. Being restricted to just three colors felt unnecessarily tedious, and I had to go out of my way to purchase high-quality colored pencils from stores far from where I live, as only those pencils blend well enough to achieve my desired results. That said, setting aside the negativity, I can absolutely recognize the value of these exercises. The reason we understand which colors suit us and which color schemes are visually pleasing is because others have studied these intricacies and dedicated time to observing them. Achieving this level of understanding is incredibly challenging unless you delve deeply into the details. Working with limited color options forced me to carefully analyze my screen and thoughtfully consider the ratios between cyan, magenta, and yellow to create accurate hues—especially muted tones that leaned closer to grey. However, I would say my favorite part of the project was when we got to draw a landscape. I am most proud of the colored pencil drawing I made of the B train because of how vibrant the colors were due to the mixing of the colored pencils; the individual colors still shone through a little, despite being blended together to form new ones, which gave the piece a unique texture. For the first simplification of that colored pencil piece, we were still limited to the primary colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow, in addition to white, but it was far easier to create accurate hues because we were using paint instead. It turns out that simplifying our piece further was the most difficult step, as we had to remember to keep the shapes simple and depict the elements in our pieces without making them too recognizable. Overall, this project was fun to do, despite how taxing the process was, and I would recommend this exercise to others at least once. It truly underscores how complex working with colors can be and fosters a greater appreciation for artists and their craft.